John Perry
Ceist:7 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the amounts made available by his Department for tourism promotion and marketing in 1999, 2000 and 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8128/02]
Other Questions - Tourism Industry.
John V. Farrelly
Ceist:8 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the amount of the drop in tourist numbers between 2000 and 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8122/02]
Michael Bell
Ceist:14 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if final visitor numbers are now available for 2001; his Department's assessment of the loss of revenue in the tourist sector, arising from foot and mouth disease and the events of 11 September 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8028/02]
Jan O'Sullivan
Ceist:24 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if his attention has been drawn to the recent warning by a person (details supplied) that the tourism industry was facing its worst crisis in decades; the steps being taken to counter this threat; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8032/02]
Breeda Moynihan-Cronin
Ceist:35 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the latest information available to his Department regarding the prospects for tourism from the US market this year, especially having regard to the impact of 11 September 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8027/02]
Breeda Moynihan-Cronin
Ceist:50 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the latest information available to his Department regarding the prospects for the tourism market in 2002; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8026/02]
Ivor Callely
Ceist:534 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the likely impact on tourism arising from the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001; the estimated early indications on bookings for the 2002 season; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7961/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 8, 14, 24, 35, 50 and 534 together.
As the House will be aware, the Irish tourism industry suffered its first major setback in a decade in 2001 with the impact of the foot and mouth disease crisis in the spring and, in the autumn, the fall off in business arising from the events of 11 September. The most recent CSO figures cover only the first nine months of the year and indicate that the number of overseas visitors to Ireland in that period dropped by 6% on the same period in 2000 to 4.55 million. Despite this drop in numbers, total earnings from all overseas visits in the first nine months, including receipts paid to Irish carriers and cross-Border revenue, increased by 5.5% to €3.06 billion.
Official CSO statistics for the year 2001 as a whole will not be available until the middle of this year. However, Bord Fáilte estimates the number of overseas visitors to Ireland may have declined by about 7% in 2001 to 5.8 million but expenditure by overseas visitors is estimated to have increased by 4% to €3.8 billion. Also, on a positive note, domestic holiday business remained buoyant last year, with expenditure rising by 16% according to latest Bord Fáilte estimates. Last year, Irish people took 7.2 million trips in Ireland, an increase of 10.7% on 2000. This helped offset the downturn in overseas visitors, in particular towards the back end of the year.
On the employment front, the CERT business and employment survey 2001 indicated 2,000 permanent job losses, with an additional 6,000 seasonal-part-time losses compared with the previous year. However, 60% of respondents in the survey expect business in 2002 to be the same this year as in 2001. A total of 82% of businesses expect employment levels to be maintained at 2001 levels and only 10% of respondents are projecting staff reductions with most of the job losses being seasonal in nature.
There is little doubt but that 2002 will be a challenging year for Irish tourism. Tourism Ireland Limited, the new all-island tourism marketing company which was successfully launched in Dublin and Belfast last November, is projecting a best case scenario for 2002 of a return to 2000 business levels, generally regarded as an excellent year for Irish tourism. This equates to an increase in the number of British visitors of 10%, growth of at least 6% in visitor numbers from mainland Europe and a minimisation of any further loss of traffic from North America.
The out-turn of expenditure by my Department for general tourism marketing purposes, including Bord Fáilte operating costs, is set out in the Estimates volumes for the years in question. The position may be summarised as follows:
|
TourismServices-Outturn |
1999(€000) |
2000(€000) |
2001(€000) |
|
Bord Fáilte (Grant-in-Aid) |
32,639 |
36,901 |
59,551 |
|
*Payment to Overseas Tourism Marketing Initiative |
5,487 |
4,654 |
– |
|
TourismServices-Outturn |
1999(€000) |
2000(€000) |
2001(€000) |
|
Special Tourism Marketing Initiatives |
5,777 |
2,602 |
– |
|
Tourism Marketing Fund |
– |
18,359 |
23,236 |
|
**Tourism Ireland |
– |
– |
1,651 |
*Co-funded, cross Border initiative, under the Operational Programme for Tourism (1993-1999).
