Vol. 565 No. 4
22 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he has received a briefing regarding any meetings that Ministers had with tourist industry representatives and-or tourism Ministers in other countries during their recent visits abroad for the St. Patrick's Day festivities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11023/03]
31 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the content and outcome of any meetings he had with tourist industry representatives during his recent visit to Scotland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11022/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 and 31 together.
St. Patrick's Day has traditionally signalled the start of the tourism season in Ireland. With the Taoiseach, Ministers and Ministers of State visiting our key tourism markets – including Britain, North America, continental Europe, Canada and Australia – this year's programme of official overseas engagements for St. Patrick's Day presented a unique opportunity to ensure that Ireland was presented in a consistent manner as a top class tourist destination to a wide and receptive audience.
To this end, my Department worked closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Tourism Ireland Limited to maximise the tourism promotional potential of these visits by making available to all Ministers travelling abroad special tourism briefing and speaking points which were customised for individual major markets. In addition, direct dialogue between Tourism Ireland's market offices and the diplomatic missions at an early stage of the planning process ensured that tourism interests were accommodated in so far as possible within the official programmes being arranged by the missions.
The following examples illustrate how these visits were utilised for tourism promotion: in Australia, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Noel Dempsey, participated at a highly successful lunch event in Sydney organised by Tourism Ireland for the tourism trade interests in that market; in Seoul, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Tom Parlon, launched Tourism Ireland's website, which is now available in Korean for the first time ever; in South Africa, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, spoke at a tourism breakfast organised by Tourism Ireland for the tourism trade in that market; and in the US, I understand that Ministers travelling to this vital tourism market utilised the comprehensive briefing and speaking points provided by my Department at every available opportunity. In the current uncertainty in the international tourism market, particularly the US market, these visits were particularly useful in getting the message out that Ireland is open for tourism business and that the welcome is as warm as ever.
24 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his response to statistics from Bord Fáilte (details supplied) which showed that 56% of visitors to Ireland last year were disappointed with their holiday here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11024/03]
25 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he supports the call by the Border, Midland and Western Regional Assembly for a fundamental review of tourism policy to assist in attracting visitors to the BMW region; his proposals in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11033/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 and 25 together.
The article referred to by Deputy Ryan was a report of an address delivered at a recent tourism conference. Unfortunately, as often happens when statistics are taken out of context, the report was not a completely accurate representation of the results from Bord Fáilte's latest visitor attitudes survey, which was conducted amongst overseas holiday visitors during the summer of 2002.
In fact, the survey found that 94% of overseas visitors indicated that their holiday either matched or exceeded their expectations. Only a small minority of 6% were disappointed overall with their holiday experience. When asked, almost eight in ten visitors surveyed said that they would recommend a holiday in Ireland to a friend with virtually the remainder saying that they would recommend Ireland with some reservations.
What is of concern to me, and something about which I have spoken consistently since taking up my present portfolio, is the level of dissatisfaction with the overall value for money that is emerging from all markets. As indicated in Deputy Ryan's question, the fact is that less than half of all overseas visitors, last year, were satisfied with the value for money on offer to them. This has to be seen in the context that the main influence on the choice of a holiday destination for half of holiday visitors to Ireland, are word of mouth recommendations of friends, relatives and others.
