Vol. 458 No. 3
25 Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the current position regarding North-South co-operation in the tourism sector; the plans, if any, he has for the further development of such co-operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16907/95]
90 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade his views on a recent claim by a top hotelier that existing collaboration between Bord Fáilte and NITB is ineffective and ill-defined. [17040/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 and 90 together. It is inaccurate to suggest that collaboration between Bord Fáilte and Northern Ireland Tourist Board is ineffective and ill-defined. In fact, the opposite is the case. Bord Failte and Northern Ireland Tourism Board have collaborated successfully for many years in a number of areas. In particular, they have forged close operational alliances in a variety of markets, they have undertaken a series of joint marketing campaigns and they have worked together on the tourism working groups of the International Fund for Ireland and the INTERREG Programme. The benefits of such collaboration can be seen clearly in the growth of tourism revenue in both parts of the island.
The advent of peace in Northern Ireland has created new opportunities for attracting additional visitors to the island of Ireland and the Minister is pleased to say that the public and private sectors on both sides of the border are demonstrating a strong commitment to co-operation for the benefit of the whole island.
The commitment to cross-Border co-operation is particularly evident in the 1995 Overseas Tourism Marketing Initiative under which £6.3 million is being spent on joint marketing campaigns to promote the island of Ireland as a single destination in our four most important overseas markets. It is planned to have a similar initiative next year.