**Not fully operational until 2002.
Detailed information on Bord Fáilte's marketing activities in 1999 and 2000 is contained in its annual report and financial statements for the years in question, copies of which are placed in the Oireachtas Library. The 2001 annual report is not yet available.
(Mayo): I thank the Minister for his reply but he did not reply to Question No. 7, which asked about the amounts made available by his Department for tourism promotion and marketing. He gave us many statistics, but it would take a lot of statistics to convince people in the tourist sector that a 7% decline has led to an increase in revenue. However, we can debate that matter another day.
Where will the emphasis be in terms of marketing and promotion? What initiatives or additional measures have been put in place to attract British tourists who were asked not to come here last year because of the foot and mouth disease crisis? The "Brits out" slogans on walls have disappeared with the advent of the peace process. There are much cheaper fuel costs here than in the United Kingdom. The currency exchange rate between Britain and Ireland could make Ireland an attractive destination for British tourists. Having regard to all that, where is the emphasis, what is the focus and what additional measures have been put in place to attract back British tourists, many of whom unfortunately have considered Ireland a "no go" area for the past 20 to 30 years.
The Deputy will be aware that I said it is estimated that we are trying to get a 10% plus increase in British visitors in the coming year. I agree with the Deputy that the British market has suffered tremendously particularly as a result of the foot and mouth disease crisis. We were rightly focusing on the United States because the higher spending visitor came from the United States. Unfortunately the United States market has been slow to pick up. Flights from here to the United States are full, but the return flights are half empty. Anyone who works at Dublin Airport would confirm that. The focus, therefore, must now be on the British market and other European markets. Relevant surveys show that of all travellers, the Americans, the British, the French and the Germans account for 40% of the total spent by tourists. Ireland is in an ideal position, given the number of people who claim to be second, third, fourth and fifth generation Irish on one side of the Atlantic and our close proximity to the UK, France and Germany. The French and German markets have been extremely sluggish. If the foot and mouth disease crisis did anything, it made us realise that while there are 350 million people in the United States, there are also 350 million people in Europe, yet the number of tourists from the two destinations are not similar. We get only one million visitors from Europe. We are focusing on the British market for all the reasons the Deputy set out.
On a point of order, how long has the Minister to reply to a supplementary question?
The questioner went over the one minute time limit.
The rest of us who wish to ask a supplementary question will not be able to do so if the Minister keeps going on.
I will answer Deputy Higgins's question in one sentence. The focus is on the UK and other European markets and the funding has been geared in that way.
I call Deputy Deenihan. I repeat what I have said three times since the start of Question Time, supplementary questions and answers are limited to one minute.
In view of the major drop of 770,000 visitors to this country last year against the target set in the national development plan and the loss of about 10,000 jobs, much more should be spent on marketing Ireland this year to win back the market. I understand the marketing budget of Bord Fáilte will be used up by the end of April and there will be no visible marketing of Ireland by Bord Fáilte in the UK market or in the USA after April. The UK has made £20 million available to its tourism board and the French have made €12 million to their tourism board in additional to the amounts in their estimates. The British and the French, our main competitors, are providing the necessary extra funding for tourism because the market is becoming very competitive, but we, however, are cutting back on this area. A recent ITIC report states that less money is available for marketing this country this year than was available in 2001.
The Deputy said the UK had made an additional £20 million available for tourism funding. That is the least it could have done having regard to how the foot and mouth disease crisis devastated the UK. The French also made money available.
They will do that this year.
This small country made an extra €13 million available last year. I am aware of the position that will pertain after April. I met representatives of ITIC recently. They made a sub mission for an extra €20 million, which I am examining. I had a good discussion with them on that occasion and told them that the largest marketing budget in the history of the State will go into marketing this year. More than €50 million will be used by Bord Fáilte, €27 million will be used by Tourism Ireland on marketing alone and €5 million has been spent on a TV series for broadcasting on television abroad. All that funding has gone on marketing this country. I am aware that the marketing budget will be used up by April. The Deputy must remember that the bulk of the marketing of a country is done in the early part of the year or in the previous November-December. That is nothing new. All the funding on marketing must be spent in the earlier part of the year. I asked Tourism Ireland to examine ways in which the marketing spend could be spent.
