I have not yet reached the question of the canal. A very large number of tours from all parts of England by motor coach are arranged at prices of about £3 to £4 10s. per day, all inclusive, which as Deputies will realise, will appeal to people of moderate incomes. Those coach tours are constantly being extended.
A great deal of the success of bringing anglers here depends on the development associations consisting of most devoted people who work for no reward to themselves. They arrange bookings in their towns and help to list accommodation. They arrange for catering courses for people who are not accustomed to taking care of tourists and they also collaborate with Bord Fáilte and the Inland Fisheries Trust. They have their own publicity in Great Britain in the angling newspapers, and in many cases, they send delegations to Great Britain, and in some cases, they maintain a particular connection with a town in Britain and in that way they have helped to increase our tourist angling business.
The particular features of fishing that can be found in each area are, first of all, included in the main Bord Fáilte Angling Guide and, secondly, in local brochures for which Bord Fáilte give some assistance in the preparation. Wherever fishing is available in canals, I know from my own experience in the past, although I have not got the information here tonight, that the local development association includes canal angling amenities in their brochure and, through the films shown by Bord Fáilte and the Inland Fisheries Trust in Great Britain, Deputy Dillon can be certain that angling clubs in Great Britain know that in certain areas there is very fine fishing in the canals.
An effort is also being made to stock the canals with tench which are particularly suitable for canal waters. I think Deputies also know that a very large stretch of canal will be permanently maintained as far as we know in the foreseeable future, regardless of any action taken in respect of canals by C.I.E.
The development of game is, in part, the responsibility of the Minister for Lands and partly my responsibility to the extent that Bord Fáilte carries out publicity advertising game amenities. It has given some substantial help to the newly-established game councils on the assumption that, as the years go by, we shall gradually be able to develop a national game policy.
Bord Fáilte is also equally in touch with hunt organisations in the United States and gives information to travel agencies, especially in the U.S., in order to encourage people to come here and hunt. I mentioned that because Deputy Donegan stressed the importance of hunting as a winter attraction. Bord Fáilte includes hunting and other sport in their general publicity and at the same time maintains touch with hunt organisations wherever possible so as to encourage people to hunt here. I do not hunt, but I think Deputies will realise there are some difficulties. Many people abroad are not accustomed to our style of hunting and sometimes require a certain amount of experience before they become fully competent to hunt in our manner. That has been proved true by some of the very short week-end hunting tours that have been arranged and have not been successful because some experience is required before people from abroad become accustomed to our way of hunting.
I come to the question of hotel grants. Deputy Cosgrave suggested that hoteliers were sometimes deterred from improving premises through fear of incurring substantially increased valuation. I understand that premises that have been improved or extended are subject to increased valuation but qualify for two-thirds remission of rates on any increase for a period of from two to seven years. Taxation depreciation allowance includes an initial depreciation of 20 per cent. so that hoteliers can be encouraged to improve premises and promoters can be encouraged to build new hotels. The rating and tax allowances together offer them a reasonable chance of developing and extending hotels without too much difficulty.
Deputy Donegan said that the scheme of funding loans for hotels is preferable to the direct cash grant scheme as a means of encouraging hotel development. He also suggested that the interest-free period on loans should be extended from 5 to 16 years. I am not quite clear on what he meant by the "funding" of loans. The State does not advance moneys for hotel development works but the Minister can give guarantees in respect of loans raised by hoteliers in approved cases. The loans are lent in the normal way by lending institutions, usually the banks. In view of the Minister's guarantee, the interest rate of such loans is generally a little bit below the normal lending rate.
Bord Fáilte also gives grants which make guaranteed loans interest-free for five years and Bord Fáilte also makes grants which meet the greater part of the interest rate on loans secured otherwise than under the Ministerial guarantee, so that an hotel manager may borrow money himself without a Ministerial guarantee and get the interest paid on it for a number of years by Bord Fáilte. He can also get the interest paid for five years on money borrowed on State guarantee.
There are also grants for reconstruction of bedrooms and other hotel amenities. I think those grants are generous and that it would be unreasonable to suggest that the interest-free period of the loan should be extended from 5 to 16 years.
