Seanad debates
Wednesday, 27 November 2002
National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Second Stage.
We should compliment hotels which have spent a lot of money on developing their facilities. The Department and other bodies have given substantial grants to aid development in hotels, to many of which great credit is due. Their owners took the initiative and put facilities in place when the numbers visiting Ireland were not as high as they are now. There is now accommodation in most towns and one has no problem getting beds for a busload of tourists in most average sized towns, particularly in the midlands; in the past it was hard for a carload of people to obtain accommodation in a bed and breakfast establishment for the night. We must compliment those who have put money into hotels and ensure they are helped in any way we can, as some of them have had problems over the last 12 months. I spoke recently to people in Galway who said tourism in the area last year was as good as it ever was. There is great credit due to the Department for going out to America and promoting Ireland. Some might say a large amount of money was spent promoting tourism in Ireland, but that is what this is about; we cannot expect people to come here if we do not go out and sell ourselves. That has to be done.
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