Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We know there are a variety of reasons tourists visit a particular country and why some countries attract tourists in greater numbers than others. Ireland has many particular selling points. It has great natural beauty in its mountains, lakes, forest, rivers, cliffs, and canals. We also have villages, town, cities and, of course, our islands. We can also include our culture, music, arts, sport, and food. These are all reasons people come to Ireland.

What exactly is sustainable tourism? It is tourism that contributes to conservation and to the local economy so that everything is compatible and so that the environment and local communities benefit. There are some very good examples from outside Ireland. Cuba is one place that springs to mind. There are certain areas in Cuba that are totally eco-friendly. We in this country are not there yet.

There is also a lot to learn from another country, Costa Rica. It sets a very good example and it is very advanced in the area of ecotourism. Sustainable travel and sustainable tourism may seem like contradictions when one considers the air travel aspect, but Costa Rica has been a global leader in sustainable tourism. Costa Rica produces 93% of its energy using renewable resources. I read that the country ran solely on energy from renewable sources for 300 days in 2017. Its ambition is to be the first carbon-neutral country in the world by 2021. We could learn from some of the things it has done with regard to sustainable tourism. One example is its certificate in sustainable tourism. This is used to measure the sustainability aspect of businesses and to motivate them to choose more sustainable practices.

Costa Rica also encourages the erection of ecolodges, which have a minimal impact on the natural environment. I do not know how that idea would go down with the hotel chains who want to set up all over the place here. These ecolodges are big into composting. They use environmentally friendly pesticides, solar panels, and all-natural bath products. They also operate plant-a-tree programmes to offset carbon emissions.

On renewable energy, as I mentioned, Costa Rica is almost exclusively powered by renewable sources: rivers, volcanoes, wind and solar power. Between 2014 and 2018, only 1.4% of the country's electricity was generated from fossil fuels. The country also has a plastic-free pledge and hopes to ban all single-use plastic products by 2021. It is also reversing the process of deforestation. Costa Rica calls itself a small country with big goals. That could also be us. When talking about sustainable tourism, we could also look at this area because of the natural resources we have here. That could be Ireland.

We are a significant destination for a wide variety of tourists because of what we offer, but we know that there are challenges. A report released in recent days shows that the number of overseas visitors in the period from January to March surpassed 2 million for the first time. Expenditure by tourists from overseas dropped by 4.6%, however, and there was also a slight drop in the average number of days spent here. Brexit got the blame for that as it was causing uncertainty. The weakness of sterling also meant that foreign holidays were more expensive for British tourists.

4 o’clock

We know about the challenges the Minister of State and others have mentioned. The cost of insurance is increasing the cost of holidaying here. We also know about the spread of tourists: I am all for dispersal as the Minister of State mentioned. Ireland has far more to offer than just Dublin, even though we have a lot here in Dublin. Gaps in staffing is another issue. In the old days CERT offered training for people who wanted to go into the hospitality industry with a wide variety of courses feeding into the industry. We now have significant gaps.

People going on holiday want value for money. They want to be able to eat and drink and visit places of interest without it costing a fortune. However, we are seeing escalating costs in hotels and bed and breakfasts. When a large event is taking place in Dublin it is unacceptable that hotel prices are trebling, quadrupling and even more at times. The cost of travel is an issue with the cost of rail travel in particular being prohibitive at times.

Weather is a challenge, but we can cope with that because nobody comes to Ireland for the weather. Much of what we have to offer tourists is not weather dependent. If tourists experience bad weather in a holiday destination that is dependent on weather, there is nothing else to do, whereas in Ireland we have so much to do in all kinds of weather.

Ireland has so much to offer to people of all ages and interests. Tourists look for something different when they come here and we need to celebrate that difference in Dublin and the places outside Dublin. It is important not to lose that. We do not want to be a mini Las Vegas or a mini New York. We saw the mistakes made in Dublin where Temple Bar is a Mecca for hen and stag parties. It is an awful pity if someone's only experience of Dublin is going to Temple Bar to eat and mainly to drink. As the Minister of State pointed out in his speech, we have great potential for a wide variety of tourists, but it is about us offering something that is different and good value.

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