asked the Minister for Transport and Power the reasons for the decline in CIE tours in 1971 despite the optimistic forecasts made earlier this year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - CIE Tours.
15.
Mr. O'Donnell
I am informed by Bord Fáilte and CIE that forecasts of coach tour traffic made earlier this year were based on information then available and were clearly tentative. Results to-date have not been up to expectation due to external factors, including economic conditions abroad, which are outside our control.
Mr. O'Donnell
Has the Minister any explanation to offer for the serious situation that has been revealed not merely by the CIE report but also from the information received from the airlines and other carriers regarding the decline in North American tourist traffic? How can the Minister explain this situation in the light of the optimistic forecast he made following his two visits to the United States in the last six months? Last April the Minister assured the House that the North American traffic would be up by 4 per cent; now it is down by 15 per cent.
The coach tour traffic is down but overall carrier traffic, either through car ferries or Aer Lingus, has increased. That is the difference.
Mr. O'Donnell
That is nonsense.
At any rate I wish to assure the House that I am meeting the National Tourism Council on Friday for mid-season assessment of the situation. This meeting will be attended by all the carriers, both public and private, and the tourist interests —hotels and other interests. We will have a rational discussion about this matter.
Mr. O'Donnell
Is it not a fact that reports from hoteliers in almost every tourist centre show a serious decline and that the bed occupancy is at an unprecedentedly low rate? Further, may I say that whatever reports were produced by Bord Fáilte this week— whether in regard to market research or otherwise—I will not accept them as true and nobody in the tourist industry will accept them either.
I should like to ask the Minister what he means by "outside our control"? Surely the Minister is aware that the decline in the number of tourists coming to this country is due to direct and deliberate Govvernment policy for the importation of arms, which has given Ireland a bad name? Tourists are afraid to come here because of direct Government policy which was within the Minister's control if the Taoiseach had not stood idly by when Ministers were attempting to import arms. Ireland has a bad name throughout the world and tourists will not come. The Minister knows this.
I want to listen to an intelligent supplementary question.
The Minister should not talk from the deep depths of his ignorance.
I would not wish to miss any of the wise words of Deputy L'Estrange. However, I have a question to put——
The telegram the Minister sent when in America to Gay Byrne on the Late Late Show showed a lot of intelligence. Everything was going grand in America; the Minister had arranged three meetings in one day. Did the Minister sing "The Sash" that night?
I hope my colleague is not suggesting that the number of meetings addressed——
Will the Deputy please put his question?
My question is on another front but I did not wish to interfere with what was being said. Will the Minister make a full report to this House following the tourism conference and tell us the assessment of those concerned regarding the position of the tourist industry? Will he do that next week?
I propose to do exactly that.
I am calling question No. 16.
Is it not a fact that we are being priced out of the tourist market because of the added taxes?
The question relates to CIE tours.
The CIE tours are very poor now.
Question No. 16.