——the high cost of travel between Ireland and Japan and the absence of direct airlinks. While discussions have taken place on this matter, it is unlikely that airlines would regard flights from Japan to Ireland as commercially viable. On the question of a common air fare rating from Tokyo to London, this point has been made on a number of occasions. Another inhibiting factor has been the absence of a full-time Bord Fáilte office in Japan.
To put the matter in context, the number of Japanese people travelling abroad increased from 100,000 in 1963 to more than 13 million in 1995. Deputy O'Malley was accurate in his observation that Japanese people travel in extensive numbers to Rome, Paris and London which have internationally known landmark tourist attractions. Bord Fáilte has focused on the Japanese market to some extent and a number of encouraging developments have taken place in recent years. For example, a part-time Bord Fáilte representative in Tokyo was appointed in 1992, packages to Ireland are now offered by 19 Japanese tour operators — ten packages include a few days in Britain — and a further five Japanese operators offer fully inclusive tours for individuals only and language study tours.
A sum of £100,000 was allocated to Bord Fáilte from the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund in 1994 and 1995 to support additional promotional activities, including travel trade promotions, advertising etc. These advertisements which were aimed directly at consumers were placed in Japanese national newspapers and included special product advertising, including golf, English language learning and support for travel trade media visits to Ireland. The strategy has been to develop a relationship with leading tour operators in Japan and to secure steady and long-term growth by focusing on particular niche markets such as golf, sports and English language students. I have discussed the matter with Japanese operators and, given their traditional attitude towards holiday periods, it is much easier, more economical and more convenient for Japanese people to engage in these activities in south east Asia. I am aware of the potential of this market and I hope we can continue to develop it.
This year £1.235 million was made available to supplement Bord Fáilte's promotion and marketing spend overseas. Bord Fáilte has finalised its plans for the allocation of these funds which are directed towards the development of the markets referred to in the question. I hope the Japanese and other markets continue to improve as a result of these initiatives. I have made the point at trade missions abroad and with inward buyer missions here that in future countries which send frequent trade missions to Europe should include either a half day or one day visit to Ireland both from an industry-business sense so that they can see the quality of our facilities and also to give them a flavour of how different we are from other European countries. I hope we are making progress in this area.