Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 October 2021
6. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the measures she will be put in place following the closure of Cork Airport to encourage tourism to County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47849/21]
View answerWhile the aviation sector is of critical importance in terms of the recovery of our tourism sector, the responsibility for aviation, including the temporary closure of Cork Airport, falls to my colleague, the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan.
While I hope that 2022 will see a strong rebound in overall tourism, it seems likely that overseas visitor numbers will be significantly down on 2019 so maximising the domestic tourism market over the next few years is vital as we encourage tourism businesses to re-open, re-hire staff and rebuild their businesses.
Fáilte Ireland’s domestic marketing campaign, ‘Keep Discovering’, which promotes all parts of Ireland including Cork, is about encouraging people to discover our wonderful country again now that restrictions are lifted. The economic importance of a domestic holiday cannot be overstated, particularly now at this point in our country’s recovery, so it’s about turning plans into bookings.
Fáilte Ireland continues to work to further develop tourism in Cork in both the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East regional brand areas, and is involved in a wide variety of activity in both of these regional brand areas. The agency also partners with Cork Airport to ensure that the sense of place in the airport is delivered to every passenger by driving awareness of the experience brands in the region.
Cork also features on Fáilte Ireland's new look DiscoverIreland.ie website for domestic visitors. The website has been redesigned as a one-stop shop for domestic visitors, showcasing the wealth of things to see and do across Ireland.
Promoting the island of Ireland in the aftermath of COVID-19 requires a new tactical ‘book now’ campaign delivered at scale across markets. I travelled to America recently to help Tourism Ireland launch its new tourism promotional "Green Button" campaign to get Americans to visit Ireland sometime soon. The ‘Green Button’ campaign will be deployed to encourage maximum visitor booking at the most opportune time and creating a commitment to travel .
The campaign will be highly visible utilising multiple consumer channels such as TV and digital platforms. Iconic attractions from both the Republic and Northern Ireland will be front and centre and the ultimate goal will be for large numbers in our target markets to "press the green button" and travel to Ireland.
I also travelled to London recently to engage with key tourism industry stakeholders there and in particular the global inbound tour operators about opportunities to rebuild tourism business to Ireland.
