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

The tourism sector has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the necessary public health restrictions introduced to control it. Since my appointment as Minister, I have been fully engaged with stakeholders in seeking to identify and implement supports to ensure the sector’s survival and sustainable recovery. Until now, the focus has been on the survival phase.

The Tourism Recovery Plan 2020-2023, submitted by the tourism recovery task force last year, continues to be an important consideration for me, as well as my colleagues in the Government, as we continue to evaluate additional measures to support the recovery of the sector. It has informed many of the measures introduced to date which support the tourism sector. The sector-specific measures I have introduced, together with the horizontal supports available, have been critical for helping tourism businesses and employees through the pandemic.

  There are recommendations aimed at the stabilisation and recovery phase in the recovery plan, with an emphasis on sustainability. These include the development of a suite of actions to promote the sustainable development of tourism and that these actions in turn will underpin the development of a sustainable tourism policy to be adopted by Government.

A sustainable tourism working group set up under the aegis of my Department published guiding principles for sustainable tourism development at the end of 2019. An ambition in it states, "Ireland will seek to be amongst the world-leaders in sustainable tourism practices". Earlier this year, in order to maintain momentum on the sustainable tourism agenda, I reconvened this working group to complete the development of a set of actions that promote sustainable tourism practices which can be implemented prior to a new national tourism policy being developed. I expect to receive the group's final report shortly. It will outline the steps that can be taken to promote sustainable tourism practices in the short term. Following this, I will instruct my officials to initiate the development of a new national tourism policy later in the year. This policy will mainstream sustainability, rather than having it as an additional consideration. I want the recovery in the tourism sector over the coming years to be sustainable in environmental, social and economic terms.

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