asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport, having regard to the fact that the Government have stated that tourism is to produce the greatest number of new jobs, the direct efforts which are being made to ensure that County Louth will obtain a fair share of the jobs.
Written Answers. - County Louth Jobs.
29.
The growth targets for the tourism industry in the Government's Programme for National Recovery are to double the number of tourists to Ireland over the period 1988 to 1992, increase foreign tourism revenue by £500 million and as a result to create an additional 25,000 jobs in the economy.
Strategy for achieving these targets involves: increased public and private sector investment in the development of a more extensive and attractive tourism product range through the use of EC Structural Funds and other incentives such as the Business Expansion Scheme; improve competitiveness of the tourism product in terms of quality and price; increased market penetration by Bord Fáilte, with the assistance of the industry, including entry to new markets and greater niche marketing; improve packaging and distribution of the tourism product in the marketplace, including the bringing on-stream of a major new com-puterised tourism information and reservation system.
The tourism industry not just in County Louth, but in the other counties throughout Ireland, can maximise its share of these growth targets through co-operating with the tourism agencies in implementing this strategy.
Of course, as the Deputy is aware, County Louth, being a Border county, also benefits from assistance available from tourism development from the International Fund for Ireland and from the EC Border Area Programme which runs to 1991.