Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on the performance of the British market for tourism in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31452/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The latest figures published by the Central Statistics Office show that there was an increase of over 4% in the number of overseas visitors to Ireland in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2006. While it will be challenging to maintain the record-breaking performance of 2006, these latest CSO figures confirm that Ireland's tourism sector continues to perform at a very impressive level. The number of visitors from Britain for the first nine months of the year is down by 1% compared to the same period in 2006. It should be noted however, that the numbers coming to Ireland from Britain for Holiday purposes were actually up by almost 4% for the first half of the year.

Also, there is evidence that the decline in sea passenger traffic, seen in recent years has halted. The sea carriers are reporting encouraging numbers and this is positive for both regional dispersal and length of stay. It should be noted that the drop in visitors from Britain so far this year is consistent with a general trend of reduced numbers of outward travellers from Great Britain to European destinations. It is believed that interest rate increases may be impacting on consumer discretionary spending power. In addition, the poor summer weather probably impacted negatively on outbound travel to destinations within Western Europe other than those promising sun.

Successful marketing, in any field, does require ongoing monitoring of markets and appropriate adjustment of campaigns. Tourism is no exception. Great Britain continues to be the largest single market for the island of Ireland. Competition in this market is intense with a huge range of new destinations on offer to the consumer. Nevertheless, Tourism Ireland has set ambitious targets for growth from Great Britain over the next three years. Tourism Ireland will therefore be closely monitoring marketing conditions in the months ahead and refining marketing campaigns accordingly to ensure these targets are met.