I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £1,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1989, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Tourism and Transport, including certain services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain grants and grant-in-aid.
The main purpose of this Supplementary Estimate is to provide an additional £3 million for tourism marketing and promotion. The additional expenditure will be totally offset by increased receipts under appropriations-in-aid.
It is both logical and sensible to make this additional money available for marketing and promotion at this time when potential visitors are making their holiday plans for 1990. Agreement has been reached between Bord Fáilte and the industry on a joint marketing campaign before the end of 1989 and for the early part of 1990. The campaign will thus help to ensure maximum exposure for Ireland at a crucial time. I am confident that this will give a significant boost to the drive to attract additional visitors and foreign tourism revenue which is vital to sustaining and creating employment in the tourism sector.
The £3 million will be met, pound for pound, by the tourist industry. I greatly welcome the fact that, in recent years, the industry have agreed to supplement Exchequer moneys for promotional purposes. I propose to continue this method of financing.
A similar initiative was taken last year and the effect on our 1989 tourist numbers has been dramatic. Based on market estimates for the first three quarters of 1989 and market intelligence since then, Bord Fáilte estimate that visitor numbers this year will be in the region of 2.8 million, a 15 per cent increase over 1988. When compared to 1986 this shows a 48 per cent increase or over 900,000 visitors.
Marketing by both Bord Fáilte and the industry has taken on a new sense of direction and purpose over the past three years. The marketing initiatives introduced by the Government have resulted in a positive awareness among the industry of the need for increased active participation on their part in the marketing effort. This approach must be continued in the future in order to build on the excellent work of the past few years.
The success of our marketing strategy over the past three years, emphasising the joint involvement of the State agencies and the industry as well as the increased concentration on market segmentation, has prompted me to consider how the strategy can be maximised in the longer term.
I have very recently invited the industry to sit down immediately with Bord Fáilte with a view to devising a marketing and promotional programme for the three-year period 1991 to 1993. I have asked that the joint programme should include detailed costings, setting out what would be financed by the State and what would be financed by the industry itself. I have committed myself to fighting for the necessary resources should a satisfactory joint programme emerge. My invitation has been taken up. I understand that negotiations between Bord Fáilte and the industry are already under way.
These are indeed exciting times for Irish tourism. There is an unprecedented aura of optimism and confidence about the future of the sector. The increased level of investment in the tourism product and in marketing, allied to lower access transport fares and our improved cost competitiveness, will facilitate further significant growth for Irish tourism in the run up to 1992 and beyond and should achieve a substantial increase in sustainable employment opportunities for our young population.
As the House will be aware, the Programme for National Recovery set challenging growth targets for the tourism sector, including the creation of 25,000 new jobs. Now approximately halfway through that programme, the industry is on course for meeting those targets which seemed over-ambitious to many at the time of its initiation. We are on target not just in the jobs area but also on revenue and tourist numbers. Therefore, we are on target under all three headings.
However, we must not become complacent. I should inform the House that in the nineties it will be difficult to continue to meet the targets set. I am still confident we can do so but it is becoming increasingly difficult. We must examine our marketing approach to establish whether we are reaching all potential visitors. We must also examine the level of investment in the development of tourist attractions and facilities, particularly those based on our natural, cultural and heritage resources.
As the House will be aware, tourism has been selected by the Government as a central axis for development under the National Development Plan, 1989-1993 and will be a major beneficiary from increased EC Structural Funds over that period. The plan provides for an investment programme of almost £300 million by the public and private sectors in a wide range of existing and new tourism attractions and facilities. EC Structural Fund assistance for the tourism programme will total more than £146 million over the five years, that is, £52 million on infrastructural project by State and local authorities, £28 million on training and £66 million to support private sector product development and marketing. I expect to be in a position shortly to announce full details of this programme including the nature of the projects which will be assisted and the levels of anticipated grant support. I should inform the House that that figure of £300 million is but part of the picture. For example, if one takes account of the EC Structural Funds — the estimated private sector investment they would induce — Bord Fáilte's own budget, particularly the increasing business expansion scheme budget now constituting a major mechanism for investment in the tourist industry, if one includes the industry itself, estimating the potential investment in their industry over the next few years and the Investment Fund for Ireland, one arrives at a figure of up to a £900 million investment in the tourist industry over the next four to five years. If I can put that figure in perspective — as I have endeavoured to do publicly many times recently — I might point out that arguably that represents more than has been invested in the industry over the past 20 years taken together. Therefore, when I say we are on the brink of a major investment in the tourist industry I do not exaggerate because the figures are there to demonstrate that fact.
The additional £3 million being provided for tourism is available due to buoyancy in revenue from aviation sources. As the House will appreciate, this is a transfer within the Vote rather than additional funding which I am seeking in this Estimate. The growth in air traffic in Ireland and world wide has produced a surplus for Ireland in receipts from en-route charges.
Restrictions on air traffic, due to inadequate system capacity because of unprecedented traffic growth, have recently been a regrettable feature of air travel. I would stress however that most of the restrictions as they affected travel to and from Ireland were due to capacity problems elsewhere. As Deputies are aware, we are in the middle of a £30 million investment programme to upgrade and replace the air navigation facilities. We are also strengthening our manpower resources; 27 extra staff were recruited to the air traffic services in 1989 and further recruitment is planned over the next four to five years. Indeed I would like to take this opportunity of thanking the staff concerned for their dedication and commitment in recent years. Again I would reiterate an announcement which I made publicly in the last few days, that in regard to Ireland's Presidency of the EC, I have already put the whole question of air traffic control on the agenda of the Transport Ministers and one of the first items I will be discussing with them is the whole question of air traffic control.
The additional funds under subhead A7 are required to meet the increased contribution to the Eurocontrol Organisation which have been given the task of establishing a central flow management unit. Work on setting up the unit has commenced and it will greatly facilitate the smooth and orderly movement of air traffic in western Europe when fully operational in a few years' time. It will make a significant contribution towards completion of the internal market. I would also remind the House that in the past few days £15 million of equipment has been commissioned in Dublin Airport in the area of radar and other equipment relating to air traffic control which will greatly improve the position in the air.
The completion of the internal market also creates a challenge for Ireland in moving goods in a cost-effective way and expeditiously into the continental markets. Deputies might like to know that I have decided to commission a major feasibility study on the development of air and sea freight links between Ireland and the rest of the Community. This study which will be carried out with financial assistance from the EC, will help identify the new and expanded services that are necessary and how the needs of our exporters can be best met. I have placed that assignment in recent days. In the course of these remarks I have focused on the main aspects of the Supplementary Estimate. I will of course be addressing policy issues in a broader perspecitive when the 1990 Estimate for my Department is being taken in the New Year. I will conclude by commending the Supplementary Estimate to the House.
