Raise a glass… more than half of tourists visit Ireland for our PUBS

The folk of this isle love a good seisún… So it's no surprise that more than half of tourists visit Ireland because of our pubs.

Yes, it's been found that our heritage and culture are still the most popular reasons for people to travel to our beautiful green nation. 

A total of 57 percent of tourists surveyed recently said that culture and heritage were their main reason for visiting Ireland. Meanwhile, 54 percent said that the traditional Irish pub was the factor that most influenced their decision to come here. 

Three in five respondents said that the Irish themselves are the reason for coming over here in the first place (go us!), and a quarter said in the survey that 'friendly' was the word that came to mind when they thought about the nationality. 

The survey questioned a total of 500 tourists from the US, Canada, France, Germany and the UK and was carried out by Support Your Local – a campaign which aims to cut excise tax on alcohol.

Noreen O'Sullivan, a publican from Tipperary, said that the high excise duty on alcohol is damaging the industry. 

"As it stands, excise is around 31 percent on beer, 68 percent  on whiskey, and 64 percent on wine. These taxes are damaging our competitiveness and costing jobs," she said.

Bart Storan, who runs the Support Your Local campaign, said, "Our pubs and hospitality are renowned globally as part of the Irish character and experience. 

"In every city, town and village, pubs are part of the unique fabric of the community, supporting jobs, catalysing spending, and sharing our story around the world."