Deputy Tully spoke about assistance for holiday camps. They qualify for the same treatment as hotels as regards grant and loan facilities and tax concessions. Butlin's holiday camp have received substantial grant assistance from Bord Fáilte.
Assistance for private unregistered accommodation is suggested by some Deputies but I think Bord Fáilte were right in confining financial assistance to registered premises where there is a certain minimum standard. The guaranteed loans and interest grant schemes are available to all registered premises, including guest houses. A number of complaints have been made by Deputies to the effect that Bord Fáilte stress too much the incentives they offer to luxury hotels. First, the hotels classified as "A" by Bord Fáilte as distinct from "A plus" or "A-star" are not, in the international sense, luxury hotels. They are regarded as top-grade but not luxury hotels. The luxury hotel is confined to those specified as "A plus" of which there are not many in this country.
Deputies will be interested to hear the proportions of accommodation of the various classes in the country. Out of a total of 18,700 registered hotel bedrooms fewer than 5,500 are in the "A plus" or "A" class. By 1963, it is expected that we shall have 20,000 registered bedrooms of which "A plus" and "A" grades will account for about 6,400 rooms.
It has been suggested that Bord Fáilte are unwilling to assist in small extensions and improvement works and that this operates against the small hotelier or guest-house keeper. Deputy Dillon stressed the importance of assisting the small hotel keeper and guest-house keeper and at the same time suggested they should not be encouraged to go too far at once. I think the minima for the various schemes are fairly reasonable. The expenditure on improvement in accommodation required by Bord Fáilte for an hotel of any class or for registered guest house is as follows: bedroom grants should be for at least five bedrooms. If it is an improvement grant, the works should be to the value of at least £2,000. If a guaranteed loan is required it should be for at least £500 and if interest grants are applied for, it should be in respect of loans of at least £500. The assistance offered is reasonable on the whole and it certainly is not discouraging to the small hotelier or to the registered guest-house keeper.
The question was raised about advertising the simpler classes of accommodation even beyond those that are registered. There is a complete and separate list of the unregistered lodging-house accommodation in all the areas where angling tourism is a feature and there are supplementary accommodation lists that have been published by Bord Fáilte and widely disseminated in the right kind of circles for Achill, Galway, Salthill, Kilkee, Lahinch, Ballybunion, Dingle, Killarney, West Cork, Arklow, Greystones, Skerries, Bundoran, Buncrana, Moville, and Tramore. Lists for other places are in the course of preparation. That is in addition to the lists published particularly for the coarse angling and sea fishing districts. They cover accommodation for 10,000 people. No fewer than 947 private houses are listed and 132 houses are available for letting. 100,000 free copies are distributed and they include places where accommodation can be secured for as little as 12/6 for bed and breakfast and even in those cases there is a 50 per cent. reduction for children.
In order further to illustrate the extent to which Bord Fáilte is encouraging the improvement of B, C and guesthouse accommodation, I think the House should hear the figures. The total grants or loans covering the improvement or construction of hotels has been £3,350,000 and of that sum £1,250,000 has been for accommodation other than A plus or A grade hotels. The bedroom grants given so far total £527,000 of which £310,000 is for hotel accommodation of B class or lower. That indicates that although there is a good deal in the newspapers about the great luxury hotels going up, all the time good work is being done by Board Fáilte to assist hotels of lower grade. On such occasions as I have had the opportunity of speaking about the tourist industry, I have made it clear that we need far more B and C guesthouse accommodation. There are whole stretches of magnificent coast where there is practically no accommodation. Deputies from Kerry will know there are very few guesthouses or hotels in places I know well, for example the great and wonderful beach stretching along the southern shore of the Dingle peninsula around Annascaul and that area. There are many places of the same kind where accommodation in relation to the amenities is almost totally lacking. I hope now that the tourist industry is showing continued signs of growth, there will be more applications for grants or loans for the simpler type of accommodation. I have also told the Directors of the new C.I.E. hotel subsidiary that, in my view, they should now examine the whole question of how far they can provide B class accommodation in the areas where it is lacking and where they believe there is a tourist potential.
Deputy Leneghan made some strange references to what he alleged to be the futility of the Bord Fáilte operations in Achill. In Achill Bord Fáilte has been operating with particular success and the increase in the number of visitors last year as a result of the application of the June holiday plan to Achill has been very noticeable indeed.
