Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

To speak about tourism is to speak about jobs and stimulating the economy, both of which are desperately required in almost every town and village in the country. Despite the spin being peddled from the Government press office, the economic catastrophe visited upon this country by Fianna Fáil and its friends in the construction industry and the banking elites shows no sign of abating. Just because fewer people are losing their jobs or tax forecasts are not as far below target than was the case heretofore does not mean we have turned the corner. It is estimated that up to 100,000 people have emigrated from Ireland since 2007, mainly the younger generation. It is an unfortunate reality that the country can look forward to several years of austerity as we are forced to pay for the mistakes of the former elites, some of whom continue to receive pensions from now nationalised banks although they may not be paying back their outstanding loans. Meanwhile, sectors of the real economy, such as tourism, are not receiving the support they deserve.

Tonight's motion highlights an area where Ireland has enjoyed great success in the past and where it can in the future with a little imagination and investment. According to Fáilte Ireland calculations, for every additional €1 million spent by foreign tourists in Ireland, we can create 23 jobs. Tourism provides what the Fáilte Ireland fact sheet terms "a significant regional distributive effect", in other words employment that is not centred on major urban centres, but which also provides jobs from Lahinch to Letterkenny and from Cashel to Carlingford. It provided €1.2 billion in taxation revenues in 2009 and employed almost 120,000 people, more than the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors or the financial services sector. In short, it is a major industry, a significant source of Government revenue and a major employer. This is real decentralisation in action.

With such a major industry, one would expect that the Government would be in a position to take steps to protect it from external problems and chart a growth strategy for the future.

Changing the title of the Department is no substitute for developing real policy. All of the snappy photo opportunities may be good for a Minister but they do not address the real issues facing an industry that is in crisis.

In 2009, almost 1 million fewer overseas visitors came to Ireland than in 2008. This drop, of 11.6%, in 2009 comes on top of a 2% reduction in 2008. Despite hopes for a recovery from tourism's annus horribulus, 2009, this year has proved to be even worse, with numbers collapsing further. They were down by 18.5% in March 2010 compared to March 2009. The response of the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government was to impose an air travel tax.

I understand that in times of crisis a Government is required to investigate any potential avenue of additional revenue. However, the caveat is always to ensure that the any taxation or spending measure introduced does not end up costing the economy more than it gains. This is precisely what has happened with the air travel tax.

The economic lunacy of imposing a steep air travel tax when we are an island nation with poor ferry connectivity is bewildering. Surely someone within the Government must realise that if one enforces an air travel tax in a country that relies on airplanes to bring 90% of foreign tourists thereto, many will simply choose not to come. Some 900,000 fewer tourists visited Ireland in 2009 compared to 2008. If even 20% of these made a decision not to visit Ireland because of the high cost of flights, 180,000 people would not be bringing vital economic stimulus to the country, including in places such as Killarney, Kilkenny, Westport and Waterford.

When even a country such as Holland, which has extensive road and rail links with the rest of Europe, and is not an island in the Atlantic on the edge of Europe, chooses to abolish its air travel tax on the grounds that it is counterproductive, it is time for the brains in the Irish Government and the seers in the Department of Finance to reassess their stance. In July 2008, the Dutch Government introduced an air passenger tax targeting the collection of $418 million. A subsequent Dutch study calculated that the tax cost airlines $1.2 billion, Dutch airports $121 million and the Dutch economy $1.6 billion. The tax was scrapped in 2009. It is time for our Government to follow suit and either abolish or substantially reduce the air travel tax, or look for an alternative way of asking the tourism and aviation industries to play their part without maintaining the air travel tax.

The recent rise in the popularity of social networking websites such as Facebook and the use of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet computers has brought about both challenges and opportunities for the tourism sector. Mobile applications - pieces of software that help users perform specific tasks – have quickly become a cultural phenomenon. It is estimated that 190 million smart phones were sold globally in 2009 and that a further 250 million sales are predicted for 2010. Mobile applications can be used for a variety of tasks, from playing music to tracking airline flights. In most cases, applications are free to download. Apple currently offers over 185,000 applications in its App Store, not to mention the vast number of applications offered by Google and Blackberry.

Keeping up with the burgeoning nature of mobile technology, the development of tourist applications targeted at visitors to Ireland would modernise the tourist experience in Ireland and create openings for application and web developers. Mobile applications should be used as a new medium to access customers through sophisticated Internet marketing campaigns. Furthermore, applications should provide information about tourist attractions, accommodation and transport in addition to providing navigation and translation tools.

Today's tourism market is arguably much less structured than it was. The Internet has replaced the travel agent because people tend to book their own holidays. Fáilte Ireland's visitor attitudes survey of 2009 showed that 84% of overseas holidaymakers to Ireland use the Internet to book or purchase some element of their holiday. This figure will only continue to grow so it is vital that our tourism businesses, particularly accommodation businesses, have access to high-quality broadband.

