NEW visitor figures have revealed the Republic’s most popular counties for visitors.
Data from Fáilte Ireland shows, unsurprisingly, Dublin is the most visited county for those outside the south.
The capital’s county was the destination for almost five million people from overseas in 2015 while at the other end of the scale, just 30,000 paid a visit to Longford.
The figures do not include visitors from Northern Ireland.
Other popular counties include Cork, which came in second with 1.5m visitors, and Galway – third with 1.4m.
Dublin's appeal comes as no surprise. Top tourist attractions include the Guinness Storehouse at St James Gate, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Book of Kells/
Co Cork’s tourist lures include the world-famous Blarney Castle, home to the eponymous Blarney Stone, and the bustling English Market.
Galway offers a wealth of attractions including the city’s welcoming nightlife, and the Galway Races.
However, despite the counties’ performance in visitor numbers, the figures did not correspond exactly to the revenue created by tourism in each county in 2015.
Kildare raised the seventh-highest total of tourist euros, with €87 million, yet ranked at 13 in the list of most visited counties.
Meanwhile, Kilkenny, which draws people to its annual summer arts festival, was the ninth most-visited county, yet only made €45 million from visitors, placing it sixteenth in the list of earners.
A spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland said the body was committed to ensuring tourism across the Republic grew in an “equitable manner”.
She added: “Many businesses outside Dublin and away from traditional tourism hotspots enjoy a tourism season as short as eight weeks and we are determined to assist many operators to trade longer into the year."
Overseas visitors by county (2015)
1 Dublin: 4,938,000
2 Cork: 1,449,000
3 Galway: 1,354,000
4 Kerry: 1,026,000
5 Clare: 597,000
6 Limerick: 537,000
7 Mayo: 302,000
8 Donegal: 289,000
9 Kilkenny: 267,000
10 Waterford: 263,000
11 Wicklow: 248,000
12 Wexford: 221,000
13 Kildare: 214,000
14 Sligo: 186,000
15 Tipperary: 180,000
16 Cavan: 144,000
17 Meath: 134,000
18 Louth: 125,000
19 Westmeath: 116,000
20 Monaghan: 65,000
21 Carlow: 62,000
22 Laois & Leitrim: 57,000 each
23 Offally & Roscommon: 50,000 each
24 Longford: 30,000
Overseas tourist revenue earned by county:
1 Dublin: €1,726m
2 Cork: €558m
3 Galway: €475m
4 Kerry: €234m
5 Limerick: €212m
6 Clare: €127m
7 Kildare: €89m
8 Donegal: €83m
9 Wicklow: €82m
10 Mayo: €80m
11 Waterford: €75m
12 Tipperary: €66m
13 Wexford: €65m
14 Sligo: €51m
15 Cavan: €50m
16 Kilkenny: €45m
17 Meath: €44m
18 Louth & Westmeath: €36m each
19 Carlow: €32m
20 Monaghan: €25m
21 Roscommon: €20m
22 Laois: €18m
23 Leitrim: €15m
24 Offaly: €14m
25 Longford: €8m