Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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45. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on his Department's review of tourism policy. [15143/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Tourism Policy Review was launched on 11th September 2013 by Minister Ring and me through the publication of an issues paper and request for submissions. 174 submissions were received from a wide variety of interested parties and a detailed analysis of all responses is under way.  In addition to inviting submissions, I decided to carry out a series of workshops around the country with regional tourism stakeholders, in the last quarter of 2013.  The workshops, which were chaired by either Minister Ring or me, were intended to allow a more focused conversation around the kinds of issues raised in our discussion document and were a very useful way to explore some of the key issues directly with tourism sector stakeholders.  

Reflecting the diverse nature of tourism itself, a wide range of issues are emerging from the consultation.  They include, but are not confined to, the role of local authorities in tourism (especially in light of the Gathering); the scope for cooperative marketing between public and private sectors; the continuing importance of the visa regime in the context of developing markets; the importance of maintaining the quality and skills of those working in tourism; the importance of competitiveness, and the potential for innovation in tourism. The views raised and other relevant evidence and analysis are currently being considered, feeding into the drafting of the new policy which I aim to have finalised in the first half of this year.