The Internet is the greeting place of the future. Some 74% of foreign visitors used it to book accommodation in 2009. Recent figures supplied from the OECD have shown that Ireland has broadband penetration of just 21.4%, ranking us 20th out of 30 countries. Tourism businesses throughout Ireland require and deserve fast, efficient and reliable broadband in order to build their profile on the Internet and attract foreign tourists.

An issue which has been highlighted time and again to me by tourism operators is tourism visas, particularly for visitors from Asia. Traditionally Irish tourism has been dominated by visitors who share cultural, historical and linguistic ties with Ireland. The growth markets in 21st century tourism will not share these historical ties. The people of India, the Gulf states and, in particular, China are becoming major travellers. These countries are markets Ireland cannot afford to ignore, even in the short term. The significance of Chinese tourism is highlighted by the fact that last year 42.2 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad while in 2001 that figure was just 7 million. If Ireland is to become successful at attracting tourists from the expanding long-haul markets, a reformed and faster means of entering Ireland must be put in place.

The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport has become aware of this fact somewhat belatedly and had an article in the newspaper recently discussing it. What we need from the Government is real action and not words. Due to our border co-operation agreements with the United Kingdom, it is a complex issue. However, if the United Kingdom can offer holiday visas to people from Asia, there is no reason we cannot devise a system that does not require visitors to supply the same level of information as if they were a potential immigrant and not a potential tourist. As I stated, tourism is now such a globalised industry that any barriers to entry will simply result in many tourists picking another destination.

During the height of the Celtic tiger boom, Fianna Fáil and the now-defunct Progressive Democrats created a myriad of tax breaks to stimulate development. One of these was a tax relief on the construction of hotels. Not only has this relief cost over €444 million between 2004 and 2008, despite the tax relief ending in 2005, information I received from the Irish Hotels Federation indicates that some 260 hotels, out of a total stock of just over 900, are still claiming the tax relief. These hotels have been coined "zombie hotels", as many were created purely to take advantage of tax incentives for a group of investors rather than to meet a genuine supply need. According to the chief executive of Fáilte Ireland, their development was supply-led rather than demand responsive.

The accommodation market has collapsed with room occupancy levels as low as 37% in some areas. In a normally functioning market, businesses that were not profitable would be forced out until the market found its equilibrium. This has not happened as many hotels are supported by their banks and are offering what is essentially below-cost selling. Other hotels have been or are in the process of being transferred to NAMA, which is now effectively the State's largest hotelier, with the result that many well established family-run hotels are being forced out of business by what amounts to unfair competition. The Labour Party has set its position out in the policy document, Extending the Welcome. I call on the Government to provide an answer as to what it proposes to do regarding the zombie hotels and how it sees NAMA affecting the hotel market. If NAMA does not assess the accommodation market as a whole, it will lead to a continued glut of hotels in certain areas. Action is required urgently on this issue.

We must also work to sustain the bed and breakfast industry. The bed and breakfast accommodation sector has for many decades provided guests with the unique experience of staying in the homes of Irish families where visitors can enjoy the renowned Irish welcome. Bed and breakfast accommodation, once the staple of the Irish accommodation sector, has suffered a steep decline due partly to a reduction in consumer demand, but also due to the explosion in hotels as a result of the tax incentives introduced by the Government which have now rendered the sector effectively insolvent. The market share of bed and breakfast accommodation in the accommodation sector has reduced to 10.8%. It must be acknowledged that Fáilte Ireland has moved to address the issues in the sector as it recently published a vision for Irish home bed and breakfast accommodation. This is a welcome move, but we also need to roll out a full classification system and market bed and breakfast accommodation as a uniquely Irish experience where, instead of merely bed and breakfast, one stays in a family home and then shares breakfast with them in the morning.

While I am highly sympathetic to the real stresses that the businesses in the accommodation and food sector are under, recent statistics from National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, and in a report complied by TASC, are truly shocking. They show a cavalier attitude towards employment legislation, which is there to prevent exploitation of workers, many of whom may not be Irish nationals. Out of a total of 131 inspections carried in 2009 by NERA into accommodation providers outside the Dublin, Cork and Dún Laoghaire municipal areas, 96 were found to be non-compliant with the hotel employment regulation order, which provides for minimum rates of pay and conditions in these areas. This non-compliance rate of 73% represents a completely unacceptable breach of an important piece of employment legislation designed to protect workers. That 15% of hotels were inspected and 73% were found not to be adhering to employment legislation is disgraceful. A report recently published by TASC shows that these figures of non-compliance are broadly similar to those in the catering and accommodation sector.

