Bosses at one of Ireland’s top visitor attractions, Fota Wildlife Park, fear a 12pc decline in visitor numbers last year is linked to Ireland’s growing hotel capacity crisis. Fota director Sean McKeown said the east Cork park’s visitor numbers declined from 475,000 in 2021 to 417,000 last year. Mr McKeown said a shortage of local hotel accommodation was an issue in the decline in visitor numbers. Hotel capacity is a big issue both in east Cork and Cork itself,” he said. Regarded as the world’s top breeding centre for a number of endangered species, Fota delivers a €200m boost to the local economy every year.

Source: Irish Independent June 22, 2023 02:17 UTC