Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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64. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if additional resources will be provided for the marketing of Hidden Heartlands in view of the recent reconfiguration of tourism regions and the particular challenges facing part of that region due to Brexit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10503/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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In Budget 2022 I secured an additional €67.6 million funding for tourism, thereby bringing the overall tourism services budget to €288 million. The administration of this funding is an operational matter for the tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. Fáilte Ireland's plans for 2022 include driving demand through a doubling of investment in domestic marketing to €10 million.

I have asked Fáilte Ireland, to provide the Deputy with further details of their marketing plans for Ireland's Hidden Heartland for 2022. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.

Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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66. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the shared island approach to tourism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10437/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The importance of tourism to the economy on both sides of the border and the clear logic in taking a joint approach to the promotion and development of the sector led to tourism being one of the areas chosen for formal North South cooperation, through the structures created by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. That cooperation has been hugely beneficial, with the tourism sector now an exemplar of what can be achieved when we work together on this island with a shared purpose and for clear mutual benefit.

Through Tourism Ireland, we have developed a hugely successful approach to promoting our collective tourism offering to markets all around the world, which sustains and creates jobs in the sector in towns, cities and regions across both jurisdictions on the island.

Tourism Ireland promotes the island of Ireland in more than 21 markets overseas as a compelling holiday destination, using the Ireland brand to position the island as strongly as possible against more than 200 other destinations with which Ireland competes. Tourism Ireland promotes the experience brands – including the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, Ireland’s Ancient East, Dublin and Northern Ireland’sEmbrace a Giant Spirit– on a range of platforms, including online, via publicity and their overseas trade platforms.

North-South engagement and collaboration in the area of tourism has added value to the marketing of the island to potential overseas visitors for both jurisdictions. Significant achievements over this time include:

- the branding and marketing of the Causeway Coastal Route

- the Global Greening initiative around St. Patrick’s Day

- the development of screen tourism, including Game of Thrones

- the Taste the Island food and drink initiative

- and maximising the tourism benefits of major sporting events such as the Irish Open (golf) and the Giro d’Italia as well as other initiatives such as ‘The Gathering’ and Derry/ Londonderry UK City of Culture.

My Department and both tourism agencies will continue to foster north-south co-operation to enhance an all-island tourism offering and grow international visitor numbers to the entire island. My officials continue to liaise with their counterparts in the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland - through monthly meetings and also quarterly operational meetings with both the Department for the Economy and Tourism Ireland.

On 20 January 2022, I took part in a Shared Island Dialogue event hosted by the Department of the Taoiseach, which focused on all-island tourism. Over 160 tourism and civil society stakeholders from across the island joined the event online to discuss the success of tourism cooperation on the island of Ireland over the past 20 years and explore how best to enhance opportunities for domestic and international visitors in the years ahead.

My Department will continue to work with the Department of An Taoiseach on implementing our commitments to the North/South development of tourism as included in the Shared Island chapter of the renewed National Development Plan. This includes supporting Tourism Ireland in its mission to grow tourism into the island of Ireland, to promote the recovery of the sector post-pandemic and to work with the Northern Ireland Executive on developing large scale North/South tourism initiatives which will support the sustainable growth of the sector including cross-border walking and cycling trails as well as new marketing opportunities.