Economic Development Directorate Tourism Department Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience In 2016, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience welcomed 1,427,166 visitors which is a 15% increase on 2015. While the increase in visitors was welcome it posed many challenges in relation to capacity management, which will continue to exist as the demand to visit the Cliffs of Moher increases. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience was voted Ireland’s Top Attraction in the inaugural Readers Travel Awards from the Irish Independent Travel magazine. The organisation also received an average 95.5% rating from over 21,000 international customers of C.I.E. Tours and went on to win the Gold Award for Best Visit at the 2016 C.I.E. Excellence Awards. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience was also shortlisted in the Green Tourism and Leisure Category of the 2016 Green Awards. In 2016, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience entered its fourth year of participating in the World Host Customer Service Excellence Programme. An average rating of 87.4% was achieved in monthly mystery visitor audits. Survey data showed that the number of visitors to the Cliffs of Moher who spent the night before or the night after their visit or both nights in County Clare had risen from 33% in 2014 and 37% in 2015 to 40% in 2016. The Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark The Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark won the National Geographic World Legacy Award for Destination Leadership, announced at ITB Berlin in March 2016. The Brothers of Charity and the Geopark were shortlisted for the Aontas Star Award for their work on Universal Access, and the Geopark was also shortlisted for the Irish Tourism Industry Environmental Award for its work on a Code of Practice for Sustainable Tourism.
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