Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 331: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on the performance of the US market for tourism in 2007, 2008 and for the first quarter of 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24900/09]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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2007 was a record year for Irish tourism with the highest number of overseas visitors ever recorded. Figures published by the Central Statistics Office show that in 2007, there were 1,073,000 visitors to Ireland from North America. The figure fell very marginally in 2008 to 1,005,000. Figures for the first four months of 2009 show that over 219,000 visitors from North America came to Ireland representing a reduction of 4.6% on the corresponding period of 2008.

While any downturn in visitor numbers is disappointing, the performance must be seen in context. The downturn in the world economy has significantly affected tourism and travel globally and travel to Ireland has been no exception. The economic difficulties in the United States are clearly having a negative impact on the affordability of overseas travel for many American consumers and the situation has been exacerbated by currency fluctuations. It should be noted that Ireland is still performing relatively better than many of our European competitors. For example, figures show a fall of 13% in overseas visitor numbers to the United Kingdom in the first quarter of 2009, compared to a reduction of just over 9% in Ireland. Furthermore market intelligence suggests that there was a drop of 12.3% in trips from the US to Europe in the first two months of 2009 compared to the drop of 10.1% in visitors from the US to Ireland.

To assist the tourism sector through this current difficult period, an extensive range of marketing, product development, festival and sporting events, training and business supports are being rolled out by the Tourism State Agencies under the Tourism Services budget of the Department. For example, despite cutbacks in public expenditure, the core overseas marketing spend has been maintained in 2009 at over €47 million, in recognition of the key contribution which tourism makes to the Irish economy.

This funding has allowed Tourism Ireland to undertake an intensive marketing campaign for Ireland in the United States and in other key markets this year. In addition to the rollout of Tourism Ireland's new "Go Where Ireland Takes You" campaign in the United States, an additional marketing campaign under the banner "Ireland's Wonderful West Awaits You" is also underway in key gateway cities and catchment areas in the US for travel to Shannon and the West. These campaigns have been developed to take account of the current economic challenges and I am assured that Tourism Ireland is keeping all of its marketing programmes for 2009 under review to ensure they maintain the flexibility and responsiveness that is required.

I remain confident that the tourism sector has the capacity to manage the current challenges and I know that the tourism agencies are doing all they can to ensure that we see a return to growth in overseas visitor numbers, including those from the US, as soon as possible.