Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 June 2014
2. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the discussions he and his Department have had with their Assembly counterparts regarding the development of an all-Ireland tourist strategy. [27421/14]
View answerTourism is an essential part of our economy. In fact, it continues to make gains despite the current global recession. What steps has the Minister and his Department taken to develop an all-Ireland strategy for tourism?
In the Good Friday Agreement, tourism is specifically designated as an area of cross-Border co-operation. Tourism Ireland was therefore established to market the entire island of Ireland as a destination in overseas markets.
Co-operation on tourism does not take place directly with the Assembly. Rather, the tourism Ministers from the Government here and the Northern Ireland Executive meet regularly in the North-South Ministerial Council, NSMC, tourism sectoral format. The most recent sectoral took place in January. Among the items discussed were Tourism Ireland's Business Plan 2014 and Corporate Plan 2014-2016. Both these documents set out the strategies being employed to grow tourism to the island of Ireland in the next three years.
The Deputy and I may believe that a single tourism agency makes more sense than the three that are currently in existence. However any changes to this set-up would require substantive changes to the North-South framework and could only progress within a wider political and institutional agreement.
I thank the Minister for his response. In 2011, Ireland was voted favourite holiday destination in the world by readers of Frommer's Guide. Lonely Planet listed Ireland as the world's friendliest country and the Irish Tourist Board's website, Discoverireland.com, as being the best tourist board website in the world. A ten-year review of the Irish tourism industry in 2003 anticipated that 10 million visitors would visit Ireland on an annual basis by 2014. The Northern Assembly aims to increase visitor numbers to that part of Ireland to 4.2 million and grow tourist revenue to €676 million by December 2014 and €1 billion by 2020. These are ambitious targets which can be further developed with the correct all-Ireland approach. Clearly, tourism makes a huge contribution to the economy. However, we have a problem with attracting repeat visitors. Does the Minister consider there are enough tourist attractions on the island? I think it would be beneficial if the Minister was to meet on a regular basis with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. Does he plan to have any such meetings?
I am not sure we have a problem with attracting repeat visitors.
We do.
Clearly, the statistics indicate we get fewer repeat visitors than other tourist destinations but that may be, in part, down to the nature of Ireland as a tourism destination. People may well go the Costa del Sol and Portugal every other year. Coming to Ireland is a different proposition especially for people coming from America or from long haul flights. In many cases, it is a once in a lifetime holiday or something they may do twice. It is different from the south of France. The important issue is to increase the numbers coming in every year, whether they are repeat visitors is not the key issue. What I can say is that this is going to be another good year for tourism. Since the change of Government the number of international visitors coming to Ireland has increased by a million per year. I meet the Minister with responsibility for tourism in the Assembly, Ms Arlene Foster, regularly. The last such meeting took place on Friday week in Farmleigh. We have built up a good working relationship in recent years. There is an issue that might be considered by the party of which the Deputy is a member. Under the d'Hondt system Sinn Féin had the second pick of Ministries. The DUP chose finance and Sinn Féin passed over the opportunity to have enterprise, trade and investment which includes tourism, I am not sure why. Essentially, what Sinn Féin did in the North was to decide not to have anything to do with the economic Ministries and decided to go for others instead.
I thank the Minister.
Perhaps the Deputy's party might suggest getting that department in the next Executive.
I thank the Minister for his comments. One project that I believe would be a huge asset to tourism in Ireland is Ireland's Eye TV. This has the potential to increase international visitation rates and showcase our nation's strong significance at a global level. Ireland's Eye TV will reach more than 30 million web users, some of whom will be high level business people and influential leaders. This initiative will also highlight Ireland's advancement as the Silicon Valley of Europe and global investment opportunities. Will the Minister discuss this project with his Assembly counterparts and facilitate a joint meeting?
I am not particularly familiar with it. I have heard of it but I do not know very much about it and I have had no meetings about it. If the Deputy would pass on the details, I would certainly be happy to take a look at it.
