Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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32. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his Department has a strategy in place for dealing with the consequences of Brexit for overseas tourism to Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22789/16]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the House for facilitating me. This question arises out of the recent result of the British referendum on Brexit and its potential consequences in terms of the number of tourists visiting Ireland. What has the Minister done, in conjunction with his Department, to establish a comprehensive strategy to ensure there will not be a negative impact on our tourist numbers?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​​Great Britain has consistently been Ireland's most important source market for visits to Ireland, with just over 3.5 million visits in 2015. This represented 41% of our total overseas visits. CSO figures for the period January to May 2016 show further strong performance from this market, with growth in visit numbers of over 15.7% when compared with the same period of 2015.

Tourism Ireland, the agency responsible for marketing the island of Ireland as a visitor destination in overseas markets, has an extensive marketing programme in place for the second half of 2016 which is under way in 23 markets, including Great Britain. In the longer term, the programme for Government commits to implementing the policy objectives in the tourism policy statement, People, Place and Policy – Growing Tourism to 2025, and achieving the targets for Irish tourism contained therein. The UK vote does not change that.

While the Great Britain market contributed 41% of overseas visits in 2015, the share of overseas visitor revenue from British visitors is approximately 23%.  There is a commitment in the tourism policy statement to prioritising tourism marketing efforts towards those markets providing higher revenue returns.

In the short term, there are no changes to how people can travel between Ireland and the UK, and the Government will be doing its utmost in future discussions to maintain the common travel area.  In terms of the relative reduction in the value of sterling and the implications for the cost of a holiday here, this has similar implications for all eurozone countries, many of which compete with us for these tourists.

The Great Britain market will remain of significant importance to Irish tourism in the future, and I believe that Ireland's excellent tourism offering will ensure that we continue to perform strongly.  Tourism Ireland is closely monitoring the situation and is due to meet with tourism industry representatives again later this week to plan ahead in this new market environment.  In the longer term, we will work closely with other Departments and our agencies and respond to any changes as necessary. I remain confident, however, that our ambitious overall long-term targets for Irish tourism will be achieved.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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The one point on which I agree with the Minister is that it is too early to predict the effects of Brexit on our country regarding the common travel area and other matters. However, we need a strategy to deal with that, and it appears from the Minister's reply that the Department does not have a strategy other than to plough on with the status quo. We are overly reliant on the UK market. The Minister stated that 41% of tourists who visited Ireland last year were from the UK and Northern Ireland. That figure increased by a further 15.7% in the first six months of this year. I acknowledge that we have great amenities and much to offer tourists coming here, but that in itself will not bring them here, and the budget for marketing our country was cut significantly in the past four years. Is there is a strategy in place to deal with this issue or does the Minister intend to simply continue with what has been done for the past number of years, which was to concentrate efforts on the UK, Europe and then the United States, to the detriment of other areas such as Asia, where there is huge potential?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Tourism Ireland decided to hold a review the moment the result of the Brexit referendum was known.

That was a review to discuss and decide how to target new and developing tourist markets. The terms of reference for this review are being finalised now. It must be remembered that the referendum was only a couple of weeks ago, and it would be crazy to have a knee-jerk reaction.

The new strategy will focus on marketing and on the training and upskilling required for those working in the tourism industry in the State in order to meet the needs of visitors from these markets. It is very important to acknowledge two big uncertainties at the moment - the unknowns that must be addressed. These are the issues of sterling and the common travel area, CTA. It is very important to Ireland that the CTA be defended, whatever the result of the Brexit negotiations. Sterling is an absolute imponderable and it would be impossible to suggest that we might know where that will be in six months, five years or six years. That would be foolish. The Deputy may be absolutely assured that Tourism Ireland reacted immediately in reviewing this policy and we will have a result on that fairly shortly.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy may have a quick final supplementary question.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the fact that there is a new strategy. That is important. Will the Minister clarify what consultation will be held with the various stakeholders, including the Irish Hotels Federation, Dublin Airport Authority, and the airlines on which we rely to bring tourists into the State? The Minister is correct that nobody knows what is going to happen with the CTA, possibly for two years. However, in the meantime we cannot just wait to see what will happen; we have to be actively targeting new markets such as the Asia-Pacific region. There is a real opportunity to attract more visitors from that area. Will the Minister, under the new strategy, make the necessary funding available to ensure Ireland can be marketed to these areas? Over the last three or four years there has been a cut of approximately 17% to the tourism marketing funding. Will that cut be reversed under the new strategy?

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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We are over the time that was allocated for this discussion. However, I will allow the Minister 30 seconds for a quick response.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Tourism Ireland and my Department are determined to get the message out that it is business as usual in the new situation. I am not suggesting that we should be complacent, but the Deputy should remember that it is not all bad news. We will obviously be looking for new markets but the exchange rate only affects our relationship in this way with Britain at the moment. Those British people who may decide not to come here are going to look at the Continent and find the exchange rate is exactly the same in Europe, where the euro is the common currency. The crisis in tourism may not be as bad as it sounds or as bad as we feared.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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They are not coming here for the sun.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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It must be remembered that although Great Britain accounts for 41% of the tourists who visit here, it only accounts for 23% of revenue spent here.