Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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220. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide in tabular form the total amount of revenue generated by the tourism industry in each county for 2011, 2012 and 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20501/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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222. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide in tabular form the details of tourist numbers for each county for 2011, 2012 and 2013; the expected number of tourists for 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20503/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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223. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide in tabular form for 2011 to 2013, inclusive, and 2014 the total amount of funding made available to each county to promote tourism; the agencies to which this money was made available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20504/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 220, 222 and 223 together.

The collection and publication of official statistics is primarily a matter for the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which falls under the aegis of the Department of the Taoiseach. The 2013 Tourism and Travel Statistics show that spending in Ireland by overseas visitors (excluding fares) rose by 11.9% to €3.262 billion compared with 2012.  The 2013 Overseas Travel Statistics reported that trips to Ireland were up by 7.2% compared to 2012 with 6,985,900 overseas visits. Figures for the first quarter of 2014 show that trips to Ireland were up 7.3 % compared to Q1 2013.  The CSO does not provide a county breakdown of statistics.

I am aware that Fáilte Ireland does its own estimated regional breakdown of overseas and domestic revenue and visitors on an annual basis, based on its own research and available CSO statistics.  The most recent full year figures cover 2012, and have also been published at county level based on three-year rolling averages, taking account of the limitations of applying survey data to smaller areas. These and other regional statistics are easily accessible in the research section of the Fáilte Ireland website under Regional Statistics and Reports.  

In relation to funding, my Department's support for the tourism sector is channelled through the State tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. The agencies have a range of programmes, many delivered at a national level, to assist in developing and promoting the tourism sector.  I have forwarded your question to Failte Ireland for direct reply as Tourism Ireland is concerned with overseas promotion.  However I would caution that it is unlikely that it will be possible to break down much of their funding on a county basis, as it is not allocated in such a manner.  Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.