Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport & Media meet for discussion on developing rural tourism in Ireland

The meeting in 2 sessions will hear from representatives from 

Session 1

• Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
• Fáilte Ireland
• Irish Tourism Industry Confederation
• Irish Hotels Federation

Session 2

• Restaurants Association of Ireland
• Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions
• Coach Tourism and Transport Council  

Speaking ahead of the meeting Committee Leas-Cathaoirleach Deputy Alan Dillon TD said “tomorrow’s meeting is a welcome opportunity for the Committee to focus on the important issue of the development of rural tourism. As Ireland’s largest indigenous employer, tourism has 20,000 businesses in the sector, the vast majority SMEs and we know the industry supports over 220,000 livelihoods nationally. Tourism is Ireland’s largest indigenous employer across the entire country and its contribution to the Irish positive economic position cannot be underestimated. With approximately 70% of tourism jobs outside of Dublin, tourism’s extensive geographic distribution is critical to sustaining our wider regional and rural economies.

We will engage with the representatives attending tomorrow in order to get a clear indication into what these stakeholders believe the Government can implement in order to nurture and bolster the Irish rural tourism industry.”

The meeting at 1:30pm can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.  

Read more about the work done by The Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media  

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.