Gay Mitchell
Ceist:2 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport the progress which he has made to date in advancing Irish tourism needs during European Year of Tourism.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - European Year of Tourism.
The programme of events outlined in my reply on 1 February to the Deputy's question about plans to mark 1990 as European Year of Tourism is now well under way.
A special European Year of Tourism promotional project co-funded by the Commission and aimed at the leisure segment of the European market will be launched later this month. Meanwhile a second project, which comes under the pan-European category, has been developed in conjunction with the Wales Tourist Board and involves promoting a tourist trail along the main Celtic monuments and sites in Ireland, Britain and France.
The winners of the National Essay and Poster Competitions will be announced on 18 and 24 May, respectivley, and will then go forward to represent Ireland in the European finals. Other competitions covering research, facilities for the disabled and the environment are underway.
Meanwhile the Irish tourism industry has begun sponsoring a series of special European Year of Tourism promotions and value-added offers which will serve to further highlight the year and to encourage travel in the off season.
Is the Minister aware that only two of the 250 events listed in the calendar of events for the European Year of Tourism published by the European Community will be held in Ireland — a rural tourism press conference in Shannon and there is the Cork City of Festivals. Does the Minister agree that it is reasonable for the House to presume that he has wasted his time as President of the Council of Tourism Ministers because not alone is this great engine not moving in any direction which will be of benefit to us but in connection with the national plan for Dublin Tourism we seem to have opted out of European activities in this regard?
The Deputy misunderstood the European institutional arrangement. The European Year of Tourism has nothing to do with the Presidency of the Community. The European Year of Tourism is a separate venture undertaken by the Commission with the involvement of all the member states to a greater or lesser extent.
Our Presidency of the Tourism Council is moving very rapidly. At an informal meeting of Tourism Ministers, a tourism document was agreed. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time the European Tourism Ministers have agreed to formulate a European tourism policy. They did not formally undertake to do this in the past and I regard this as a major breakthrough. I have called a second meeting of Tourism Ministers for the end of June which will agree a final blueprint for tourism for the European Community.
Announcements will be made next week about the Structural Funds. We are substantially on target to double the number of tourists coming to Ireland over the next four years. These events and competitions are interesting and important in so far as they highlight the European Year of Tourism, but they alone will not bring tourists to Ireland. It is important that we get concrete decisions in regard to tourism policy during our Presidency, which we can only do at Council of Ministers meetings. We made more progress at the last Council meeting than in all the other Council meetings taken together.
Given that this list includes 250 events does the Minister not agree that the two activities to be held in Ireland are very minor? In fact, the event to be held in Shannon was organised at the behest of the European Parliament. Will the Minister tell us what effectively he, as President of the European Council of Tourism Ministers, has been doing to advance the interests of Irish tourism while he has been entertaining his ministerial colleagues in Europe and their companions at various lavish hotels in the west of Ireland?
What is the Commissioner for Tourism doing?
Clearly the Deputy has not been listening to me. I told him that at the meeting in Ashford Castle we formally agreed a tourism document, the first time Tourism Ministers in the European Community have done this. We have agreed to bring forward more concrete plans for the June meeting. This is a substantial breakthrough for Tourism Ministers in Europe as it is the first time they have formally agreed to a tourism policy of any sort. This document was agreed at an informal meeting and will be subsequently confirmed at a formal meeting.
With regard to my efforts to advance Irish tourism, I am concentrating on correctly investing the Structural Funds, which mark a historic investment in Irish tourism, and on our marketing drive to double the number of tourists who come to Ireland. It is much more important to get this done than to organise poster competitions and raise flags, which is what much of what the European Year of Tourism is about. Of course, I support the European Year of Tourism but I am not taken in by it. I do not regard all the hype about the European Year of Tourism as a substitute for putting tourism policy in place, which is what I am doing.
It is no substitute for the Government's hype about themselves.