As the Deputy will be aware from the most recent figures released by the Central Statistics Office, the total number of visitors to Ireland in 1997 is estimated to be 5,164,000, an increase of 9 per cent on the 1996 figure. I am delighted to report that 1997 was a record year for tourism with estimates for foreign exchange earnings expected to be in excess of £2 billion. We are now on target to meet and exceed the ambitious targets set out in the operational programme for tourism, 1994-99.
In 1997 there was a strong performance from a number of northern Continental European markets with the Benelux countries, Denmark and Sweden all recording good growth. However, tourist numbers from Continental Europe as a whole remained static at just under 1.2 million. The reasons were varied. For example, most mainland European countries recorded only marginal economic growth in 1997. More importantly, some major currencies, such as the deutschmark and the French franc, were at their weakest for some four to five years against the IR£. According to Bord Fáilte, this discouraged individual travel and was a deterrent to active promotion by many tour operators. The temporary cessation of year round direct ferry links may also have had some impact on shoulder and low season group traffic.
These difficulties were not unique to Ireland and were experienced also by Britain, Scandinavia and other northern "non-sun" destinations with which Ireland competes. For example, the European travel monitor, which is a standard Europe wide travel survey, shows that German traffic to all northern Europe, including Britain and Scandinavia, declined by 15 per cent in 1997 while French traffic to northern Europe was down by 11 per cent.
Nevertheless, the tourism sector shares my concern about the relative under performance of the mainland European market for Ireland in recent years given that Ireland has performed exceptionally well elsewhere and made market share gains in British, North American and Australian markets. Specifically, a full examination of the prospects for Ireland in the German market is currently being undertaken by Bord Fáilte in conjunction with its industry partners.