Vol. 416 No. 2
9 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications if she will outline, (a) her plans for the development of the tourism industry and (b) her views on the amount required for the marketing of the industry to achieve her plans.
26 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications if she will outline the forecasts available to her Department of the likely level of tourism during 1992; if she has any particular plans to boost tourism during 1992; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 26 together.
Plans for tourism development up to 1994 are focused on achieving the targets for the sector in the Programme for Economic and Social Progress which requires increasing annual overseas visitor numbers to 4.5 million, overseas revenue by £250 million, and creating 15,000 new jobs in the economy.
These plans involve investment of over £300 million, almost half of which is coming from the EC, in upgrading our tourism product to international standard, greater penetration in our main markets, particularly through strong niche marketing, and pursuit of policies which emphasise the need for better value in terms of quality and price.
The Programme for Economic and Social Progress target for the year is a 15 per cent increase in visitor numbers and based on preliminary indications from the markets, Bord Fáilte expect Irish tourism to return to double digit growth in 1992.
Bord Fáilte, the lead agency for overseas marketing and promotion will this year receive £21.5 million from the Exchequer and, in addition, will be involved in a range of EC and IFI assisted co-operative marketing initiatives with the industry, involving further expenditure of nearly £10 million on Ireland's overseas marketing efforts.
Finally, lottery funding of up to £3.5 million has been provided towards the cost of Ireland's participation at EXPO '92 which will be held in Seville from April to October this year where nearly 20 million visitors are expected.
I congratulate the Minister on her appointment. What plans of her own does the Minister have in regard to the development of the tourist industry? The same things were read out on numerous occasions by the former Minister but targets were not achieved last year. The architects of the plan to which the Minister referred stated that the industry and Bord Fáilte required between £3 million and £5 million extra to achieve their targets. However, this money has not been provided; indeed it has been reduced from £28.5 million to £21.5 million. Has the Minister any plans to increase the amount of money available to the industry this year?
I am sure Deputy Farrelly would not have expected me to have a full comprehensive plan of my own prepared in the last two weeks for the development of tourism. Suffice to say that the Government recently, as the House is aware, appointed a tourism task force, have given them specific terms of reference and asked them to report as soon as possible. In my capacity as Minister for Tourism, I have already met the chairman of the tourism task force and indicated to him — and he has agreed — that it would be better not to wait for a full report from the tourism task force, with all their initiatives to come at the end, but that they should report on specific initiatives which they propose to the Minister, which will be done.
The Deputy will be aware that the grant to Bord Fáilte was decided in advance of my appointment as Minister. However, that is not an excuse. It is important to realise that it is not just Bord Fáilte who expend money to attract tourists to Ireland. We must also acknowledge the amount of money spent by airlines, shipping interests and the tremendous amount of investment by private industry. It is also important to point out that, of course, we would all prefer Bord Fáilte to get more money but, like all the other practical realities in relation to finances at present, we ask Bord Fáilte every year to do more with less. It is also important to say that in the period when Bord Fáilte's annual grant in aid was at its lowest — 1987-88 — two of the biggest annual increases in numbers occurred. It is not correct to assume that because the Bord Fáilte grant has not been increased tourism numbers do not increase as a result.
Has the Minister any plans to review the role of Bord Fáilte? Is she in favour of the decision of the previous Minister not to include a member of Bord Fáilte on the task force? Will she reverse that decision and include someone with experience in the market? It is a gross error not to include such a person and I ask her to clarify the position in that regard. Will the Minister say if she is in favour of the advertisements placed in some of the national newspapers at the weekend seeking ideas on the tourism task force and what should be done in regard to tourism? Does the Minister intend running her Department by asking the general public for ideas on tourism?
There would be as many ideas on the development of tourism as there are people in the country and I hope that would be the way. It is a matter for the tourism task force to decide how they should do their business and I would not like to interfere with them on a daily basis in regard to their operations. As part of their operations, the task force have decided that they should move in this direction and I support them in this.
With regard to the appointment of a Bord Fáilte nominee to the tourism task force, I have informed the chairman of the task force that if he or the task force members believe there should be additions to the task force——
What is the Minister's view?
——in specific areas I will have a look at that. As of now——
The Minister has no opinion.
——I do not believe the task force cannot do their work by virtue of the fact that they do not have a representative of the Bord Fáilte board or executive on the board. With regard to the review role of Board Fáilte, obviously in my consideration of tourism and the commitments given in the Programme for Economic and Social Progress by the Government, I will be looking at the role Bord Fáilte play in the same way any Minister who is new to the job would look at all State agencies under his or her aegis.
