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03 Apr 2026

Over 200,000 overseas tourists visited Co Kildare last year - report

National Stud Farm and Japanese Gardens, tully, County Kildare, Ireland

Reporter:

Senan Hogan

22 Aug 2018 7:50 AM

Dublin was the most popular county for overseas tourists last year with a whopping 5.9m holidaymakers. Galway was second in the table with 1.6m visitors while Longford is Ireland's least-visited county, according to new data from Fáilte Ireland.
The data charts visitor numbers and revenue by region and county in 2017, a record-breaking year for Irish tourism. Co Kildare saw 211,000 visitors and was 13th on the list. A total of 91m in revenue was spent in the county, according to the data. Overseas visitors and spend by county (2017)
  1. Dublin: 5,936,000 (€1981m)
  2. Galway: 1,673,000 (€589m)
  3. Cork: 1,600,000 (€631m)
  4. Kerry: 1,277,000 (€337m)
  5. Clare: 749,000 (€158m)
  6. Limerick: 647,000 (€261m)
  7. Mayo: 324,000 (€78m)
  8. Kilkenny: 315,000 (€55m)
  9. Wicklow: 275,000 (€73m)
  10. Donegal: 255,000 (€82m)
  11. Waterford: 255,000 (€69m)
  12. Wexford: 232,000 (€61m)
  13. Kildare: 211,000 (€91m)
  14. Tipperary (N&S): 192,000 (€88m)
  15. Sligo: 173,000 (€45m)
  16. Louth: 172,000 (€55m)
  17. Meath: 162,000 (€44m)
  18. Cavan: 107,000 (€48m)
  19. Westmeath: 103,000 (€46m)
  20. Carlow: 79,000 (€45m)
  21. Monaghan: 60,000 (€25m)
  22. Roscommon: 54,000 (€27m)
  23. Offaly: 52,000 (€16m)
  24. Laois: 43,000 (€14m)
  25. Leitrim: 41,000 (€18m)
  26. Longford: 24,000 (€10m)
Ireland welcomed a total of 9m overseas tourists in 2017, with a combined spend of €4.9 billion, according to the Fáilte Ireland figures.

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