Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

327. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if additional resources are being devoted to encourage tourism in order to counteract the drop in tourism from the UK; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17048/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

​In common with the rest of Government there has been deep analysis of the challenges which industry and the commercial sectors, including the tourism industry, faces because of the outcome of the UK Referendum. Even prior to the referendum result, there was a commitment in the Government's Tourism Policy Statement "People, Place and Policy – Growing Tourism to 2025"  to prioritising tourism marketing efforts towards those markets providing higher revenue returns.  The Programme for Government commits to implementing the policy objectives in the policy statement and achieving the targets for Irish tourism contained therein.  The triggering of Article 50 does not change this. A key element of Tourism Ireland's strategy since 2014 has been market diversification.  In 2017, Tourism Ireland will continue to implement its market diversification strategy and intends to maximise holiday revenue through investment in Mainland Europe and North America. In addition the depreciation of sterling against the euro since the UK referendum means that value for money will be a key message for Tourism Ireland in Britain this year.  Looking to the medium term, Tourism Ireland's plan for the period from 2017-2019 includes the agency's response to marketing Ireland in a more focussed manner in Great Britain to ensure maximum value for marketing spend. Many factors will influence the impact Brexit has on Ireland’s tourism performance in overseas markets, much of which is outside of our control.  However, restoring Ireland’s share of voice in the overseas market is within our control and the Tourism Action Plan 2016 -2018 commits to restoring overseas tourism marketing funds to pre-recession levels on a phased basis.