Vol. 516 No. 1
111 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the extent to which the activities of county strategy groups are fulfilling the role with which they have been entrusted; and the effectiveness of county tourism committees. [7107/00]
I have already outlined the position with regard to county strategy groups in my reply to a further separate question on today's Order Paper.
County tourism committees – CTC – representative of the various membership categories within the regional tourism authorities – RTA – including voluntary groups and organisations, were established following a review of the co-ordination of tourism at regional level, in 1993.
CTCs were to be involved in the stimulation and development of tourism at county level, while RTAs were to continue to have responsibility for tourism development at regional level, including co-ordination, promotions, tourist information networks and certain accommodation standards. The CTCs were to have responsibility for formulating county tourism action plans for incorporation into the plans of county enterprise boards and the regional tourism plans produced by the RTAs.
Since then the RTAs meet at least three times annually with each of the county tourism committees and organise an annual forum for all committees within their regions on tourism matters including regional tourism planning.
The CTCs are part of the recent review of the RTAs – the subject of another question on today's Order Paper – which included the issue of the county dimension of tourism structures as part of its remit.
