I am pleased to inform the House that on Tuesday, 30 September 2003 last, the chairman of the tourism policy review group, John Travers, presented me with the group's final report entitled New Horizons for Irish Tourism: An Agenda for Action. I can confirm that copies have been lodged with the Oireachtas Library for the information of Members.
The report is the most important and authoritative document on tourism policy and performance in over a decade. It includes an overview of tourism worldwide, an assessment of the economic contribution of the tourism sector to the Irish economy, an analysis of recent tourism performance, a detailed assessment of tourism in Ireland today and an outline of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. More importantly, however, it presents a challenging but achievable vision for the development of Irish tourism over the next ten years though a set of high level macro goals backed up by 70 action-focused recommendations.
I am determined that the excellent work of the review group will be capitalised upon and that the momentum generated by the focus on the tourism industry will gather force. The review group has put the emphasis on an agenda for action, highlighting 70 individual concrete proposals, which will be the cornerstone for the development of the tourism sector over the next decade. Its recommendations are directed not only to my Department, the tourism State agencies and other Departments but, perhaps more importantly, to representatives of the tourism industry and individual tourism enterprises.
Not surprisingly, one of the key messages in the report is the need for the industry to restore competitiveness and ensure a high level of quality in the Irish tourism experience if it is to maximise the opportunities for future growth. There is no easy or single solution. The competitiveness of Irish tourism is influenced by a huge range of factors and experiences for customers, from initial inquiries about visiting Ireland right through to travelling here, where they go when they get here, where they stay, who they meet, what they do, what they see and their perceptions about price and quality.
Having identified competitiveness and value for money as one of the key strategic drivers of success for Irish tourism, the review group listed ten integrated actions aimed at the industry, Government and State agencies, to translate the strategy into action. These require a holistic approach to addressing the issue and focus, in particular, on responsibility, anti-inflation actions, benchmarking competition, capability within the industry and upgrading standards as a competitive response.
To ensure that the implementation of the action plan is given the priority recommended by the review group, I will establish shortly a high-level implementation group to drive forward and monitor the plan.
I welcome the significant contribution to the development of tourism policy represented by the report of the review group and I will take action to forward the policy approach embodied in this report not only within my Department and the State agencies under my remit, but also with industry representative bodies and, where appropriate, my ministerial colleagues.