Mr. Aidan Pender:

Excuse me, Chairman. Another area of involvement is what we call the "blueway". The success of the Great Western Greenway has in turn prompted the development of a parallel water-based or "blueway" experience, which would draw upon the marine potential of our natural heritage in a manner similar to the rail line. The concept behind the development of the blueway is to develop a scheme that encourages visitors, coming from the land, to engage with the sea in a pilot area along the west coast of counties Galway and Mayo that includes the coastline from Clifden, Inishbofin, Killary Harbour and on to Achill. The blueway will serve as a network of "free water trails" where the visitor can have a go at activities such as kayaking and snorkelling in a safe controlled environment. The consumer can decide to engage with this opportunity at a single site along the blueway or can have the experience of a continual guided water-based adventure along the west coast from south Galway to north-west Mayo. Other water sports, such as surfing and angling, are also supported through various festivals and events, media familiarisation trips and business supports at other destinations elsewhere on the coastline.

Surfing, for example, is now synonymous with Bundoran, Sligo and Clare, while sea angling is particularly popular in the south east and south west.

Our islands are an important source of traditional Irish culture and way of life, and so are particularly well placed to deliver unique and authentic Irish experiences to visitors. We believe that connecting visitors with traditional culture and values is a key part of the tourism experience Ireland can offer, and the islands have an important role in that regard. To illustrate what this entails in terms of tourism development, an Aran Islands interpretation plan has recently been drawn up with the support of Fáilte Ireland to develop an integrated approach to interpretation and orientation on the islands. Themes and stories have been identified to showcase a number of chosen themes and so bring the stories of the islands to life for visitors in an engaging and accessible manner. This will be supported through a number of hard infrastructure items, including the installation of signage and interpretative panels, as well as soft-infrastructure items such as published and digital media and self-guided interpretation. The Aran Islands have a unique story and this recent work should help ensure that the stories are told well and in a compelling fashion so as to engage international visitors.

We have also produced a dedicated islands brochure to promote and publicise the island experience that is available to the visitor in Ireland. First published in 2009 and updated in 2012, this is distributed through our tourism information office network, and overseas through our colleagues in Tourism Ireland who market Ireland internationally. More recently, we have developed a dedicated islands website as a stand-alone site within our leisure tourism site. It can be found at discoverireland.ie/islands.

In terms of coastal walking, the importance of providing land-to-sea opportunities for visitors has been noted, and probably one of the biggest opportunities for visitors to access and engage with the sea is through coastal walking. In the last number of years we have invested heavily in developing coastal walks such as Slieve League, Sheep's Head, and most recently in Clare, with the opening this coming Friday of the Clare coastal path from Doolin to Liscannor.

On cruise tourism, the number of cruise line ships coming to Ireland has grown over the last number of years. The sector is growing worldwide and international demand for the product remains strong. In 2010, Fáilte Ireland conducted a survey for industry partners in collaboration with Cruise Ireland. The survey gathered information on passenger numbers, satisfaction, and behaviour in the port destination. Industry stakeholders in Ireland were also surveyed to gather insights on potential, development needs and future trends. In-depth interviews were conducted with the big five international cruise line companies worldwide. The consensus is that Ireland is poised for growth and development, though the development of a strategic framework to help realise this potential, which would be helpful.

With regard to maritime activity networks, in 2009 Fáilte Ireland launched a pilot programme to support a number of adventure tourism networks across Ireland. The aim of the project was to work with local community groups that are active in areas such as walking, angling and adventure, as well as with tourism operators. The aim in this regard is to realise the full potential of the area and to raise the area's profile as an adventure and activity tourism centre. The areas chosen were identified as those that clearly offer facilities and services that cater for the needs of the activity visitor. Ten maritime activity networks were set up. These include Waterville, Cobh, and Kilmore Quay as angling networks; Achill, Westport, Clifden, Dingle, Bantry as outdoor adventure networks; and Donegal and the Burren as walking networks.

