I thank Senators for their interesting contributions to debates on tourism. To date, we have had a useful and wide ranging debate on Irish national tourism policy, performance and prospects for the future.
Irish tourism is going through a period of unprecedented and sustained growth. The optimum support structures have been put in place in order to promote further development and the prospects for the future have never looked better. It might be useful at this point in the debate to recap on some of the key points that illustrate this success.
While the targets the Government has set for tourism are ambitious, we are well on course towards achieving them. Ireland was the top performing tourism destination in Europe in 1995, with revenue growth of 12 per cent over 1994, compared with a European average of 2.3 per cent. Revenue from British tourists was up by 13 per cent. North American tourism revenue was up by 30 per cent and revenue from mainland Europe increased by approximately 12 per cent.
Job creation targets are also being met and the sector is now estimated by Bord Fáilte to sustain 102,000 jobs — an increase of 50 per cent since 1988. Indeed, tourism will soon outstrip agriculture as a provider of jobs in our economy.
Concern has been expressed about the variations in the growth of tourism among the regions. Contrary to some opinions that have been expressed on the subject, all of the regions are benefiting from the growth, a point which I have already illustrated in my earlier statement. Not only that, but the past and future strategy development of tourism development takes full account of the need for regional development and provides a platform for each region to realise its potential. Indeed, some of the programmes and measures which assist tourism projects, such as the pilot tax relief scheme for certain resort areas, the International Fund for Ireland, INTERREG, the Leader Programme and the agritourism scheme could, by their nature, be said to be weighted in favour of regional development.
The value of domestic tourism to the economy generally and specifically to the regions has not always been fully appreciated in the past. I am sure the House will agree that the domestic tourism marketing initiative which I recently announced in this regard will prove very useful. For the first time the Government has made a contribution of £500,000 dealing specifically with the domestic market. Ireland is targeting an overall growth of 10 per cent in inbound tourism in 1996. With the active promotion by the industry in all regions and sectors, all the regions can participate in this growth.
The restructuring of Bord Fáilte is well on course. Its home marketing activities are being extensively supplemented by a total projected marketing spend of £125 million in the Operational Programme for Tourism which will support marketing campaigns focusing on improving seasonality, access, developing new markets, attracting high yield business and co-operative marketing on a product or geographical basis. The Overseas Tourism Marketing Initiative, OTMI, which represents a unique partnership of Bord Fáilte, the Northern Ireland Tourism Board and the tourism industry, North and South, is proving especially successful.
New and improved arrangements have been put in place to ensure the optimum co-ordination between Government Departments and agencies involved in tourism and greater emphasis is being put on manpower policy. Together with the other policies outlined in the debate, the framework has been put in place to ensure planned development of a sustainable tourism industry into the next millennium. There is no room for complacency and the perceived problems of the regional imbalances must be addressed. Nevertheless, it is clear that we can not only realise our national tourism targets but the conditions are there for each of the regions to realise its own potential.