Vol. 475 No. 8
61 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade his views on the fact that there has been a marked failure to develop the domestic tourism market; the growth targets for the recently announced initiative in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6019/97]
The domestic tourism market is Ireland's largest single tourism market, generating in the region of £350 million in holiday revenue each year. In addition it supports an estimated 27,000 jobs in the economy, over a quarter of the total employment supported by tourism generally.
In recognition of the critical importance of the domestic market to the tourism sector generally, the Minister of State at my Department, Deputy O'Sullivan, established the domestic tourism marketing initiative in 1996 under the auspices of the national tourism council with the primary objective of working with the industry to renew domestic tourism interest. A high level working group comprising representatives from the tourism industry, state agencies and officials of my Department was set up to carry this objective forward by developing an integrated national marketing programme to accelerate growth in home holidays, with particular emphasis on the shoulder and off-season periods.
Following completion of the work of this group, the Minister of State recently launched the 1997 domestic tourism marketing campaign — the biggest marketing campaign ever undertaken to promote domestic tourism in Ireland. This £1 million campaign will include an extensive advertising campaign based on the tourism Brand Ireland initiative and various complementary promotional activities such as the national home holiday awareness week, the holiday of a lifetime competition and a comprehensive direct mail campaign. This level of marketing activity targetted especially at increasing public awareness of home holidays, is unprecedented.
