Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Members of the House for giving me the opportunity to speak about tourism, in particular, the Government's policies to support the continued growth in tourism up to 2025.

When this Government came into office in 2011, it identified tourism and hospitality as a key sector in Ireland's overall economic recovery and committed itself to various actions to support the sector, rebuild competitiveness, grow business and increase employment. Reducing VAT on tourism services has enhanced the competitiveness of the sector. This measure has been complemented by a radical change in our approach to visitors from developing markets through, for example, the visa waiver programme, as well as other positive developments in the broader visa regime. The Gathering in 2013 was a highly successful initiative, backed, crucially, not just by the Government but by communities the length and breadth of Ireland, and it delivered a significant increase in overseas visit numbers and revenue. The zero rating of the air travel tax, announced in budget 2014, has also had a welcome impact in terms of additional capacity on many existing routes, as well as the introduction of over 20 new services. In the 2013 budget, we extended the employment and investment incentive scheme to allow the participation of tourism accommodation and also confirmed that hotels and tourism accommodation could be held as rental investment assets as part of real estate investment trusts, REITs. This was extended for another three years in budget 2015.

In order to place the Government's longer-term plans in context, I will summarise briefly the current strong performance of tourism and its significant contribution to Ireland's overall economic performance. From a position, in 2010, where the number of overseas visitors had fallen by 16% in two years, we have seen overseas visitor numbers increase every year since 2011. In 2014, we attracted 7.6 million overseas visitors to Ireland and these visitors contributed an estimated €3.5 billion to the Irish economy. I am pleased to report that the picture for 2015 is very positive. CSO figures released last week show there were just over 3 million visits in the first five months of 2015, an increase of 12.1% compared to the same period in 2014. This represents an additional 329,800 visitors from around the world. This strong performance is all the more impressive as it is distributed over the full range of our source markets.

Visits from mainland Europe grew by 14% for January to May 2015, to almost 1.1 million visits. There were 453,000 visits from North America, an increase of 13.6%, and visits from Great Britain were up by 10.1% to 1.3 million. Visits from the rest of the world, mostly long-haul and developing markets, totalled almost 174,000 for the first five months of 2015, representing an increase of 13% on the same period in 2014. The resurgence in tourism over the past four years does not mean that the Government can divert its attention away from the sector. In fact, it necessitates very close attention by Government to ensure that Ireland's tourism sector can continue to grow in a way that is sustainable from an economic, social and environmental perspective.

I will now turn to the policy framework that has been put in place to ensure that tourism remains a central part of Ireland's economic recovery. Last March, the Taoiseach and I launched the Government's new tourism policy statement, People, Place and Policy - Growing Tourism to 2025. It provides a framework for the tourism industry to thrive in a changing global tourism marketplace. The three headline targets of the new statement are: revenue from overseas tourism to rise from €3.5 billion in 2014 to €5 billion per year by 2025, net of inflation; 250,000 people to be employed in tourism by 2025, compared with approximately 200,000 at the current time; and ten million overseas visits to Ireland by 2025, compared to 7.6 million in 2014. The increase in overseas visits - and, more importantly, the increase in overseas visitor revenue - will have a direct impact on tourism employment numbers. Our goal is to create an additional 50,000 jobs in the sector. These are additional jobs that will support families and communities in every part of Ireland.

We have examined Irish tourism through the lens of people and place, and have devised a policy that builds on our innate strengths as a tourism destination while preparing ourselves for the challenges that the future will bring. I would like to bring the Seanad through a few important aspects of the new tourism policy statement. I will first address the People strand of our framework. We are focusing on those who work in the tourism sector and the means by which the quality of the visitor experience can be maximised through interaction with communities generally.

The people who work in tourism are a particularly important asset to Ireland. A chapter of our statement looks closely at the area of skills in the tourism sector. My Department and Fáilte Ireland are working closely with the Department of Education and Skills, SOLAS, and the expert group on future skills needs to ensure that the training and skills development measures are in place so that the tourism industry can effectively meet the needs of visitors into the future. The policy also acknowledges the key role played by a wide range of events in encouraging tourism into Ireland and in enhancing the experience of visitors during their stay.

A new policy objective in this area is that support for events will be weighted towards those that offset the seasonal nature of tourism. The Government will also examine closely the possibility of a repeat of The Gathering and the scope for other themed events, and this will be pursued further when drawing up the tourism action plan which will follow the statement. However, we recognise that the many commemorations of critical events in our history over the coming years are not primarily focused on tourism; rather, they are occasions to remember, but on which we will also look to the future with confidence.

The Place strand of our framework contains a range of objectives designed to ensure that Ireland remains a place that people from other countries aspire to visit, and one which provides the highest quality of visitor experience. Creating a desire to experience Ireland as a place, and thus inspiring people to visit, is at the core of our overseas tourism marketing. The tourism policy endorses, as a policy principle, the brand architecture and consumer segmentation model which has been developed by the tourism agencies and the tourism industry to identify and focus resources on the most promising consumer segments in each of our priority markets. The importance of maintaining and enhancing, through the protection of natural and cultural assets, the quality of place that visitors experience during their stay is clearly set out. Within the wider context of sustainable development, we will seek to balance that with appropriate development to adapt to changing visitor needs. There is a target of supporting capital investment in tourism for the purpose of improving the visitor experience where such investment is necessary but not feasible on a purely commercial basis. The key difference in the new policy is that supports will be weighted towards investment that is complementary to brand propositions such as the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East.

The Wild Atlantic Way has exceeded our expectations in terms of how quickly it has caught the imagination of people in our overseas markets, as well as communities along the route. The main objective of the Wild Atlantic Way project is to motivate more overseas visitors to visit the west of Ireland, give them reasons to linger longer in terms of tourism experiences and encourage them to engage with the landscape and communities along the route.