Such a level of non-compliance shows an almost systematic decision by the industry to ignore workers rights. That the accommodation and catering sectors can then complain about the JLC system or the minimum wage despite the evasion of labour laws is a duplicitous position. We, in the Labour Party, call on the Government, NERA and those in the leadership roles in the accommodation and food services sector to work together to end this worker exploitation.

Ireland's natural landscape is a precious resource. Fáilte Ireland's Visitors Attitude Survey 2009 has once again highlighted the Irish scenery as one of the top two advantages for Ireland vis-À-vis other destinations. In a time when ever more people are becoming conscious of their impact on the environment, eco-tourism offers great opportunities for the future of tourism in Ireland. There are beautiful walkways located throughout Ireland and many hikers and hill-walkers take advantage of this. Hiking and hill-walking were the most popular activity that foreign tourist undertook in Ireland in 2009. The development of new walkways and the upkeep of existing walkways are ways in which safe and responsible travel can be promoted while maintaining Ireland's green image. Already, the green box initiative, which developed the north west into a significant eco-tourism destination, has been successful. Eco-tourism offers rural areas a chance to play on their strengths with a net benefit for all concerned in better environmental conditions, economic opportunities and a strong and a unique tourist product - rural Irish life. Similar strategies to the green box initiative in other parts of Ireland would not only improve Ireland's standing as an eco-tourism destination but would also bring economic stimulus into rural communities and bring job opportunities to people across a range of skill levels. It is critical that eco-tourism in Ireland is built on a green and sustainable model which takes into consideration the benefits to the tourist, the benefits to the people in the local communities and the impact on the environment.

The need for legislation to allow for the downward review of rents and for bank credit to be unfrozen are issues that are certainly not confined to the tourism industry. Indeed, I spoken on both of these issues and their impact on the wider economy in this House over the past year. However, both have a significant impact on tourism operators as well as the wider economy. The Labour Party introduced into this House earlier this year legislation that would allow for the downward review of rents. This was voted down by the Government, no doubt to keep those august financial institutions who invested money in commercial property happy, rather than taking account of the needs of the real economy, the employment and wealth creators. Tourist businesses are no different from other sectors with extortionate rents, which take absolutely no account of the current economic climate, being expected by landlords. As a result, tourist businesses have gone to the wall. The tourism industry, as well as the rest of the economy, requires immediate action on this issue.

Despite the mealy-mouthed words from the banks, which still exist only because the citizens of this State bailed them out, they are not extending sufficient working capital to viable businesses. The years of extreme largesse have been replaced with a regime of austerity so severe that viable businesses are being driven to the wall. The banks may claim that they are not refusing a large amount of businesses, but the simple fact is that most of these businesses are told not to apply as they will not be accepted. They do not apply and thus they are not counted as part of the figures spouted by the State and the banks. It is time the State got tough with the banks. The kid gloves treatment given to the former masters of the universe has led them to forget who their real boss is now - the citizens of this State who have bailed them out. The Irish people have, without their consent, of course, given the banks the guarantee, nationalisation, bailouts and NAMA, and have thrown good money after bad into particular organisations. The least we expect from these organisations is not to strangle viable businesses that did not wreck the Irish economy.

Any plan to establish a long-term sustainable footing for the Irish tourism industry must also address the current State and semi-State support infrastructure. The tourism industry is one of the few areas with an integrated North-South element, with Tourism Ireland working on a 32-county basis to market the island of Ireland as a tourist destination. Established in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, the vital role this cross-Border body plays should not be underestimated in terms of relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In a classic case of quangoism, however, the merger of the Northern and Southern tourist boards created three agencies, with Fáilte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourism board established with Tourism Ireland. In addition, Shannon Development is also responsible for tourism in the mid-west region. There are five regional tourism development boards, and Dublin Tourism. For a country of just 4.5 million people and with less than 7 million visitors last year, this amount of bureaucracy is surely excessive. Tourist operators have also informed me that the number of bodies can sometimes be confusing and they would wish for a more streamlined service with one point of contact. I call on the Government to review the functions, systems and efficiency of the semi-State agencies in the tourism sector. If a reduction in the number of tourism bodies can be achieved without reducing the service to tourism businesses, this should be implemented.

The Labour Party is here this evening to urge the Government to act on tourism. What we have presented here is an action plan for Government to address the short and medium-term issues facing the industry. I have met the same stakeholders as the Minister and read the same reports on the perilous state of the industry. It is the Government's responsibility to protect jobs and it is the Minister's responsibility to convince her colleagues around the Cabinet table that tourism requires more than a departmental name change and must be taken seriously by the Government. She also needs to impress on them that decisions taken in other areas have can have a major impact on the industry. Tourism is interlinked with the very life of the country. It contributes to the economy in a way no index can accurately measure. Its impacts range from buying petrol at the local station to a cup of tea in the local shop or pub. Tourism can no longer wait at the back of the queue while the pampered elites take up the State's time and money. I commend the motion to the House.

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