Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 67: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he has received a copy of the findings of a recent Tourism Ireland survey, Marketing Insights — Image of the Island of Ireland; his views on its conclusion that Ireland's cities are becoming indistinguishable from other European destinations for holidaymakers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8200/06]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the document mentioned by the Deputy. It was published on Tourism Ireland's corporate website in December 2005 and presented to the industry at a seminar in Dublin in February 2006. The document was compiled from a number of surveys conducted on behalf of Tourism Ireland over the course of the past number of years as part of its ongoing tracking of consumer perceptions of Ireland as a tourism destination.

To me, the key message from the research is that Ireland's core appeal remains strong and attractive to potential overseas visitors. The core elements of our image remain people, place and living and historic culture.

I understand this research is based on people's perceptions of Ireland rather than their actual experience, that is, most people interviewed will not have visited Ireland.

I was interested to see that, where people have already visited Ireland, their perceptions of Ireland as a holiday destination improve significantly. This is equally the case in relation to some of the negative perceptions around prices, poor travel infrastructure, safety, etc. Fáilte Ireland's surveys of actual visitors' experience of a holiday here also bear this out.

This document highlights a key finding that I have mentioned in the House before, namely, that in some of our main markets, especially Britain, potential visitors are not clear what there is to do, see and experience while on holiday in Ireland. The perceived lack of a distinctive Irish holiday experience is very much linked to this issue.

Tourism Ireland's response to this has been the development of a €50 million marketing brand campaign which I launched in December last. This new global advertising campaign, the Discover Your Very Own Ireland campaign, brings to life the wide range of holiday choices and activities available both in rural and in urban Ireland.

Fáilte Ireland's research of actual visitor experience remains very positive, with 96% of those surveyed feeling that their holiday matched or exceeded their expectations.

There has also been a slight improvement in visitor ratings of value for money in 2005, with 67% finding it fair, good or very good which is the first improvement on this measure since 2001.