Kieran Phelan (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism for coming into the House this morning and I thank also the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern.

I welcome this debate on tourism, the importance of which to this country should never be underestimated. It is not always given the weight it deserves but there are strong facts to justify the Government's putting such a strong emphasis on building and expanding our tourism industry. According to the latest statistics from the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, the industry generates €4 billion in annual foreign earnings and another €1.2 billion in domestic expenditure. Approximately 150,000 people are employed in the tourism industry. Six million people visited this country in 2001, a figure which has doubled over the past ten years. Those six million visitors, along with the many Irish people who choose to spend their holidays here, contributed an estimated €1.2 billion in income tax receipts. In this time of belt-tightening, that figure should not be dismissed lightly.

When all these factors are considered, it should be obvious that the way forward is to develop and expand the tourism industry, but unfortunately the opposite is more likely to happen in the short term. Tourism is currently on the decline. Hopefully, this development is only a temporary blip on our fine record of growth in this sector but we need to examine the cause of the blip.

It will not come as any surprise that the aftermath of 11 September and foot and mouth disease have played a large part in the reversal of our fortunes in the tourism industry but, as the Minister will no doubt testify, a number of other issues have hurt the industry also. With the advent of the euro it has become far easier for visitors to this country to compare prices with other destinations and, as matters stand, we are not coming off too well under that comparison. There needs to be an increased emphasis on delivering value for money, competitiveness, a high quality of service and a unique experience for the international visitor.