Kerry has the highest proportion of tourism-related businesses of any county in Ireland.
That is one of the statistics included in a Kerry County Council commissioned socio-economic analysis of the county.
The analysis was part of the council’s recently published Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP).
Almost 75,000 (74,243) people are in paid employment in Kerry (as of April 2022).
The South-West region, of which Kerry is part, accounts for 25% of Ireland’s gross value added (GVA).
Despite this, disposable income in Kerry is below the national average, at 87.7% of the median.
9% of employed people in Kerry work in accommodation and food services.
It also found over 12 per cent (12.48%) of the over 12,000 (12,097) businesses registered in Kerry are tourism-related enterprises.
Some of the sectors in Kerry experiencing the strongest growth are financial services (+66.4%), food products and beverages (+23.5%), and creative arts and entertainment (+15.2%).
The key employment sectors in Kerry remain wholesale and retail trade (12%), health and social care (10%), education (9%), manufacturing (8%) and agriculture, forestry, and fishing (6%).
