Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on the importance of e-marketing for tourism performance here; the policies being pursued by the Government in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31454/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Responsibility for tourism marketing is a matter for the tourism agencies and not one that my Department engages directly in. I am aware however, of the ever increasing importance of e-marketing in the tourism sector. In fact, recent research has shown that 70% of overseas holidaymakers book at least one element of their Irish holiday on the internet. With this in mind, I note that Tourism Ireland has doubled its digital marketing spend over the past three years and it now represents 14% of its total marketing budget. Furthermore, I was pleased to launch Tourism Ireland's 2008 Marketing Plan in Dublin yesterday. This Plan contains a commitment to further increase the company's digital marketing spend next year to 24% of its total marketing spend. The company is also in the process of finalising, with input from the tourism industry, Fáilte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, a new e-Marketing strategy which will be delivered as part of the organisation's Corporate Plan for the period up to 2010.

Tourism Ireland already has 36 international websites in 15 different languages and is committed to investing in new innovative digital platforms and improving the functionality and usability of these websites in the years ahead. With this planned commitment and investment, I am confident that we will see continued strong growth from overseas markets and achieve the ambitious targets that have been set for the tourism sector in the years ahead.