Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 9 Feb 1999

Vol. 500 No. 1

Written Answers - Tourism Promotion.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

57 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if he will make a statement on the options he is considering on the way tourism destination marketing funding for the post 1999 period will be constituted and operated on a partnership basis with the industry. [28390/98]

Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation (Dr. McDaid)

The various options for the future funding of tourism destination marketing were set out in detail in my Department's discussion paper, Strategy for Tourism in the context of EU Structural Funding 2000-2006. In that paper it was proposed that a tourism marketing fund would be established and it was suggested that this could be financed through a combination of financing from the EU, the industry and the State, with an enhanced level of partnership between the key players.

Since the preparation of this document last year, my Department has been engaged in a consultation process with the industry, through the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation which examined funding and institutional options in their planning document entitled Strategy for Growth beyond 2000.

I share the industry's objective of ensuring that a substantial marketing fund for Irish tourism will be in place for the new Millennium. Ireland's performance in a growing but hugely competitive international marketplace has been excellent over the past decade with ambitious targets for foreign earnings and for visitor numbers consistently being achieved.

Under two EU co-funded operational programmes for tourism, covering the period 1989-1999, the State, in partnership with the industry, has made excellent use of Structural Funds in marketing Ireland as a tourism destination abroad. My Department is making a strong and persuasive case for continued EU funding under the next round. However, the outcome of negotiations on future Structural funding for Ireland and the subsequent allocation of that funding between individual economic sectors, will not be known for some time yet. Given the uncertainty over the timing of decisions on future EU funding, the introduction of a modest visitor levy is one of the options being considered by my Department, in consultation with ITIC, as a possible mechanism to contribute to the future financing of tourism marketing.

The Overseas Tourism Marketing Initiative, OTMI, which was established under the Operational Programme for Tourism 1994-1999, has proven to be a very worthwhile initiative involving the tourism industry, North and South, Bord Fáilte and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board in the marketing of the island as a whole. I am confident that under the new institutional arrangements envisaged under the British-Irish Agreement, such all island tourism marketing co-operation will be further developed in the future. It is too early to say what precise partnership arrangements with the industry will be put in place for the year 2000 onwards. However, I will strive to ensure that the industry will continue to play an important role in partnership with the appropriate State institutions.