Vol. 456 No. 5
15 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the response, in terms of inquiries and actual bookings, to the overseas tourism marketing initiative in Australia; and if he has satisfied himself with the standard and cost of access services from Australia. [14071/95]
126 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the response, in terms of inquiries and actual bookings, to the overseas tourism marketing initiative in Australia; and if he has satisfied himself with the standard and cost of access services from Australia. [14127/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 126 together.
The overseas tourism marketing initiative has not operated in Australia. The markets targeted by this all-Ireland consumer advertising partnership are the US, Britain, France and Germany.
As regards access, common-rating agreements, where for example visitors can fly from Sydney to Dublin for the same fare as Sydney-London, are a valuable marketing tool in long-haul markets which have no direct air services to Ireland. Common-rating agreements have been in place for a number of years with Australia and these agreements were extended last year to cover more carriers and more fares. In addition, Cork and Shannon were also common rated out of London and moneys were allocated by my Department to market these new arrangements. I am pleased to say that visitor numbers from Australia increased by over 21 per cent in 1994 compared to the previous year.
Good quality and competitively-priced access to Ireland is a key factor in developing the tourism potential of the Australian market and I will continue to monitor this issue closely.
