Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for the work they have done in producing this report and bringing their considerable expertise, knowledge, wisdom and passion for the industry to bear. Hopefully, we can now work alongside them and others in delivering on the findings. I have a quick observation and I wonder if this matter came within the task force's focus during the commissioning of the report. I live in the hidden heartlands and I agree wholeheartedly that in the next three to five years there will be a new focus on holidays that involve wilderness. We have lots of wonderful wilderness in the hidden heartlands, or isolation to a certain extent, and activities tourism is a huge growth area, using the Shannon, the Slieve Aughty Mountains and other locations. Deputy Griffin also mentioned the development of a number of greenways which will hopefully connect Dublin to Galway and Athenry to Enniskillen in the next number of years, providing significant opportunities.

Ms Andrews also mentioned the need to digitally upskill the providers within our regions and there is a need in the hidden heartlands to make people more aware of what opportunities lay there for them. One opportunity that I use extensively is Airbnb. In certain contexts, debates and conversations, Airbnb gets bad press due to a perceived weakness in its model, as it reduces the number of housing units available where there is a very high demand for housing. I live in rural east Galway, where in the last five years a number of my neighbours have become Airbnb hosts. It is commented on frequently by people living in our rural community that they have seen people from Scotland, the US, France, Germany and Canada visiting our particular part of east Galway which would not have seen much tourism activity in the past. Some of the research that is being done internationally on likely travel trends in the next three to five years refers to pod travel, where a slightly extended family unit travels and stays on its own and is, to a certain degree, isolated when travelling or engaging in tourism activity. In certain areas, Airbnb would come into its own in that capacity. Did that feature in any way in the task force's deliberations? If so, what kind of outcomes did it arrive at regarding Airbnb's place in rural Irish tourism in the future? I think it has a significant role to play and I would be interested in the witnesses' perspectives on that.