Dublin’s Guinness Storehouse pulls in 1.5m visitors

Almost 1.5 million visitors poured into the Guinness Storehouse in 2015, breaking previous visitor records and making it once again Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction.

Figures released yesterday by the brewer show that 1.498 million tourists visited the storehouse last year, 18 per cent more than in 2014.

Guinness said that the numbers ensured that the facility held its position as the country’s most popular tourist attraction.

Located on part of the Guinness brewery at St James’s Gate in Dublin, the storehouse takes visitors through the history of the stout as well as outlining the brewing process.

The tour ends with a free pint in the Gravity Bar on the top floor of the storehouse.

Just more than one-in-four of the visitors were from Britain, making them the single biggest group. Visitors from the United States followed with 22 per cent.

Paul Carty, managing director of Guinness Storehouse, said 2015 was an "incredible" year for the attraction.

“We celebrated 15 years of welcoming visitors to the home of Guinness just last month and in September were named ‘Europe’s Leading Tourist Attraction’ at the World Travel Awards, winning more votes than the likes of the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum,” he said.

Mr Carty added that the company is planning further innovations this year.

Fáilte Ireland spokesman Alex Connolly said the figures were remarkable and added that he expected them to continue rising inthe years ahead.

Multinational drinks group Diageo owns Guinness.