Building on the lessons learned during the development of the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East is a compelling tourism offering which will give visitors the opportunity to experience 5,000 years of European history in a small, compact area. It has the potential to attract significant additional visitors to these areas and, in so doing, will generate revenue and jobs in many rural communities. Last week, in Waterford, I met representatives of tourism businesses who were excited by the project, gave me feedback on it and are eager for it to get off the ground. I also want to acknowledge the role that counties such as Kilkenny have played in terms of moving forward with initiatives. I want to recognise the wonderful work Kilkenny has done in embracing the role of festivals and activities in delivering better events and a more authentic experience for domestic consumers and international tourists. I refer to the success of the Kilkenny Roots Festival and the great plans in place for another Kilkenny Arts Festival this summer, which I hope to visit. The manner in which Kilkenny and other counties have embraced such initiatives as Ireland's Ancient East gives me confidence that they will play a greater role in the future in delivering more tourists to the south and east.

Dublin is also the subject of a major brand experience project. The new Grow Dublin Tourism Alliance is, for the first time ever, focusing on a unified branding and marketing proposition for Dublin and is bringing together key stakeholders such as the local authorities, tourism agencies and industry representatives, as well as experts in key sectors such as marketing and communications. The alliance will also be responsible for putting in place a sustainable funding model to support the project. I would like to acknowledge the role and work of Michael Carey and the many other people who voluntarily gave up a large amount of time to be involved in this project. In this sector, those who are busy doing lots of other things, such as keeping hotels, businesses or services open in recent years, are now trying to find ways to make them grow even more quickly. I have frequently asked someone in the sector to give up his or her free time for next to no compensation to help our national pie get bigger and help us to market our country even better.Every time I have gone to people to ask them to do this work they have agreed. It is to the enormous credit of everybody involved in the sector that they want us to do even better in the future. While everybody involved in the sector competes ferociously against each other, as I expect them to do, they also collaborate in a way which is to their credit.

Having outlined various strands of people and place, I will focus on what brings them all together, which is policy. These are the three Ps: policy, place and people. When we bring place and people together through policy we come up with a proposition which is authentic and with which other countries struggle to compete. There is no point in looking at what other countries do and looking to do the same. There is no point looking at what we did in the past and saying if we keep doing it, we will be successful in future. This does not apply to tourism. It does not apply to many other parts of our economy but it certainly does not apply to a sector which is so mobile and competitive. By bringing people and place together through the framework of policy we can build on the insights which have motored events, such as The Gathering, supported initiatives, such as the Wild Atlantic Way and festivals the length and breadth of the country, and come up with ways of doing things better in a more effective way.

I recognise the role of local authorities and communities in making it happen. We are well beyond the days of saying the Department knows best how to market something on the west coast of Ireland or in the south and east of the country. What the Department knows best is how to create a framework in which other people can collaborate effectively. Agencies such as Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland have world class expertise but it is local authorities and communities which know how the engagement works and happens.

Last August I attended the Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo with Senator Ó Murchú. It was a great success. The expertise that went into making it happen is rooted in the local authority and community of the area. We can bring together the tools and, where needed, the funding to make such a collaboration far greater than the sum of its parts. I saw how that worked when I walked through the city of Sligo and saw how vibrant and animated all the streets and lanes were with music and visitors.

The final aspect of this concerns the direct role of Government policies in supporting this initiative. This is why the 9% VAT rate is so important. It is also why it is conditional on moderating pricing behaviour in the sector. I take this opportunity to reaffirm the message and the deal on this tax rate. I understand the need of the sector to make a living, price up and fund investment in new hotels or in upgrading existing bedrooms and hotels but this must be done in such a way that the sector does not become uncompetitive again. If people act in a way which reflects this, it will be recognised by the Government with regard to the VAT rate in place. Let us recognise our history in this area. Five years ago, two fifths of visitors who made the effort to come to Ireland and spend their money felt it was either poor or very poor value for money. Where are we now? Only 6% of tourists who came to Ireland in 2014 felt it was poor or very poor value for money. We have fought a long hard battle in this regard and it has been very tough for many people involved in the sector. Our policy framework recognises this is something on which we cannot loosen up or slacken our effort.

I recognise the role of cross-Border co-operation for a particular type of tourist who travels a great distance to come to Ireland. It is not of interest to him or her where the Border is or even if there is a Border. They want to experience all Ireland has to offer. We are doing great work in this area. Look at the work done by Tourism Ireland to support the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, all of the fantastic golf facilities in the North of Ireland and all of the other great things this part of our country has to offer. Perhaps the area in which we have demonstrated this the best is working together on events such as the Giro d'Italia. Every time I go to Armagh I still see the Giro d'Italia office. Look at the great work being done by the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on the joint bid for the Rugby World Cup in 2023, an initiative enthusiastically supported by the Administrations of both jurisdictions.

I have gone into a fair bit of detail in many areas. I hope the House feels it has been worthwhile. The sector really matters to our economy and the Government has given it the recognition it deserves. We went through such dark days in our country in recent years but those days would have been even darker and we would still be in them if it had not been for the contribution made by sectors, such as tourism. I look forward to announcing very soon the action plan that will come out of the strategy. I am not interested in having objectives or a strategy gathering dust somewhere. We will turn it into an action plan with dates for the measures we want to take soon and for those we believe will take a bit longer. I, and the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, will chair the group. I look forward to returning to the Seanad to update it on progress, to hear the views of House on the policy I have outlined and to get input on how we can do things even better.