Vol. 564 No. 5
5 Mr. Wall asked the Taoiseach if his Department compiles statistics on the number of Irish people who holiday abroad each year, the amount of money they spend, and related matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5604/03]
The Central Statistics Office produces quarterly and annual statistics on tourism and travel, which include data on the number of Irish residents who holiday abroad and their estimated expenditure. It is estimated that there were 2.7 million overseas visits by Irish residents for reason of holiday, leisure and recreation in 2002, with a total expenditure of just over €2,720 million. This compares with just over 2.4 million visits and expenditure of €2,205 million in 2001, representing increases of 12.7% in visits and 23.4% in expenditure. The main results on tourism and travel for quarter four, 2002 were published by the CSO on 20 March and further details will be included in the annual release for 2002, which will be published later this month.
Is the Minister not concerned, in view of the exceptionally fine weather we have been enjoying, that Irish people are increasingly determined to holiday abroad? Given the current war and the severe economic downturn, the statistics in this respect are going the wrong way. More Irish people prefer to go abroad for holidays rather than holiday at home while fewer foreign visitors are coming to this country. Does the Government have any proposals to deal with this?
That is a policy question which would be more appropriate for the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism.
The statistics also give us information about visits to this country and the number of Irish people holidaying at home. They show that even though Irish people are travelling abroad, the number of tourists that visited Ireland last year was 3,243,000, which is slightly more than the previous year. That was encouraging.
Obviously, the current world situation makes tourism difficult and it will be a challenge for my colleague, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue. However, when Ministers travelled to various places abroad on behalf of the Government for St. Patrick's Day, we were given a substantial brief in relation to the tourism industry in this country. The brief dealt with Tourism Ireland and encouraging people to holiday here. I, like other Ministers, took every opportunity at major events, particularly in the United States, to encourage people to come to Ireland this year. I believe the slogan for this year is "People, Place and Pace". Every effort is being made by the Government at every level to ensure the tourism industry continues to grow.
