Gay Mitchell
Ceist:8 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the action, if any, he intends to take to put in place recommendations of the NESC report on tourism published on 23 November 1993 especially in relation to marketing.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - NESC Report Recommendations.
Eamon Gilmore
Ceist:18 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade his views on the conclusions and recommendations of the National Economic and Social Council in regard to tourism policy contained in the recent report, A Strategy for Competitiveness, Growth and Employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ivan Yates
Ceist:24 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the action, if any, he intends to take to put in place recommendations of the NESC report on tourism published on 23 November 1993 especially in relation to marketing.
Nora Owen
Ceist:36 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the action, if any, he intends to take to put in place recommendations of the NESC report on tourism published on 23 November 1993 especially in relation to marketing.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 18, 24 and 36 together.
I welcome the conclusions and recommendations of the National Economic and Social Council with regard to tourism policy in their recently published report. The report is comprehensive and valuable analysis and will prove useful in the continuing formulation of strategy to achieve the Government targets for the sector. Indeed, many areas covered in the report, such as tourism product, marketing, quality, etc. are already the subject of direct action by my Department and Bord Fáilte, while others such as access are also being looked into by the Tourism Council. Of course, many areas have also great relevance in the context of formulating the new operational programme for tourism, which I am currently finalising.
In regard to the specific marketing area, the report identifies the US market as one which needs a greater focus. The current special £3 million campaign to attract US visitors is a direct response to this. The report also foresees the need for a greatly expanded marketing programme and Deputies will be aware how interested I am to secure support for a greater marketing effort. An extra £8 million is available for promotions in 1994 and the promotional efforts being undertaken draw together the European Union, the private sector, the carriers and Bord Fáilte, as recommended by the NESC report.
I am glad the Minister acknowledges this comprehensive report. How can he reconcile his policy with some of the recommendations made in the report, in particular with regard to the upgrading of unregistered accommodation? The Minister's attitude is not to impose any regulations regarding unregistered accommodation.
There is a separate question later regarding registered and unregistered accommodation.
We must not anticipate that question.
It is a fair question.
The recommendations put forward in the NESC report overlap with work being carried out by my Department, Bord Fáilte and the Tourism Council. Some of the recommendations in the report will be taken on board as soon as possible.
May I ask the the Minister for his views on one of the major recommendations of this report which concerns the question of seasonality? Does he acknowledge that considerable capital investments in facilities and in transport and so on may be money unwisely spent in that it would be greatly under-utilised if the seasonal nature of our tourism business continues?
This did not arise only in the period of my remit as Minister for Tourism and Trade. Various reports over the years recognised seasonality as the major constraining factor in the growth of Irish tourism and employment in that area. Some of the recommendations in the report have been taken on board and the National Development Plan takes these matters into account also. There is no doubt that we would alleviate many of the problems of Irish tourism and create many more jobs if the problem of seasonality could be overcome. I hope some of the measures I have taken this year regarding the new marketing initiatives in the US and in other areas will help overcome this particular problem.
Two of the report's recommendations concern access and quality control. What progress is the Minister making regarding the common air fare rating of Dublin and other Irish airports with a number of world destinations that he referred to on the Estimates? What progress is he making regarding quality control, especially the enforcement of proper standards of hygiene?
The Deputy is correct in that I have said on a number of occasions that the question of a common fare rating is an issue to which I have given much consideration. Bord Fáilte and my Department have had negotiations with a number of airlines in order to include more airlines in the common rating system. We hope to be in a position later in the year to have agreements concluded. This is proving particularly difficult because it relates to agreements between airlines which impose some costs and less profits on certain airlines. In regard to quality control and hygiene, these are matters for other Departments but as Minister for Tourism and Trade, I must say that the increase in standards in those areas over the past number of years has been impressive. We have many rules and regulations which are there to be enforced but the market also decides much of the business in that area. The Deputy would agree that the standards in the past ten years have greatly increased and if people are not complying with proper standards of hygiene, for example, they will be put out of business because tourists will not return to avail of their services.
Is the Minister taking measures to implement a further recommendation of the report, namely, that steps should be taken to combine the various agencies in such a way that they would communicate a single image of Ireland as a place to invest, a place to buy from and to visit? In respect of whatever restructuring he is engaged in, is this one of the central recommendations that the Minister is taking on board?
Some months ago I reconstituted the foreign earnings committee which is made up of an inter-departmental group as well as Bord Fáilte, the IDA and all other agencies who deal with people outside Ireland. One of its first tasks was to engage consultants to examine Ireland's image. I have studied the recommendations of the committee in this regard. There is a conflict between the image that the IDA and Bord Fáilte want to project. The IDA sells Ireland as a country which is modern and which has an impressive workforce including all the various facilities, computerisation and, so on, while Bord Fáilte, in the same market, may be selling an image of Ireland which goes back perhaps 50 or 60 years. Those competing images do exist. Bord Fáilte believes that is the image which sells Ireland to the tourists while the IDA will say, and rightly so, that if such an image is projected it will not attract business to Ireland. This is an ongoing conflict.