Mr. Peter Hynes:

One of the principles that has become apparent from our 20 years' experience in the area is to capitalise on the asset that we have. Westport, the Great Western Greenway and The Gathering are three successful examples from which we could learn, and these have been about collaboration, not competition. Westport started that with collaboration between competing hotels in one town. I know that the same happens in Kinsale and in other places as well, but collaboration is not the norm and we believe it is very important.

Another important element is ownership of the projects by people at a very local level. One of the successes of the Greenway is that it is owned by the landowners and the communities along the route, and is no longer a local authority project. That has its own challenges and problems, but it works a lot better than if we were going in trying to do something with it. I think the same is true of The Gathering, and I think this will energise things like the wild Atlantic way, because it provides a framework and that is something that the national authorities and local authorities can do. However, it is down to local service providers and communities to latch on to that framework, and if we give them the opportunity, they most definitely will do so.

A study group has just finished its work on the airport. The future of the airport is mainly going to be about growing numbers to 1.2 million or 1.3 million over the next ten years, in order to bring visitors directly into the region. With those numbers, the airport would be self sustaining and pay its own way. We think that is definitely achievable with more regional buy-in and collaboration from the trade and from the local authorities in the region.

We took an initiative with mayo.ie not just to market or advertise Mayo, but to develop real community connections. We have identified champions in all our communities around the globe and they are the people who drive it, in the same way as the people who live on the Greenway drive that. Ms Grehan has the figures on it, but it has been very successful. Finally, the face to face and the handshake are always important and I do not think we do enough of those. One of the things on which we need to fight back is the media campaign against people travelling for St. Patrick's Day and other occasions to meet with the diaspora. If any other country in the globe had the kind of access and power that we have on one day of the year, they would have the whole country decanted and out doing business and networking. While it will not be popular in certain sections of the media, it is hugely important that we start to reverse the view on that.