Vol. 568 No. 3
15 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the latest information available to his Department on projected tourist numbers for the remainder of 2003; if his Department is planning additional steps to be taken to address the fall in tourist numbers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16128/03]
16 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the prospects of the current tourist season; and if he has proposals in this regard. [16099/03]
19 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if his Department has undertaken a study as to the extent to which the Iraqi war may have hit tourism numbers, especially from the North American market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16134/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 16 and 19 together.
Statistics for the first quarter of 2003 released by the CSO today show that Ireland has more or less held its own with a slight decrease in overall visitor numbers of 0.3% compared with the same period last year. Foreign revenue earnings from tourism increased by almost 10%.
In such adverse market conditions, these figures represent a good performance by Irish tourism and are evidence that we are maintaining our position in a volatile marketplace. Despite the obvious difficulties, there appears to have been a good performance from the US, German, French and Spanish markets in particular. The British market, which has experienced a marked decrease in all outbound traffic this year, has shown some softening in visitor numbers to Ireland – although market reports suggest that Ireland may be gaining market share.
It would be unwise, given the volatility of the international tourism market, to make any predictions for the year as a whole on the basis of figures for the first quarter. The pattern of very short booking times, which became evident over the past few years, is continuing. However, it is clear that 2003 is proving to be yet another testing year for Irish tourism. The Iraqi war, the spread of SARS and a continuing sluggishness in the economies of our main source markets have all combined to produce a difficult international marketing environment.
While no specific study has been undertaken into the impact of the Iraqi war on tourism numbers, the tourism agencies, working in conjunction with the industry, have been monitoring the market situation very closely over recent months. Based on their assessment, both the anticipation of the conflict and the onset of war resulted in a marked softening in the level of advance bookings over the two months in question which may be difficult to recover over the remaining months of the year.
However, with the ending of the Iraqi conflict and an upturn in consumer confidence in some key markets, particularly the US, there is some cause for optimism going forward. The appreciation of the euro against the US dollar and sterling over recent times is also a cause for concern for the tourism sector. While this is unlikely to impact on the cost of holiday packages to Ireland this year, US and British tourists to Ireland will experience a noticeable deterioration in their spending power when they arrive. The key challenge for the industry will be to ensure that overseas visitors continue to get the best possible value for their money on the ground, relative to other eurozone countries. The appreciation of the euro does, of course, impact on all eurozone countries.
