Gallery: The best tourist towns in Ireland

On Wednesday the winners of the top small and large tourism towns will be announced by Michael Ring TD, Minister for State for Tourism and Sport. The awards in their fourth year were designed by Fάilte Ireland to encourage town and villages to work together to appeal to tourists.

The winners were decided by a series of unannounced inspections from a team of independent “secret shoppers.” They visited the town and assessed the quality of the visitor experience. Here are the contenders for this year's awards.