Moher visitor centre posts reduced losses

LOSSES AT the company that operates the Cliffs of Moher visitor attraction amounted to €83,000 last year, according to new figures.

This follows the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience recording losses of €164,000 in 2009 and €358,000 in 2008.

The €27 million subterranean visitor centre on the north Clare coast opened in 2007. It broke even in its first year.

However, its director Katherine Webster said yesterday that “given the very challenging environment for tourism in Ireland in 2010, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience again recorded a loss for the year, although this was reduced on the loss suffered in previous years”.

She reported that overall visitor numbers fell in 2010 by 5.5 per cent on 2009 figures, to 720,574.

“However, this was in the context of a much greater decline in overseas visitor numbers to Ireland of 16 per cent, reported by the Central Statistics Office.”

She said the visitor centre provided considerable employment in north Clare.

Almost 100 people were employed at the centre during the summer months, with more than half of these employed throughout the year.