Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 1387: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the moneys allocated to date for marketing in the Shannon catchment area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32111/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Operational responsibility for tourism marketing rests with the tourism agencies. Tourism Ireland has promoted the Shannon Airport Catchment Area vigorously and extensively in recent years through its ongoing global marketing activity and through specific, additional campaigns undertaken for the region in the United States and Great Britain. The cross-sectoral Shannon Airport Catchment Economic and Tourism Development Plan made a commitment in 2008 to provide marketing support for a transitional period for tourism into the wider region for which Shannon Airport has been the main gateway, in the face of changes then under way on air travel on North Atlantic routes.

The "Discover Ireland's Wonderful West" campaign commenced in 2008 following close collaboration between Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and a Tourism Working Group was formed for this purpose. €3m was provided specifically for this initiative when it commenced in 2008 in addition to funding of €1.05 million provided for the parallel Super Region West Coast campaign.

In 2009, Tourism Ireland re-aligned its Super Region marketing initiative overseas, in particular its West Coast region, to ensure it supported and added value to the Shannon Airport Catchment Area programme. As a result, in 2009 the campaign was refreshed to "Ireland's Wonderful West Awaits You" with a total provision of €2.9 million for marketing the Shannon Catchment. An identical amount of €2.9 million has been provided for 2010 for marketing the Super Region West Coast including additional funding provision for the promotion of the wider Shannon Airport Catchment, over and above the funding for promotion of the regions generally. This has allowed Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland to continue to mount a similar level of focused, promotional marketing for the Shannon region in 2010, in cooperation with local tourism interests, including Shannon Development.

In terms of the actual marketing programmes undertaken, ease of direct access from key gateway cities, the many highlights of the region, the good value fares and inclusive packages available, as well as a range of compelling offers from local industry are showcased in the campaigns. Business Tourism, a highly valuable segment which can deliver high-spending visitors year round, is also a feature of the marketing programmes.