Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 April 2014
271. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the role played by Irish airlines in the development of Irish tourism; if he will continue to explore options such as the abolition of the travel tax to help these airlines to prosper and bring more people to this country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15818/14]
View answer272. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the potential for the development of Irish tourism through the emergence of low-cost transatlantic flights; if he will liaise with airlines to explore ways of incentivising and enabling this prospect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15819/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 271 and 272 together.
As an island destination, direct, convenient and competitive access services are critical to achieving tourism growth to Ireland. The development of our tourism industry is central to the Government's economic recovery programme, and the connectivity that is provided by Irish airlines is very important in this regard. Enhanced air access to key business and tourism markets around the world has been a key element of the Government's policy.
The zero rate travel tax, which has come into effect this week, has been introduced in order to encourage new airline routes into Ireland. There has been a very positive response to date from the airlines with new routes and increased services coming on stream from Dublin, Shannon, Cork and Knock.
North America is a critically important market for tourism to Ireland; these visitors stay longer, spend more than average and tour more extensively. The latest CSO figures indicate that in 2013 there was an 11% increase in visits from North America compared to 2012 and it represented the highest ever annual number of visits from this market. This year, it is expected that during the peak season, direct air capacity on transatlantic routes will increase by 17%. This follows an increase of 26% in 2013.
In terms of the possible introduction of any new services, obviously these are primarily commercial decisions for the airlines themselves and the trans-Atlantic aviation market is fully liberalised under the EU Open Skies agreement with the US and Canada. Tourism Ireland, in co-operation with other enterprise agencies, does engage in case-making activity for the introduction of routes of strategic importance for Ireland and undertakes co-operative marketing activity with airports and air carriers to stimulate demand. In this regard, campaigns are currently underway with all the airlines which fly to Ireland from ten North American gateways, and with leading tour operators.
