John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 299: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the extent to which he expects tourism to grow in 2009 here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21387/09]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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After six years of successive growth culminating in a record high in 2007, overseas visitor numbers declined slightly (2.2%) in 2008 to 7,839,000. In revenue terms overseas visitors generated an estimated €4.8 billion in revenue (including carrier receipts and cross-border expenditure) which was a reduction of 2.46% on the record expenditure generated in 2007. This resilient performance was achieved against a background of exceptionally challenging conditions affecting nearly all of our main markets, including volatile financial markets, economic contraction and negative consumer sentiment, as well as sharply fluctuating fuel costs and exchange rates.

Global economic growth is expected to remain weak in 2009. In particular, it is expected that trading conditions in two of our major source markets, Great Britain and the United States, will remain particularly challenging. When preparing its draft Business Plan for 2009, late last year, Tourism Ireland, which has responsibility for the overseas marketing of the island of Ireland as a tourist destination, forecast between 7.1 million and 7.4 million overseas visitors to the Republic of Ireland in 2009. To reflect the volatility of the market environment, Tourism Ireland committed to constantly review these forecasts and adopt a quarterly forecasting approach through 2009. Given the significant deterioration in global conditions, their latest projections are for between 6.8 and 7.2 million overseas visitors this year. The most recent published figures by the CSO show a reduction of 9.1% in overseas visitor numbers for the first three months of 2009 compared to 2008.

On the domestic front Fáilte Ireland has committed to its largest ever campaign to promote home holidays in 2009. The new marketing drive comes on foot of research indicating that more Irish people will consider swapping their overseas trips with breaks in Ireland in the current economic climate.

The relevant tourism agencies are working together to support the marketing of Irish tourism, to improve our product offerings and to help improve business capability. These are being supported by the positive response of the tourism sector at enterprise level to the challenges we face.

While I know that our businesses and tourism agencies are responding constructively to current challenges, it is just as important that the strategic framework for tourism development responds to the changing environment. Accordingly, last year I established the Tourism Renewal Group, which has been tasked with reviewing and, where appropriate, renewing the current tourism strategy, in order to ensure that this strategy is focused for future development and that the tourist industry is well placed to benefit from the upturn. This group is expected to report in the near future.