Marine & Coastal Tourism & Recreation
Tourism and recreation in marine and coastal areas is the largest contributor to employment amongst Ireland’s established marine industries.
Marine tourism is estimated to represent 10% of our overall tourism sector. Significant opportunities exist to develop a world-leading destination brand to increase awareness, visitor numbers and revenues from international markets, supporting the national tourism sustainable growth strategy.
Among the opportunities are to provide integrated marine-based tourism products and services to grow revenues in coastal areas, leveraging and building on the success of the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ initiative.
Excluding coastal accommodation, an estimated 260 enterprises are involved in delivering marine leisure activities around the coast of Ireland. This sector includes many activities such as, angling, diving, sailing, surfing, windsurfing, kite surfing, sea kayaking as well as visiting coastal tourist attractions and offshore islands.
Find out more about our network members in our directory.
Further information:
SEMRU report on Marine & Coastal Overseas Tourism Activity in Ireland
Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media