Having pointed out that Bord Fáilte are not only issuing supplementary accommodation lists but encouraging improvement and construction of hotels for people of the middle and lower income groups, I should say it is essential that our hotel standards should improve and that, whatever Bord Fáilte do, a minimum standard should be insisted upon in regard to what can be included in any classification by them in regard to comfort, food and hygiene.
A considerable number of Deputies referred to different areas in which they are interested, and expressed the hope that Bord Fáilte would advertise their particular tourist area. The answer to that is that if Deputies will look at the local publicity privately promoted, the Irish Tourist Association publicity and the many leaflets provided by Bord Fáilte, they will see that practically every tourist area is well covered and in the case of Bord Fáilte in the general sense. But there is a tremendous need for far more regional publicity organised by private interests. Here again, may I repeat what has been stated by my predecessor and, I think, at the time of the Coalition Government, by every Minister in charge of tourism, that regional committees, associations and local hotels spend less money on developing tourism in their areas in proportion to the money spent by Bord Fáilte than any other country in Europe. That perhaps could be understood in the earlier period of our tourist development, but the lack of regional publicity on a very big scale is becoming more and more noticeable.
It is wrong to expect Bord Fáilte to go into every avenue, into every area. It is for the local people to create their own image of what they have to offer to the people who come from abroad. It is done all over Europe. You can go into the smallest villages in Britain where I am perfectly certain the people as a whole have no more general income than people here and you will find that those villages form their associations: you will find leaflets abounding. In hotels in other countries you will find a whole system of regional publicity worked out. We have not yet even attempted to adopt the principle of the chain hotel system in which the collaboration between hotels throughout Europe makes possible the dissemination of tourist literature not only by individual hotels but by chains of hotels of the same class either around the whole country or in a particular area. I should like to take the opportunity of congratulating the Chamber of Commerce in Galway for appointing a promotion officer for tourism in the area. I hope that example will be followed elsewhere. Bord Fáilte are paying for part of the salary of this promotion officer.
Other Deputies spoke of the necessity for providing amenities of various kinds, particularly in inland areas which will be of value to the tourist trade. I should remind the House that the new local improvement grants are available to recognised associations from the Minister for Local Government and they apply to improvements of the kind that would be of great value in the tourist industry, particularly in inland areas and in the areas where many people go to fish.
A number of Deputies referred to the effect of the present licensing laws on tourist resorts. That does not come under this Estimate. All I can say is that Bord Fáilte have made their point of view known to the Minister for Justice.
Deputy Donegan referred to the great potential of sea angling. Bord Fáilte have been making a tremendous effort to develop sea angling. There is still difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number of boats of the right kind and exactly at the moment when anglers want them. There is also, unfortunately, a dearth of accommodation in some of the most magnificent areas for sea angling. For example—I was reading one of the latest reports the other day—apparently, there is magnificent surf angling all around the west coast of Clare, underneath the burren limestone escarpments and there is surf angling in many other areas, but insufficient accommodation. Bord Fáilte are naturally concentrating their interest on areas where accommodation and boats are available and the number of foreigners coming here and the number of our own people who come to take part in sea angling competitions is constantly increasing.
The same thing applies, I think, to the growth in the number who come to play golf here. Aer Lingus have arranged package tours for American golfers and I believe that in turn has begun to attract people to this country because of the very fine golf courses we have here and golf courses which are still relatively unencumbered compared with those in many parts of Great Britain and the United States.
Deputy Cosgrave asked some questions about the comparative sea fares and rail fares on the Dublin-Cork route. The only air fare that was changed was the return air excursion fare, which was increased from four guineas to five guineas. I felt that as the flights from Dublin to Cork and vice versa were, in the main, positioning flights and had to be undertaken anyway, to have cut-throat competition start between C.I.E. and the air service was anomalous in those circumstances. In reply to Deputy Cosgrave, I did definitely intervene in regard to the matter and on that ground.
Deputy Tully spoke about the necessity for encouraging interest in Irish games of every kind. Bord Fáilte have published a calendar of events covering sports of every description and all the main events taking place in the coming year.
