Mr. Peter Nash:

I will respond to some of the interesting questions raised. The bed and breakfast question came up. We promote Ireland on the basis of the wonderful experiences that one can have here. The bed and breakfast experience is a quintessential Irish experience. The beauty about the bed and breakfast stay as an Irish experience is that it is available in all parts of Ireland. We believe that by promoting the experience we are actually promoting the regions of Ireland and getting people to consider all parts of the island.

A comment was made about Scotland. Our experience is that in most countries where we market Ireland as a destination we are competing head-to-head with Scotland. However, our view is that we have a different experience to offer. We believe there is a warmth in the experience that a visitor can have in Ireland. The two landscapes are not altogether dissimilar. Therefore, it is the warmth of experience that the visitor can have in Ireland and the engagement with the warm and curious people of Ireland that are the points of differentiation. Given that we have 5 million people on our side in that battle, so to speak, we believe we will win it in the medium to long term.

Deputy McLellan asked some specific questions. A visitor coming to Ireland stays here on average for seven days. That includes the average person from Britain, who stays approximately four days. Otherwise, essentially, the further a person travels, the more likely he is to stay longer. People from Australia will say an average of approximately 14 days and people from the United States stay somewhere in between the two.

Deputy McLellan made an observation about repeat visitors. We enjoy a reasonable level of repeat visitation. We live in a world of social media and recommendation. We not only want people to think about coming back to us again but we also want them to tell their friends about the wonderful experiences they had. We know that our promotion is valuable in terms of getting people to consider Ireland as a destination. However, what is even more influential is their friends telling them to visit the island of Ireland. One of the parts of the world in which are quite active is Scandinavia, which I referred to already. Sweden is one of our priority markets within Scandinavia.

Underneath all of this and what drives the success and effectiveness of Ireland as a destination that is competing with 200 other destinations is the quality of the communities into which these visitors come and the experiences they receive in these communities. We thank the communities for providing that experience. It is important that these communities continue to have, for example, a vibrant sporting scene, a vibrant pub scene and vibrant accommodation which, all in all, create a wonderful experience. My colleague, Ms MacLaverty, is directly responsible for marketing in Scandinavia and she may wish to comment further.