Will the Minister agree that the events of 11 September in New York have adversely affected the tourism industry here due to a major hike in insurance costs? Is he aware that many tourist ventures, hotels and guest houses are facing severe difficulties and that some of them have had to close due to these costs and the waste management costs they had to incur? Has he any proposals to assist the industry in these two areas where the Government obviously failed?
I have no plans to assist in that area, as insurance costs are not a matter for me.
(Mayo): I welcome the marketing initiative and the additional funding for tourism promotion, which are important from the point of view of selling Ireland. That is the way to go. Rather than the global advertising of this country on radio, television in newspapers and so on, which is important, is there any change in Bord Fáilte's approach in terms of going into sectoral interest areas? I am talking about going into angling clubs and selling fishing, going into golf clubs and selling golf, going to interest groups such as those and selling the country on a one to one basis because once one attracts those types of interest groups to come here, one has that market forever. We need to be able to talk golf to the golfers, angling and fishing to the anglers and so on, particularly in Britain. Is there any change of emphasis or focus in that direction by Bord Fáilte?
The answer to that is "yes". I agree with the Deputy on this issue. It is all about the experience a visitor has when he or she comes to this country. We are bringing people over, introducing them to Irish culture and life and letting them get a feel for it rather than telling them about it. We have so many brochures that we could fill 50 articulated trucks that would block the route from O'Connell Street to Dublin Port, if not out to Dún Laoghaire. Everyone is focused on the idea of brochures. When one leaves an aeroplane and comes into the airport one sees many brochures. Does anyone ever look through them? If there was only one, a person might pick it up, but one is faced with many of them and a great deal of money is spent on them.
The Deputy's idea is correct. I have emphasised that approach to Bord Fáilte on many occasions, the importance of bringing people over here and giving them an experience, particularly people who are in media. I am considering a suggestion of how one can sell a country to a huge audience, which I came across on the Discovery channel at 7 p.m. on Sunday night. Getting the message across in that manner is far better than by way of brochures.
With regard to the angling experience, if a guy gets up at 4 a.m. goes out and catches a fish, comes in and cooks it, he will bring that story back home and that message goes far further than the audience one would reach by an article in a brochure stating that we have the best angling in this country. Words ending in "st" should be removed from the marketing of the country, phrases such as we are best, the first and the utmost at doing this. People are tired of hearing that. The Deputy's proposal of bringing people in niche areas, particularly those in angling, over here is a good one. There is major potential to develop the angling industry. The River Moy is worth €10 million to the people in that area. That is the type of marketing I would like to see.
Given that, with the funds made available last year, there was success in winning back some of the market at the end of the year, surely it makes sense that if one spends on the market after April visitors will come to Ireland. I understand a submission has been made to the Minister for €20 million which would be money well spent.
The experiment worked well last year and we are considering the funding requested by ITIC. It worked particularly in the UK market. However, I am still not convinced the Americans are prepared to move. While there is an idea that the economy there is recovering, nonetheless even business people are stagnant in their approach. If there is to be a boost it will come from the leisure centre, through imaginative marketing and the different packages offered. We have discussed in the past who is a visitor and who is a holiday maker. Any boost in air travel will come from the leisure sector as opposed to the business sector because of the imaginative packages being made available. While the experiment has worked there is a limitation on the resources. I do not like talking about figures but we put a great deal of funds into the industry. I shall convey the point raised by the Deputy to Paul O'Toole of Tourism Ireland. We have discussed with Tourism Ireland various print media in which we should get involved. There are new innovative ideas but they all take funding.
(Mayo): In regard to the cutbacks in Aer Lingus, 33% of its staff have been shed. It has withdrawn a considerable number of transatlantic flights and has done away with the marketing arm. It has to be acknowledged that long before Bord Fáilte got into the business, Aer Lingus was not only selling Aer Lingus, it was selling Ireland and doing so very aggressively. Ireland and Aer Lingus were synonymous with each other. Does the Minister regret that Aer Lingus has decided to displace the personnel in the marketing section? Given that those personnel were professional and very good at the job, it is unfortunate, in the context of the cutbacks, that this element of the service has been culled and taken out of existence.
