Holly Cairns
Question:123. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the steps she is taking to promote the tourism and hospitality sector in 2022. [55161/21]
View answerThursday, 11 November 2021
Questions (123)
Written answers
As the Deputy is aware, the tourism sector has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore I was pleased to secure a record level of funding for tourism in Budget 2022. The total funding of €288.5 million represents an increase of €67.6 million over the 2021 allocation. The allocation includes a €35 million increase to the Tourism Marketing Fund, to support the delivery of a marketing strategy to help restore inbound tourism to Ireland.
As part of its marketing strategy, Tourism Ireland has established a recovery framework entitled: RESTART, REBUILD and REDESIGN, which will be underpinned by an extensive programme of promotional activity throughout 2022.
Tourism Ireland has already begun to ‘roll out the green carpet’ as they work to encourage as many overseas holidaymakers as possible to book Ireland for their next holiday destination. The concept revolves around creating a commitment to travel, by ‘pressing the Green Button’ – green being the universal colour of ‘go’ and instinctively connected with the island of Ireland. I was happy to help Tourism Ireland launch this new campaign in both the UK and the United States recently when I travelled to both markets to engage with our industry partners to reassure them that Ireland was open and waiting to welcome back visitors.
Tourism Ireland will continue to work with airlines and ferry companies through a programme of jointly funded marketing initiatives to support the restoration of air and sea access routes, which are so vital for tourism’s return to growth.
Given the projected slow return of international visitors, additional funding has also been allocated to Fáilte Ireland in Budget 2022, for domestic marketing and festivals. Festivals are a key motivator for visitors to travel and provide an urgency and a specific time frame in which potential visitors must visit Ireland, while domestic visitors will be crucial in sustaining businesses and jobs in the sector.
Fáilte Ireland recently embarked on extensive domestic marketing and communications campaigns, including their ‘Keep Discovering’ and ‘Winter in Dublin’ programmes, designed to encourage domestic holidaymakers to discover Ireland.
There is increasing recognition that tourism growth must be sustainable, as well as being consistent with our sectoral climate change targets and commitments. In that regard, I know that Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland are working towards the longer term goal of ensuring that we are successfully marketed as a sustainable tourism destination.