Christy O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 315: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the method used for calculating the benefit to the Exchequer from tourist visits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40545/09]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Exchequer contribution of a sector can generally be derived from the official national accounts. In the case of tourism, however, the conventional means of presenting official national accounts do not allow for it to be presented as a distinct sector, due to its fragmented nature. There are a number of alternative means by which its contribution can be estimated, of which the production of tourism satellite accounts is considered to be the most robust, although complex and costly. In the absence of regular tourism satellite accounts, Fáilte Ireland, with assistance from external experts in the area, has developed an economic model to estimate the value of tourism's contribution, based on available data. It is a generalised input-output model using an integrated supply and demand framework which links tourist expenditure on products to the supply of products by industry. Using multipliers to measure the direct, indirect and induced effects of tourism expenditure, it was estimated that total tourism revenue in 2008 represented some 4% of gross national product in revenue terms, equivalent to 2.2% of gross value added or 2.6% of gross domestic product. Figures for total out-of-State and domestic tourism revenue are based primarily on the estimates produced by the Central Statistics Office through its tourism-related surveys, the passenger card inquiry for overseas visitors and the household travel survey for domestic tourists, as well as data from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board for Northern Ireland resident visits and overseas visitors arriving via Northern Ireland. Fáilte Ireland's survey of overseas travellers allows estimation of the contribution of key overseas segments such as activity tourists, conference visitors, language students, etc. - segments that are not identified in the CSO estimates. Applying the Fáilte Ireland economic model, it is estimated that, in 2008, the Exchequer earned €1.5 billion through taxation of tourism spend, of which €1.1 billion came from foreign tourism.