Shortlist of Ireland’s top 15 tourist towns released

Tourism Town Awards 2015 finalists will now be visited by ‘secret shoppers’

The names of the 15 Irish towns shortlisted for the Tourism Towns Awards 2015 have been released by Fáilte Ireland.

Co Kerry has the most towns featured on the list with five entries, while Cork has three with Clonakilty, Cobh and Youghal.

According to Fáilte Ireland, the towns selected will now be subject to unannounced inspections by 'secret shoppers' over the coming weeks. The list then gets narrowed down to 10, then both the best large and small tourism town will be announced in November.

This is the fourth year the awards have been held. Last year, Westport won the award for best large tourism town and Kinsale was given the award in the small town category.

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Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring said the awards were about recognising the efforts of tows and villages to make Ireland a more attractive place to tourists.

Towns in the competition will be judged based on development and promotion, local involvement, tourism products available and “sense of place”, according to Fáilte Ireland.

You can view the full shortlist for 2015 below:

1. Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny

2. Lismore, Co Waterford

3. Killarney, Co Kerry

4. Clonakilty, Co Cork

5. Belmullet (Beal an Mhurtaigh), Co Mayo

6. Ardmore, Co Waterford

7. Tralee, Co Kerry

8 . Adare, Co Limerick

9. Sneem, Co Kerry

10. Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim

11. Kenmare, Co Kerry

12. Portmagee, Co Kerry

13. Cobh, Co Cork

14. Youghal, Co Cork

15. Mountshannon, Co Clare

Dean Ruxton

Dean Ruxton

Dean Ruxton is an Audience Editor at The Irish Times. He also writes the Lost Leads archive series