The Tourist Traffic Bill was the subject of an excellent and constructive debate in the House last week and I would like to thank those Deputies who contributed to that debate. As I explained in my opening remarks, the Bill is related to increasing the financial limits in respect of bedroom accommodation and of resort development. It is not concerned with anything other than these two matters. It enables Bord Fáilte to meet their commitments under these two headings.
However, the debate ranged over a wider area and inevitably related to the problems which have faced the Irish tourist industry, particularly since August, 1969. In my view the manner in which Bord Fáilte have responded to the difficulties has shown the resilience of the organisation. With the inevitable reduction in the number of Northern Ireland visitors and with the reduction in business from Great Britain caused by the unfavourable publicity accorded to the Northern Ireland situation in the British media, Bord Fáilte have rightly switched their promotional emphasis to areas where the unfavourable North of Ireland situation would not impinge to the same degree. This has meant increased promotional activity in continental Europe, particularly in the EEC countries, where we are developing a closer association. The result of that has been substantially increased business from France and Germany in particular. The Irish ethnic market in Britain has also received promotional attention over the past 12 months. Promotion in that particular market will be pursued in the months ahead.
It is quite obvious that the Irish people in Britain are aware of the Northern situation and the whole background to it, and are more easily induced to spend their holidays in the peaceful parts of Ireland. In addition to that, the home holidays campaign under the name of "Discover Ireland" was got under way and has proved successful in the past season. This programme again will be intensified in the present season.
It is very important, and Deputy O'Donnell referred to this, to emphasise today that there must be co-ordination between the carrier interests and the promotional board. This is now taking place and Aer Lingus, B & I, CIE and Bord Fáilte are coordinating matters in this area. For the first time the carriers are carrying out a marketing programme for the current year. There is co-ordination and full value will be given through economic package holidays for visitors here.
Some Deputies referred to the question of the expenditure under the resort development heading and sought to make the case that some counties or some areas appeared to be getting more than other counties or other areas. I want to emphasise here that the assessment in regard to resort development expenditure is not done on a county or a parish basis. It is done on an overall plan with a view to improving the tourist product as such. An extra £½ million was devoted this year under a special amenity development scheme to supplement the major resort development fund. The £½ million is being spent on improving the tourist product, the amenities and facilities, throughout the country in the areas which are likely to make an impression on tourist business.
A number of other points were raised by Deputies on a specific basis and they are matters which can be dealt with better in the way of a written reply to the Deputies concerned. The important aspect is to look ahead to the future and to have Bord Fáilte, as a promotional board in good administrative shape, with sufficient funds available and sufficient personnel available. When the political initiatives, which we hope will be taken in the months ahead and which we hope will offer solutions to our particular problems in this island, come we will be able to move straight away into rapid expansion in regard to tourism.
I was very heartened when attending the annual dinner of the Irish Hotels Federation to discover that this is the view of the industry itself. The industry is in a very resilient mood in regard to the future of tourism. The unanimous view of people in the hotel industry, to whom I spoke on Thursday night, was that the industry is in good shape. It has sharpened itself up under the pressure of the adverse circumstances. There is much more group and co-operative marketing being undertaken by guest-houses, farmhouses and hotels at the moment. The industry is satisfied that Bord Fáilte have streamlined themselves from the administrative point of view, are a tighter and better organisation than they were some years ago. The view unanimously expressed to me is that, once the political situation resolves itself and peace is guaranteed, not alone will tourism improve but that a substantial boom in the industry could be foreseen.
I see the tourist industry at the moment engaging in a holding operation. We must ensure that the funds are made available for the holding operation so as to jump into action once the political problems are resolved. This can best be done at the moment by maintaining the tempo of investment in promotional and marketing effort. We have the stock of bedroom accommodation now which is sufficient for the immediate future. The board at the moment are undertaking a very radical examination of how in the future the industry can be assisted in regard to accomodation.
The open-ended grants served their purpose during the 1960s but it is quite obvious now that assistance for the future will have to be geared towards helping the professional people in the business, the people who know the business inside out. There were certain problems associated with the open-ended system of giving grants. Many people who did not know much about the hotel business got into it. We should aim at a new scheme that can be tied in with the professional people in the industry, who are trained and know the industry well and the scheme could be tied in on some selective planned basis for locations in the country that require accommodation development. This is the approach in the examination at present being conducted by Bord Fáilte and I hope to have that report to hand shortly. We will then bring in the necessary legislation for the type of assistance that we will give to the industry in the years ahead. This particular provision here is designed to meet the outstanding grant commitments entered into by Bord Fáilte prior to mid-1969. The House is aware that because of the stock of accommodation available, no such grants have been entered into since 1969.
Now we are looking at what type of financial assistance and in what way it will be given in the years ahead. The immediate job for the coming year is to provide all the funds necessary for marketing and promotion, particularly in the markets that have proved so successful in the past three years. Since the North of Ireland and the British market suffered we have found these alternative avenues and Bord Fáilte propose to intensify and develop the promotional operations in those areas.
There is nothing more that needs comment. I will communicate with Deputies on specific items raised and we will have an opportunity for a much fuller debate very shortly on the Estimate for the Department of Transport and Power when we can go into all these matters in far greater detail.
