Vol. 540 No. 1
448 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if he intends to introduce financial assistance towards black spot areas for tourist accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19947/01]
The main framework of support for tourist accommodation, which applies in all areas of the State, is the accelerated capital allowances scheme for hotels. Under that scheme, capital expenditure on any building or structure in use as a hotel or holiday camp, registered with Bord Fáilte, may qualify for capital allowances. Beneficiaries are entitled to claim a maximum 15% capital allowance in years one to six and 10% in the final year. This compares with the 4% per annum write-off available for ordinary industrial buildings. As recently as February last, the Irish Hotels Federation, in its document, Blueprint for the Future – A strategic Review and Recommendations for the Irish Hotel and Guesthouse Industry, affirmed that capital allowances remain the most important form of incentive available to hotels.
I appreciate the contribution that small accommodation providers, including small hotels, have made to Irish tourism and I recognise the need to encourage and develop the sector. An initiative, targeted primarily at the small accommodation provider, has been launched whereby Bord Fáilte carried out a fundamental review of how the various groups in this category were branded and marketed overseas – with a view to increasing business overall and particularly in off-season and in rural areas. Almost £1.4 million has been set aside for this initiative to date and it has considerably expanded the range of support offered to the sector thereby developing the marketing capabilities of the operators themselves.
There is a general consensus that the focus of grant-based, public investment in tourism projects must be to enhance the potential of less-developed tourism areas by supporting the development of major visitor attractions or clusters of attractions in those areas, such as I am proposing for the new tourism product investment scheme, which I have submitted for state aids approval from the European Commission. The overall objective of the new scheme will be to develop the tourism product in a sustainable way that widens the spatial spread of tourism, diverts pressure from highly developed areas and increases the under-performing regions' share of overseas tourism revenue.
