Mr. Liam Scollan:

I agree totally with the Chairman. This is about the west of Ireland from Kerry to Donegal. This is the challenge facing the country. It is a wonderful part of the country but it does not get the share of tourism it should.

We have engaged a great deal and have had an excellent relationship with Tourism Ireland for years. When I was with the Western Development Commission, we proposed an all west of Ireland regional marketing strategy. It has been taken up in part and is still running, but much more needs to be done.

We asked RED C to undertake detailed research into the effectiveness of tourism marketing abroad in terms of passenger and tourist numbers travelling through Knock airport. There was good and bad in the study. On the one hand, only 1% of tourists travelling through the airport stated that they were impacted upon by international marketing by, for example, Tourism Ireland. On the other hand and more positively for Tourism Ireland, more than one third of tourists were influenced by the marketing of airlines flying into the region. That work has been supported by Tourism Ireland.

We have pointed out to Tourism Ireland that the west needs a partnership between tourism businesses and Knock airport as well as a targeted approach to attracting tourists to the region. For example, we would set a target of a certain number of tourists for 2013. We wanted the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to set a target of 35,000 tourists to the west and north west from our German, Italian and French flights. If one does not set targets, one will not achieve targets. There was a reluctance to set targets. Consequently, 13,000 tourists visited via those routes. Many more passengers were carried because they were flying out. We ask that the Government consider a targeted approach to tourism for the south west, the mid-west and the north west.

The private sector needs to be engaged further. Although Tourism Ireland has a co-operative marketing programme, we would have liked the private sector, the airport and local authorities to be given the confidence to self-manage a marketing programme for the region. Those providing the services know best what the tourist wants, be he or she from Germany or anywhere else.

Mr. Gilmore will address the questions on aviation services.