Naturally one would regret that any element of marketing has been taken out of existence. The idea in setting up the Tourism Marketing Partnership was to bring the industry into line with Bord Fáilte When I came into office, I found a great divide between Bord Fáilte and the industry. Bord Fáilte was spending an arm and a leg on marketing while the industry was also spending in this area, and there was a great deal of overlap. The Tourism Marketing Partnership has brought all that together. While €50 million will be spent by Bord Fáilte this year, it is estimated that the industry will invest €100 million. While all the air and sea carriers have marketed themselves, they have marketed Ireland also. Any loss in this area would be felt greatly.
Michael D. Higgins
Ceist:9 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if his attention has been drawn to the recent Bord Fáilte survey which shows an increasing number of European tourists expressing concern about value for money in Irish tourism; the steps he intends to take to ensure that Irish tourism remains competitive in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8033/02]
I have seen the results of the recent Bord Fáilte visitor attitude survey for 2001 and I am pleased to see that Ireland is still highly rated by our visitors and that we are continuing to deliver holidays that match our customers' high expectations. We surpassed the expectations of one third of our visitors – just 4% expressed disappointment.
According to the survey, more than 50% of all holidaymakers are satisfied with all-round value for money. British and American visitors, who benefit from strong currencies, were particularly satisfied. While the overall satisfaction rate has improved on that five years ago, Bord Fáilte has identified a worrying trend among mainland European visitors. A number of years ago, there were some concerns about value for money among German visitors and this has begun to filter through to other European markets, particularly the Netherlands and Italy. According to Bord Fáilte, this can be partly attributed to the downturn in the global economy combined with an increasing cost base in Ireland. The areas most criticised in respect of value for money were eating out and the price of alcohol. Car hire and the cost of access to the country are rated more positively on value for money than five years ago.
Increasing the number of visitors from continental European markets is a priority for Tourism Ireland Limited this year. In looking to mainland Europe as a source of potential growth, the industry must be extremely conscious of the new competitive environment that has come with the new single currency. Most of our key European target markets are in the euro zone and there is greater price transparency between Ireland and these source markets, as well as competing holiday destinations.
To help emerging price pressures in the labour market, CERT has been developing programmes which focus on improving productivity and human resource management in the sector.
Many tourism businesses have readjusted their marketing and pricing strategies to secure extra business in the current difficult climate. I urge companies to improve their competitiveness and keep prices as attractive as possible. In particular, I welcome recent attractively priced offers from air and sea carriers, which have been to the forefront in this area, accommodation providers and others, which should help to improve our competitiveness and our image as a value for money destination.
In the past three years much dissatisfaction has been expressed regarding the prices charged for services provided, which have increased from 12% to 22%. In lower grade hotels the dissatisfaction rate has risen from 10% to 16%. Another issue that gives rise to dissatisfaction is the quality of roads and road signage. The Minister has indicated some of the measures being taken. Given the Minister's response, I am of the view that there is an acceptance that these problems will continue and will be difficult to address. Given that we have an excellent tourism product, which we seek to sell to our European colleagues, it is vitally important that these trends are addressed and reversed.
I am concerned about the value for money part of my portfolio. I have said previously that people do not have a problem with paying for quality. We have quality. The word "excellence" is being used more and more in the Irish context. If Ireland becomes known as a high cost destination, unfortunately all the work and funding put into tourism will be wasted and it will be difficult to get those markets back. It has been stated that one does not get value for money in food and bar prices. That speaks for itself, and I have always expressed that concern. Deputy Higgins asked why a 7% decrease in visitor figures has led to a 1% increase in revenue. There are two ways that can come about, visitors to Ireland are spending a great deal more or they are being charged more, but that is debatable. We have received complaints about roads and signage, particularly with regard to ports. My Department has asked local authorities to try to make arrangements in relation to these problems.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.