Feargal Quinn (Independent)

The Minister is welcome to the House and I am delighted he is here. I will attempt to put down ten different ideas, rather than repeat what has been said earlier. First, can we instil the boomerang principle in everybody in the Irish tourism business? I grew up in a holiday camp and I recommend that anybody who has a chance of being born again should do their best to be reborn in a holiday camp. My father built Red Island holiday camp in Skerries after the war and the principle for English guests was that they paid on arrival. The objective was to have them come up at the end of the week and say "I'm coming back again next year". We should instil that concept into everybody in the Irish tourist business. The objective is not to get as much money off our guests on this occasion, but to get them to return the following year. That does not only apply to hotels, but to everybody in the tourism business.

Another point concerns food tourism. Around the world, many people decide where to go based on the attractiveness of food in a given region. For example, visitors come to Kinsale because of the wonderful selection of restaurants there. In addition, people will drive out of their way to visit Gregans Castle in the Burren and Moran's of the Weir in County Galway, which have established high standards. The village of Howth, where I come from, is like that also.

Will the Minister do all he can to get the Olympic torch to pass through Ireland on its way to London next year? It should be carried not just to the North of Ireland but also down here, which would provide an extra benefit.

Is there anything we can do to get ourselves into the Schengen area? Can we coax Britain or do anything else to achieve that goal? I know we do not want a situation whereby British visitors would require passports to visit here, but is there anything we can do to encourage them and ourselves to ensure that people will not need passports to come here from other parts of Europe?

Can we do anything to encourage the British to change to daylight saving, thus adopting central European time that would give us an extra hour of daylight all year round? If so, that would be of huge benefit for the tourism business.

I am impressed by the steps that have already been taken with regard to visas. A year ago, we brought this problem to the then Minister's attention, which was the cost of visas for people coming from the Far East or Russia. The cost of visas for a family of four coming here from such places would have been €240, even if they had British visas. I am delighted, therefore, that steps have been taken in that area so that the British visa will also apply to Ireland.

As other speakers have said, there are great tourism opportunities in China, India and the Middle East. According to the statistics, some 60 million Chinese plan to holiday abroad each year. In addition, they spend twice as long on holidays as other nationalities. Some places around Europe have recognised the potential and are doing marvellous things. For example, in Geneva, Paris and London, Mandarin-speaking staff are employed in shops to serve Chinese customers. In this regard, Irish hotels should ensure that their websites have a Mandarin-language option.

It is amazing to consider that Harrods department store in London has seen a 40% increase in sales to wealthy Chinese tourists since it installed 75 special Chinese credit card reader terminals. The increase is largely due to the fact that Chinese bank cards are not recognised outside China because they use a separate card processing method via China Union Pay, CUP, card terminals. According to Harrods, Chinese tourists visiting from mainland China have to bring a lot of cash when they travel abroad because so few places have CUP terminals. In London, the only other store that has those terminals is Selfridges - which is basically an Irish store now as it is part of Brown Thomas - where sales to Chinese shoppers have seen double digit growth since the installation of those terminals there. Our retailers need to consider something like that initiative.

Another idea is to bring tourists to rural Ireland through the provision of free air tickets. There has been much debate in recent months about the need for regional airports, a point to which the Sinn Féin amendment to the motion refers. Regional airports in Galway, Sligo and Waterford are facing closure this year. Could we come up with some new ideas to attract new customers to the airports and at the same time bring tourists to some of the less well known areas of the country? For instance, the Japanese have come up with a radical idea. On the southern island of Kyushu a group of businessmen, bureaucrats and academics have proposed establishing free flights for people from South Korea, China and Taiwan, subsidised by the Government. The project proposes launching 35 flights a week between eight airports in Kyushu, using ten small jets currently under development by Mitsubishi. To qualify, passengers must buy vouchers worth about €1,000 to shop, eat, sleep or get medical treatment in the area. It could be viewed perhaps as the aviation equivalent of giving away the razor and selling the blades. There is something we could do in that area as well.

Another idea is to use Irish ex-pats to promote Irish tourism abroad. There is great potential for the massive network of Irish people worldwide to help promote Ireland as a tourism destination. There is a network of millions already in place to help promote Ireland. I have been thinking about how to exploit this. I came across an initiative in New Zealand introduced by the Kiwi Expat Association. The ex-pats' network has grown to 25,000 members. Its mission is to contribute to the growth, development and future prosperity of New Zealand by facilitating and sharing the knowledge, contacts and opportunities around the world. The association has started a scheme called "Pass It On" which aims to get ex-pat New Zealanders to spread the word about everything the country has to offer. With funding, distribution and content support from a variety of New Zealand partners, the effort offers monthly prize draws for participants with Kiwi-centric prizes for the winners. Participants begin by signing up with the effort and then they share stories from the Pass It On site with family, friends and colleagues - sharable videos, focus on travel and cuisine, creative talent, and business and innovation. When the recipients of these stories follow the sender's link back to Pass It On and sign up, the sender earns pass points. These points then become entries in a prize draw that takes place on the second Monday of each month. Prizes range from small prizes to an opportunity for four New Zealanders living overseas to bring their best foreign friends to New Zealand for a week of "money-can't-buy" experiences. This scheme has been ramped-up in anticipation of the Rugby World Cup this year.

The scheme information states: "New Zealanders love to promote their country but all too often we talk about the same things - beautiful scenery, bungy jumping, sailing and the All Blacks." The Pass It On initiative is designed to give New Zealanders and friends of New Zealand, no matter where they are in the world, some extra incentives to start these conversations and a toolkit to help them tell a better story. In a similar way, Irish people can go way beyond Guinness to be able to do what they want.

On that basis, the steps the Government has taken are very worthy and I support them. I am interested to note the Fianna Fáil amendment and Sinn Féin amendment to the motion do not contain the words "we condemn the Government motion", rather they add to it. We all recognise the steps that have been taken are the right ones. I encourage the Minister to continue in that direction because this is a quick fix. It is possible to get people working very quickly rather than having to make a huge educational trend on that basis.