Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on the latest figures on domestic travel by Irish residents. [21081/06]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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Last week, the CSO published the 4th Quarter results of its Household Travel Survey for 2005. For 2005 as a whole, domestic holiday trips were up 6.6% to 3.35 million on 2004 and expenditure on domestic travel was up 12% to €1.164bn. This performance is ahead of Fáilte Ireland's target of 4% growth and represents an endorsement by the Irish people of the holiday experience available at home.

The home holiday market is an increasingly important component of the tourism business in Ireland. It is particularly important both in terms of seasonal and regional spread. 86% of holiday trips and 89% of holiday nights by domestic tourists are now spent outside the Dublin area which offsets, to some extent, the relative strength of Dublin in the overseas visitors market.

As the Irish economy continues to grow, so too has the appetite of the Irish to travel, both at home and abroad. In revenue terms, the home holiday market has grown by 65% since 2000. Irish people are now taking 3.3 million holiday trips in Ireland every year compared to 2.5 million in 2000 an increase of 33%.

Recognising the importance of this market, Fáilte Ireland has significantly stepped up its home campaign in recent years, backed by significantly enhanced Exchequer resources. Last month, I launched Fáilte Ireland's "Lets Play" campaign — a 4 million euro home holiday campaign. The campaign, which is now in full swing, calls on Irish people to give themselves more time to use the unexpected pleasures of their own country as a haven from the increasing pressures of modern living. It is centred on the idea of the surprise — those new unexpected elements that one can find in an Irish holiday in whatever part of the country one chooses to visit.

The last CSO figures confirm that Irish people continue to value the unique experience they get in Ireland. Allied to our continued good performance in attracting overseas visitors — where last week we saw overseas visitor numbers increasing by 7.7% in the first three months of the year — I am confident that 2006 will prove to be another good year for Irish tourism.