Fáilte Ireland also offers a programme of supports to help businesses to benefit from the tourism assets and infrastructure in their area. A marine and countryside guiding programme has been developed by Fáilte Ireland, which is currently being delivered at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, and at County Galway VEC in conjunction with Údarás na Gaeltachta. This programme is designed for people who provide or wish to provide a range of regional and local guiding services to visitors. The focus to date has been on the western seaboard in order to establish a network of qualified guides with emphasis on adventure tourism, knowledge of the marine resource, and interpretation of the natural heritage. Some 35 students graduated from this programme this month in time for the 2013 season. Further research is currently being conducted to explore how best to grow and develop a national network of marine and countryside guides. The findings of this research will be shared with our partners in the latter part of the year.

Each year Fáilte Ireland organises media familiarisation trips which introduce overseas journalists to Ireland as a tourism destination. Over the past number of years, approximately 100 such familiarisation trips have been organised per year, involving over 200 journalists, with a specific marine and coastal focus. Most recently a group of international media from diverse markets such as China, USA, Germany, Austria, France and Holland, participated in a familiarisation visit to Inishbofin, Inish Turk and Clare Island. These travel writers were participating in a wild Atlantic islands familiarisationtrip, organised by Fáilte Ireland, in conjunction with Tourism Ireland, to give them an understanding of the things to see and do along our western shore. This group of international print, radio, and online journalists have an overall reach of 2 million readers and listeners. In addition, some €2.5 million has been invested in recent years supporting important maritime festivals and events such as the Volvo Ocean Race, the Tall Ships event, the youth world sailing championships, and Cork Week.

If we are to realise the full potential of coastal tourism, we need to identify and develop ambitious projects of scale. The Wild Atlantic Way is a new and innovative project developed by Fáilte Ireland and designed to highlight Ireland's unique geographical position along the Atlantic Ocean, and to use this ocean theme as a vehicle to allow tourists understand how the sea shaped our coastal communities, our lifestyle and our traditions. The project has been in development since early 2012 and involves the creation of a themed and integrated driving route along the Atlantic coast of Ireland from Donegal to west Cork.

The route is designed to comprise a central spine with a series of loops and spurs off it which encourage tourists to explore all that the west coast has to offer. It will showcase the best scenery and attractions for visitors with improved on-road infrastructure such as improved viewing points or discovery points with better interpretation. The central objective of the project is to develop a driving route that is of sufficient scale and singularity to cut through and stand out internationally so that in time, the Wild Atlantic Way will achieve a recognition and prominence similar to a small group of other internationally known driving routes, such as the Great Ocean Road in Australia or the Garden Route in South Africa. The planned outcomes are greater international visitor numbers to the west of Ireland, longer dwell time in towns and villages along the coast, and increased visitor spend. The final 2,500 km route was recently decided following a comprehensive public consultation process. The route will include 159 strategically placed discovery points which are designed to allow tourists to stop and learn about the location, understand the points of geographic, historical, or cultural interest, and hopefully decide to stay a little longer in the area and explore what it has to offer.

The response to the project so far has been encouraging. Tour operators, local authorities, business people and local residents have all expressed an interest in becoming involved and in maximising the opportunity presented by this development. Last April, hundreds of overseas tour operators were given an advance preview of the route at Fáilte Ireland's annual trade fair for international buyers. Developing a route like this is an important part of ensuring Ireland is able to provide the leisure tourist with a memorable experience. Work continues on the development of this initiative, and in this regard Fáilte Ireland will continue to work closely with each of the local authorities along the west coast, as well as with the Leader companies, Údarás na Gaeltachta and the Western Development Commission. It is expected that significant further progress on the development of this project will be made by June 2014. We hope to make further announcements as we proceed.

I thank members for their time and patience this afternoon. We very much welcome this opportunity to share with the sub-committee some of our work in the tourism sector. We hope members will have found this brief presentation interesting, and that it has some resonance and relevance to the sub-committee's work programme. We will of course be very happy to answer any questions members might wish to ask.