Galway Adopts Tourism Strategy

Galway County Council has adopted the first-ever tourism strategy for the County.

The County Galway Tourism Strategy 2023-2031 sets out to spread the benefits of Galway’s growing tourism economy across the wider county, promote sustainable tourism development, and support existing and create new jobs across the sector. The tourism plan also is targeting a 10% increase in overall visitor spend by 2030, with a particular focus on attracting visitors who stay longer and spend more in Galway’s towns and villages.

As the most visited destination outside of Dublin, Galway benefits considerably from tourism, with 984,000 domestic trips and 1.7 million overseas visitors contributing €754 million in tourism expenditure.

Commenting on the Strategy’s goal of spreading the economic benefit of tourism across the wider county, Galway County Council Tourism Officer John Neary said:

“Not all areas of the County are equally well-known. Core infrastructure - such as accommodation and attractions - is clustered in particular areas, naturally following the patterns of highest visitor demand. One of the challenges of this strategy, therefore, is to seek to manage well-developed tourism areas within the County with the further growth of less-established areas.”