Clare's Beautiful scenery continues to draw in most of our visitors, and is the main recommendation for the county, according to a major Failte Ireland Survey.
The study reveals we're doing well in terms of friendliness and value for money too, though there's some way to go in terms of the transport on offer to and from the Banner and around the county.
Between May and October of last year, Failte Ireland conducted over 1,000 interviews with tourists at key locations in Clare – 67% of those were first-time visitors to the county.
64% said they'd give Clare a high recommendation to others and of these – 76% cited scenery and the beautiful countryside as their main reason to do so. 51% chose the friendliness of people here, while 31% said it was because there are lots to do.
On a scale of one to five, people in Clare got 4.78 for friendliness and 4.07 for value for money, but while our roads scored just under 4 points, Clare ranked lower for transport with ratings of between 2 and 3. 76% of visitors relied on cars to see the county.
In terms of eating out, three-quarters of those surveyed ate in hotels or pubs – 57% rated the service in such establishments as very good, while just 42% thought they got good value for money.
