Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Government's travel advisory currently in operation against all non-essential international travel, in addition to other public health restrictions, means that, unfortunately, there is virtually no inbound tourism at present. As a result, Tourism Ireland, the body responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a holiday destination, has suspended the majority of its overseas marketing campaigns. Any recommencement of active marketing of Ireland overseas will be guided by the public health advice and decisions by the Government on international travel.

Tourism Ireland, however, is actively working behind the scenes to keep Ireland front and centre in the minds of potential travellers. At the appropriate time, it will launch an extensive global recovery kick-start programme. In 2021, I have sustained the tourism marketing fund at previous levels to ensure Tourism Ireland has the resources to do all it can to protect our hard won market share. It is undertaking an extensive, largely virtual programme of activity to ensure that we are in the best possible place to immediately start converting business for tourism operators across the island of Ireland when the time is right. For example, the agency has just recently completed a successful virtual St. Patrick's Day programme which reached out to potential visitors right across the world.

Tourism Ireland is currently developing a new business plan to reflect the global economic changes brought about by Covid-19. This plan will draw from the work of the tourism recovery task force which Deputy Griffin helped to establish. This new business plan will incorporate a three-phase approach to restart, rebuild and ultimately redesign demand.

The restart phase will involve the development of a range of immediate kick-start activities to drive demand for travel to Ireland, as soon as it is safe to welcome tourists to our shores again. The rebuild phase will be rolled out as demand begins to return. It will include highly visible activity in our overseas markets with the greatest potential to deliver value. Demand management will be introduced during the redesign phase to ensure tourism has a sustainable future and meets the long-term aspirations of the industry and the country.

When the time is right to actively promote Ireland abroad as a travel destination, Tourism Ireland will then enter a market that will be extremely competitive but I am confident the agency is well-positioned to meet that challenge.

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