Cork tourism businesses worried after ‘difficult’ summer despite pick-up from cruise sector

Cork tourism businesses are looking to the winter with trepidation after a slower-than-expected summer period for some smaller tourist attractions across the county, according to a new study.

Tourist visits to Irish attractions are still below pre-pandemic levels, according to a new study by the Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions (AVEA).

The organisation, the representative voice for the visitor attractions and experience sector in dealings with the key stakeholders in tourism across the island of Ireland, has revealed that two-thirds of its operators reported flat or reduced visitor numbers so far this year.

Data shows that 772,800 foreign visitors completed a trip to Ireland in August 2025, an increase of 1% when compared with the same month in 2024 and an increase of 5% compared with August 2023.

However, this is still down considerably from 1,190,600 trips to Ireland made by overseas residents in August 2019.

Chief executive of the AVEA, Catherine Flanagan, told The Echo that, in general, the larger, very well-known sites around the country, such as the Guinness Storehouse, Cliffs of Moher, and Kylemore Abbey, had quite a positive summer in terms of both visitor numbers and revenues.

“The smaller attractions found it much more difficult, and smaller attractions make up the largest proportion of our membership.

“Anecdotally, that has also been coming across to me for Cork,” she said.

Their members in Cork include Spike Island, Fota House, Blarney Castle, Midleton Distillery Experience (Jameson), Cobh Heritage Centre, and Titanic Experience Cobh.

A record number of cruise calls were made to Cork harbours this year, bringing more than 4,000 passengers to Bantry, Kinsale, Schull, and Bere Island, with Baltimore, Youghal, and Ballycotton being added to the destinations in 2025.

Ms Flanagan said that while there was good pick-up from cruise ships coming in, it was “not a bumper summer by any means”.

“Businesses are worried going into the winter, with very high overheads a real challenge for a very seasonal sector,” she said.