John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

There is no denying that tourism is a good news story. The number of visitors has doubled since the 1990s, a development which most people will strongly welcome. I anticipate that this year will be the best year for tourism since the foundation of the State. Growth levels are expected to be very strong. We know that traffic from the United States, whose visitors, as Deputy Deenihan correctly points out, are the highest spenders, has increased by 10%. In general terms, there is clear evidence of substantial growth across every single market, be it North America, Britain or continental Europe. I anticipate that, for the first time, we will break the 7 million mark in annual tourist numbers.

It is true that there is a difficulty in western regions. This is due to short breaks, particularly urban-based breaks, being taken by many visitors as well as a shift from sea to air travel. These are key factors impacting on the spatial spread of tourism and tourism to rural areas, especially those which lack direct access by air and sea, and they have contributed to a decline in nights spent in tourism regions along the western seaboard.

As I indicated, a rejuvenated, integrated marketing approach combined with enhanced air travel has led to a reversal of this trend in western regions, with the number of overseas visitors nights and holiday nights increasing in 2005 and delivering the highest recorded number of bed nights in the past five years.

It is true that the number of visitors touring by car has declined. For example, in 2005, 42% of all holiday makers used a car while on this island. This figure increases to 45% when confined to the North American market. There has, however, been a significant decline of 22% in the number of visitors bringing a car to Ireland, while the number of cars hired has increased by 2%. The decline in the use of cars by visitors can be attributed to a number of factors, including frequent and cheap air access, a decrease in the length of stay and an increase in the number of city breaks. Incidentally, the decrease in length of stay is a trend evident across Europe.

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