Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if his attention has been drawn to the third and final report of the tourism action plan implementation group; his views on its findings that opportunistic pricing, inadequate cultural facilities and the sub-standard condition of Dublin Airport are deterring visitors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15170/06]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of recommendations of the tourism policy review group that have been implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15156/06]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 94 together.

The report of the tourism policy review group, New Horizons for Irish Tourism: An Agenda for Action, was published in September 2003. It contained a very practical action plan. It had a timeframe for implementation and, more importantly, a strong and public monitoring mechanism. Following its publication, I appointed the tourism action plan implementation group to help oversee its implementation. The final report of the group was presented to me last month. Having placed it before Cabinet, I arranged for its publication and it is available on my Department's website.

The New Horizons report contained ambitious targets for the industry, namely to achieve annual figures of 10 million visitors and €6 billion in foreign revenue by 2012. The action plan had a series of recommendations to be implemented to help meet those targets. The group reported that 63 of the 76 recommendations made in New Horizons report had either been implemented or good progress had been made in relation to them. A detailed analysis of the progress of each of the 76 recommendations is available on my Department's website.

The implementation group, expressed itself satisfied with the degree of progress in implementing the strategy, which it described as "in many ways better than what was anticipated by the implementation group when it first met almost 2 years ago". The group highlighted the areas where good progress has been made. These include: the national conference centre; increases in air access; the proposed bilateral air agreement with the US. It also pointed to a number of areas where progress has been limited. These include: loss of competitiveness; the need for constant innovation and product development in the sector; diverging performance in urban and rural areas; closure of areas which enjoyed traditional long-term public access; visitor experience at Dublin Airport; and VAT on conference business.

The Deputy touched on a number of specific points in his question. The group made the point that the competitiveness of the traded sector in Ireland, including tourism, has deteriorated in recent years. High costs, what the group calls the "sometimes opportunistic pricing practices by certain operators" and the comparatively low productivity in the services sector do not help either. The group acknowledged the significant steps taken by many enterprises within the industry to address competitiveness. As a reflection of how seriously the tourism industry views competitiveness, the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation commissioned a major study to assist in developing new initiatives to address the problem. I understand that this study will be completed shortly.

The group emphasised the fact high quality cultural facilities can play a major role in attracting visitors to Ireland. This is borne out by much recent Tourism Ireland research.

The group acknowledged the major progress in relation to the Government's commitment to the development of cultural infrastructure. In December 2005, I announced a package of capital investment in key elements of our national cultural infrastructure. The package includes: the relocation of the Abbey Theatre; the development of a new National Concert Hall complex; the complete remodelling of the Theatre Royal in Wexford; and the substantial refurbishment of the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.

Dublin Airport will be the first and last impression of Ireland for many of our visitors. We all know that the quality of the passenger experience in Dublin Airport has not been what we would wish it to be in recent years. The group made that point to those responsible at both policy and operational level.

There are grounds for optimism. There is a new team in the airport and it has announced its plans to tackle the problems. I want to see those plans implemented as soon as possible. The medium-term plans will increase terminal capacity to cater for up to 30 million passengers, including a new terminal and associated pier facilities that will be provided to the south of the existing terminal. These facilities are due to come on stream in 2009. There is also provision for the construction of a new pier in 2007. These developments will be important in responding to passenger requirements and thereby improving the attractiveness of the airport to visitors.