John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy presents an unduly dismal picture of tourism performance in recent years and I am glad to have the opportunity to put the position in context. In 1996, 4.7 million people visited Ireland and foreign earnings from these visitors amounted to €1.79 billion, excluding passenger fare receipts. In 2005, we hosted almost 7 million visitors who generated foreign earnings of more than €3.4 billion. Most recent available statistics suggest visitor numbers could grow at a rate of more than 10% this year.

The past five years have been one of the most turbulent periods for tourism and travel in recent history. Despite this, the number of overseas visitors to Ireland in this period increased by almost 11%, while the number of pure holidaymakers grew by more than 2%. Holidaymaker numbers have increased by 14% this year and domestic tourism is growing rapidly. Furthermore, if we exclude passenger fare receipts, which have fallen as fares to Ireland become more competitive, the revenue from these visitors increased by 32% since 2000. In real terms, this constitutes an increase of approximately 11% in on-the-ground spend.

After a record year in 2000, the North American market was hit hard by the attacks on 11 September 2001 and general outbound travel from the US decreased. The number of US visitors to Ireland fell by almost 19% between 2000 and 2002. However, our North American business has recovered in the intervening period with clear evidence of strong growth this year. Other European countries have not been as fortunate.

A number of initiatives are in place to improve the regional spread of tourism. In terms of the tourism regions along the western seaboard, I am pleased the measures taken seem to be working, with a 6.3% increase in bed nights in 2005. Tourism here has a competitiveness challenge and I have stated on many occasions that we cannot be complacent. Nonetheless, in recent years our general record is one of which we can be proud.

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