Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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51. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to build on the tourism offering in rural counties such as Longford and Westmeath through the development of greenways for walking and cycling; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4002/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Tourism sector supports many thousands of jobs in rural areas and the Action Plan for Rural Development recognises that the sector offers further opportunities to support economic development in rural communities. The Plan sets out 50 actions designed to maximise our rural tourism and recreation potential. It also places a particular emphasis on the development and promotion of Activity Tourism in rural areas, through the development of Greenways, Blueways and other niche tourism products.

As part of the Action Plan, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport will prepare a new strategy this year to underpin the development, funding and promotion of Greenways to support activity tourism in rural areas and provide a boost to local economies. This strategy will be delivered in the second quarter of 2017.

My own Department will fund the Rural Recreation Scheme, which provides funding for the upkeep and development of recreational infrastructure. Over the lifetime of the Action Plan, we will also double the number of trails included in the National Walks Scheme and will develop a Public Outdoor Recreation Amenities Plan to transform the provision of outdoor recreation facilities on publicly-owned land and waterways. My Department will work closely with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, relevant State agencies and other key stakeholders to deliver these actions.

One of the key objectives of the Action Plan is to increase overseas tourists to rural Ireland by 12% by 2019. The Central Statistics Office last week announced that 9.6 million overseas visitors came to Ireland in 2016. While the breakdown of destinations for those visitors is not yet available, figures for 2015 indicate that 85% of overseas tourists visited at least one region outside of Dublin.