David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 536: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his policy to encourage and attract tourists from Far Eastern countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11223/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland's four primary overseas tourist markets – Great Britain, North America, Germany and France - deliver almost three quarters of our overseas visitors and will continue to be the primary focus of our overseas marketing efforts in the short term. I recognise however, that new and developing markets such as those referred to by the Deputy present excellent opportunities for Irish tourism in the medium to long term. Research has shown that visitors from longer haul destinations tend to stay twice as long as the average holidaymaker, have the highest spend per visit and have a higher propensity to travel throughout Ireland.

The effective marketing of Ireland as a holiday destination will play a key part in ensuring that we grow our market share of tourists from these markets. The Programme for Government commits to prioritising the Tourism Marketing Fund and to developing marketing campaigns in emerging long haul markets. Tourism Ireland is the agency responsible for developing these campaigns and I know that a series of innovative marketing and publicity campaigns and travel trade programmes is planned. A programme of training and familiarisation visits for tour operators and travel agents is already underway as well as a programme of media visits to allow journalists to experience the Irish tourism product at first hand and to generate positive broadcast, print and online coverage.

On the broader tourism policy side, the Government's Jobs initiative which was announced last week includes several initiatives specifically aimed at assisting the tourism sector. Measures such as the abolition of the air travel tax, the targeted cooperative marketing of new routes from tourism source markets and the reduction of VAT from 13.5% to 9% on the costs of certain services, including restaurant, accommodation and admission charges to tourist attractions, will help attract tourists from all markets. Of particular interest for some of the long haul developing markets is the introduction of the Visa Waiver Programme on a pilot basis from July 2011 to October 2012. This measure will allow short-stay tourists from certain countries who are in possession of a valid UK visa and who have already entered the UK to have that visa recognised by Ireland as sufficient for lawful entry into the State at no additional cost. This imaginative measure will encourage visitors to Britain to extend their trips without the cost and inconvenience of applying for an Irish visa. I expect the tourism agencies to make the most of this opportunity this year and, particularly in 2012, to encourage people from these markets to come to Ireland and experience our hospitality for the first time in conjunction with the London Olympics.

These are just some of the measures aimed at ensuring that Ireland benefits from tourists from new and developing long haul markets. I look forward to working with the tourism agencies and other Departments in the months ahead to come up with further innovative ideas to ensure that we grow our market share from these markets.