A major new report carried out on behalf of Mayo County Council has today revealed the total economic impact of Westport House Estate to the economy of the region. The new report was launched on Tuesday at Westport House Estate, which has been privately owned by the Browne family for almost 400 years and open to the public since 1960. The estate directly creates 47 jobs and accounts for €50.7 million indirect expenditure for the region. Westport House Estate has also shown significant growth in recent years with some 162,000 paying customers in 2014 – up 82 per cent on 89,000 visitors in 2009. )
Westport House Estate is cited as one of Ireland’s national treasures. Since 1960 the Browne family have invested significantly in the estate in order to ensure that it continues trading as a leading tourism attraction – mainly by providing a changing and evolving range of tourism activities. This has resulted in the estate’s rise as one of the top 20 paying attractions in the country.
The report found that in terms of a direct contribution of economic value created, Westport House contributed almost €1.64 million to the Exchequer and the local/regional economy in the 12 months ending September 30 2014.
In terms of economic value generated by Westport House, some €50.7 million (based on an on-site survey ) will be spent in Mayo and the wider region by consumers visiting the house this year (this figure is separate to the expenditure these visitors make at Westport House itself ). This estimate is based upon survey respondents’ reported expenditure, and is limited to those respondents who stated that the house was the principal purpose for their visit to Mayo.
Economic activity on-site at Westport House directly employs 47.1 people (full time equivalents ). It is estimated, based upon Fáilte Ireland multipliers, that the expenditures associated with those that cite Westport House as the principal reason for their visit to Mayo, support a further 1,724 jobs elsewhere in the regional economy.
Based on Fáilte Ireland estimates of tax receipts accruing to the Exchequer through tourism activity, the €50.7 million referenced above (arising from tourism associated with Westport House ) will yield an additional €12.4 million for the Exchequer.
Westport House is predominantly a domestic market family tourism product. Survey results indicate that some 84.4 per cent of visitors to the house were Irish. In an on-site survey, 60.9 per cent of respondents reported that Westport House was their principal motivation for travelling to Mayo.
