Winterval 2024 brought in 1.8 million visitors
Winterval brought in just under 2 million visitors to Waterford City. Photo: Patrick Browne.
Winterval 2024 brought a staggering 1.8 million visitors to the Déise.
The 12th year of the festival was a roaring success that consolidated Waterford's status as the European City of Christmas.
The festival began on November 15 and ran for the following five weeks.
The visitor data was collected through Smart City Data Collection which is operated by Three Data Analytics on behalf of Waterford City and County Council.
According to the data, 3 per cent of the visitors to Winterval were from outside of the country with the UK, Netherlands and the US featuring highly as the visitor's country of origin followed by France and Spain. Ninety-seven per cent of visitors came from Ireland, with a large proportion of these visitors from the Southeast region and also from Dublin.
Five per cent of attendees to Winterval were overnight visitors to the festival (accounting for 53,000 people) with the remainder being daytrippers.
Organisers Trevor Darmody and John Grubb were delighted with the news and are excited to come back again later this year.
They said: "We set out with some major ambitions to deliver a magical and fun-filled festival that would attract visitors to enjoy Christmas in Waterford plus we also added some night time economy events, like the Winterval Big Top Live gigs to bring in a new audience segment to the festival, and all of this has paid off greatly."
Putting on the festival was no easy task, especially with a few severe weather warnings and storms.
They said: "We are delighted with the visitor numbers even with weather two storms during the festival. We would like to thank everyone who came along to enjoy Winterval and all of those businesses and sponsors who support Winterval, too.
"Waterford now holds the title of European City of Christmas for life, so we look forward to building upon that even further for 2025.”
The festival was a great shot in the arm for the city during the dark winter months, especially for local retail, hospitality an tourism.
Hotelier Tina Darrer, of Dooley’s Hotel said: "Winterval and the European City of Christmas title has certainly shone a spotlight on our wonderful City for the festive season, and we have been delighted to welcome repeat visitors to Dooley’s Hotel and also welcome new, first time visitors to the city and the festival this year - both from across Ireland and from Europe and the US. The festival ensures that Waterford has a strong winter visitor season, and feedback from guests is that they were greatly impressed with the festive events and indeed, the tourism offering in the City during their stay - which ensures repeat visitors into the future."
"Winter in Waterford is certainly proving as the best place to be," she added.
Maeve Ryan Cooke, MD at The Book Centre in Waterford said: "The Book Centre and The Book Bar see Winterval as an integral part of the Christmas shopping experience in Waterford.
She continued: "It is hugely valuable to our business and it is another reason for Waterford people and visitors alike to visit our beautiful city. Being a family-run business in Waterford for the last 53 years, we see the hard work that has gone into the creation and continuance of Winterval and its importance to the success of our city. As such, we see it as a vital attraction for all retail and hospitality in the city."
