Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 November 2013
13. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if there has been any noticeable increase in visitors from China, India, Brazil, Russia and south east Asia in recent years; the targets he has for these markets; and the strategies that exist to ensure that Ireland increases its penetration of these markets. [47111/13]
View answerFigures published by the Central Statistics Office show that Irish tourism is enjoying a very good year and all of our main overseas markets are showing growth. For the nine month period between January and September, the number of overseas visits to Ireland increased by 6.4% to over 5.4 million. Visits from North America were up by 14.6%; visits from Mainland Europe were up by 5.1% while visits from Great Britain were up by 3.5% for the nine month period. Due to the relatively small numbers involved, the CSO does not publish individual country breakdowns for other long-haul markets. The Office does provide an overall figure however, and the number of visits from these markets increased by 13.7% compared by the same period in 2012.
Tourism Ireland is the agency with responsibility for the overseas marketing of the Island of Ireland as a holiday destination.The agency continues to roll out major marketing campaigns in all of our main overseas markets and is working hard to put Ireland on the map in emerging markets. This year's activity in this regard includes arranging familiarisation visits for leading travel agents and tour operators from these markets and also cooperative campaigns with airlines and tour operators serving these regions. The Visa Waiver introduced by Government under the Jobs Initiative has assisted greatly in both facilitating more visits from those markets which are visa-required and also in encouraging operators from those markets to include Ireland in their itineraries.
With regard to tourism strategies for the medium to longer term, Tourism Ireland is currently finalising its three year Corporate Plan to cover the 2014 -2017 period which will, inter alia, outline strategies for each of our main overseas tourism markets. In addition, I am currently engaged in consultations as part of my review of tourism policy, the closing date for responses to which has been extended to the 22nd November, and one of the issues raised is that of Ireland's priority markets/best prospects.
