Mr. Shaun Quinn:

Thank you, Chairman, and members of the committee for providing Fáilte Ireland with this opportunity to contribute. I am joined by my colleague, Mr. Aidan Pender, who is the director of strategic development within Fáilte Ireland. I am here in my capacity as chief executive and as chairman of The Gathering.

With the permission of the Chair, I would like to read extracts from my opening statement summarising our perspective on the current performance of tourism and setting out some of the key initiatives we are progressing to support continued growth. If I were to sum our mission in one word, it would be "growth". Growth has a particular relevance within our current strategic framework. As we see it, our role is to guide and support the sustainable tourism growth across the country. We are concerned with two issues primarily in growth. The first is employment growth, given the labour intensive nature of this industry which employs 180,000 people. We believe it has a significant role to play in jobs growth nationally, while the second is revenue growth. In this we want to emphasise overseas revenue growth for two reasons. Domestic demand is flat and will remain so for a couple of years and we need foreign earnings as it contributes significantly to the drive for an export-led recovery.

In terms of how is tourism faring, Mr. Peter Nash has given much of the detail and the statistics. From my perspective, standing back, I believe we are going through a time of transition and challenge in tourism and we are on the verge of entering a new phase for the sector. Members will be aware from the CSO figures earlier in the week that visitor numbers are increasing from virtually all markets. That is good news, coming as it does after four very difficult seasons. During that period the industry experienced a significant drop in market demand along with pressure to cut prices while costs were remaining high. In the past four years the objective of every tourism business was simply to survive. I am happy to tell the committee that they did survive in large numbers.

However, crucially, I emphasise that this current season marks something of a transition to a new phase. We are seeing a shift from that survival phase characterised by price-cutting and a "hold on tight" mentality towards a recovery in growth phase, characterised by a renewed confidence in the industry that with the right business model and sales strategy they can grow again. This is a very positive development but it is not without its challenges.

Key overseas markets such as the United States, France and Germany and others are recovering and the performance, so far this year, is very encouraging. However, the Irish market and British markets, our two largest tourism markets, are certainly not growing because of adverse economic circumstances in each. If these circumstances persist, the industry will face a number of challenges. In the first instance, there is the need to reduce its exposure to the home market. That must be clear to every tourism business. If we are looking for growth it will not be found at home; it will be overseas and it may not be in Britain but further afield. For many businesses this means either making the transition to actively selling overseas, or at least increasing their understanding and awareness of such markets. At a minimum this will require firms to develop a better understanding of those market segments where the consumer wants best fit with what their business has to offer, and also a better understanding of the various routes to markets, recognising that the online world, the Internet and social media, will play a much bigger role in this business in future. Tourism firms will have to grapple with that and, hopefully, overcome it. In practice, this means that firms need a more sophisticated understanding of how to access customers in places such as Germany and France and the channels through which they can be accessed. For example, it could be traditional media, advertising, tour operators, online travel or through social media and how to engage with them.

What does that mean for businesses? For some firms it means placing much greater emphasis on continental European markets such as France and Germany where the medium term prospects are probably better than in Britain. For example, this type of recalibration could prompt a turnaround in the tourism fortunes of many businesses west of the Shannon, which are operating with a product which we know appeals to French and German visitors. For far too long the west has probably been too dependent on the domestic trade. Therefore, there is an opportunity here for that part of the country.

In recognition of emerging opportunities in particular markets, we have been particularly active across a number of fronts to ensure that businesses are well placed to exploit any recovery in key markets. We believe that Ireland’s comparative advantage in tourism can be found in three areas – our natural heritage, our built heritage and our cultural heritage. All of us who work in tourism need to focus laser-like on the opportunities these areas represent. This involves recognising that visitors come to Ireland to see and do those things which add up to a memorable experience. What does this mean? Nobody will come to Ireland just to sleep in a bed or to eat a meal or buy a beer. Thankfully, when they come here they do that, but what persuades them to come is a prior conviction that Ireland provides a leisure break which is unique and authentic. In other words, they must believe that there are things they can see and do in Ireland, which can only be experienced in Ireland, and tourism businesses must make sure that expectation is realised.

This is Ireland's greatest asset and it goes back to the three legs of the stool – natural heritage, built heritage and cultural heritage. If we become more adept at how we sell these experiences, then the consumer will realise that they can only have these experiences in Ireland – because they are unique. In this sense, Irish tourism is a truly indigenous industry, which by definition, means it cannot be “off-shored” to some other part of the world.

We rightly enjoy an international reputation for the quality of our hospitality sector – our hotels, restaurants and bars. We are good at that because it is in our DNA, but this next phase of growth will only be realised if we can develop this other strand in our DNA which dials up our ability to engage with the visitor in a range of things to see and do. In essence, we are in the entertainment business - this is at the heart of Irish tourism. Our next phase of growth therefore will require us to strengthen this entertainment strand and combine it with our existing strengths in hospitality. This is an emerging area of focus as we work to support businesses, which is a new departure. In the past three or four years our work has been around cutting costs, working with banks and getting value for money right. According to independent research, our value for money ratings, as judged by visitors, is at its highest level in more than a decade. We have regained our competitive position and, therefore, we are in good shape.

The degree to which we are collectively successful in growing overseas sales will depend on a variety of factors and not least the quality and range of experiences we have to offer.