Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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212. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which the numbers visiting various heritage sites throughout the country continues to be monitored by his Department; if any particular or specific promotion is required in respect of notable sites; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44792/13]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) has a variety of visitor sites across the country. Some sites are open all year, and some are open for part of the year, mainly for the spring and summer seasons. The OPW has a number of visitor sites that have free access but do not have a guided presence and consequently, visitor numbers are not recorded at these sites. An example of such a site would be St. Stephen's Green. Similarly, visitors to some of our guided sites are only recorded if they enter the visitor centre of that site. For example, Glendalough monastic site may be accessed freely, without entering the visitor centre.

Visitor numbers at guided sites, centrally recorded on the basis of returns submitted from individual heritage sites, are categorised under a number of headings and are then collated on a weekly and monthly basis, culminating in an overall annual figure. A comparison of the provisional 2013 visitor numbers up to the end of September, against the corresponding 2012 figures shows an increase in visitor numbers in the more well known sites such as Kilmainham Gaol, the Rock of Cashel, Kilkenny Castle, Clonmacnoise, Brú na Bóinne and the National Botanic Gardens, with some notable increases in some of the OPW's lesser known sites such as Altamount Gardens, Glebe House and Gallery, Maynooth Castle, Ennis Friary, Emo Court, Casino Mario, Loughcrew, Desmond Hall, Roscrea Heritage, Listowel Castle and Scattery Island. These increases come on the back of an increase of almost 11% in visitor numbers between 2011 and 2012 in respect of all of our visitor sites. The monitoring of visitors to the OPW's heritage sites plays, and will continue to play, an important part in the development of policies and strategies relating to the heritage sector.

Generally speaking, no specific promotion is required in respect of our most notable sites; visitors continue to be attracted in large numbers to such sites. One of the many challenges that faces the OPW is to entice such visitors to travel on to our lesser known sites, and indeed to increase overall visitor numbers at these sites, thereby spreading the benefits of tourism right across the country. In late July/early August, the OPW undertook a national advertising and flyer distribution campaign to coincide with the roll out of our Facebook Heritage Ireland page; this was complimentary to the ongoing promotion of our sites. The OPW will continue in its efforts to attract more and more visitors to our heritage sites, in line with government policy, that the heritage tourism sector will be one of the main growth areas in the future economic development of this country.