Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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6. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will confirm the action that her Department is taking to market and promote the island of Ireland overseas as an attractive place to visit in 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3203/23]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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In Budget 2023, I was pleased to announce an additional €15 million in funding for overseas marketing which will enable Tourism Ireland to significantly ramp up its promotion of Ireland as a world-class tourism experience in key markets. As global tourism competition heightens, sustaining extensive marketing campaigns will be vital to support the ongoing recovery effort.

As part of its marketing strategy, Tourism Ireland established a recovery framework to RESTART, REBUILD and ultimately REDESIGN demand. In 2022, the focus was to RESTART overseas tourism to the island of Ireland. As Tourism Ireland now moves to the REBUILD phase, it will roll out an extensive and targeted programme of activity in 2023, with a total marketing budget of €78 million. A wide range of promotional activities will be undertaken, including major marketing campaigns, publicity and programming, social media and digital marketing, as well as working with the tourism industry at home and the travel trade overseas to facilitate sales.

Last week, I helped to launch Tourism Ireland’s new global campaign, "Fill your heart with Ireland",which will include TV advertising in our top four markets - Great Britain, the United States, Germany and France - as well as localised and targeted advertising in all target markets across the globe. A number of supporting campaigns are also planned, including campaigns around St Patrick’s Day, Halloween, the Ryder Cup and The Open in golf, luxury travel, as well as outdoor activities.

Tourism Ireland will also capitalise on a number of special opportunities which are set to take place this year, including the Notre Dame vs. Navy college football game in August, various other sports tourism opportunities, the 50th anniversary of Kerrygold in Germany and a collaboration with Riverdance in the United States, Canada, Germany and the Middle East.

Screen tourism opportunities will be leveraged throughout the year, including opportunities around popular movies and TV shows filmed here, such as The Banshees of Inisherin, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Vikings: Valhallaand Derry Girls.

In addition, Tourism Ireland will continue to work with airlines and ferry companies through a programme of jointly funded marketing initiatives to support the restoration of air and sea access routes to the regions, which are so vital for tourism’s return to growth.

Economic, social and environmental sustainability will be at the heart of Tourism Ireland’s work over the coming years, driving greater economic prosperity and benefiting communities right across the island, while at the same time increasing our consideration of the environmental impacts of tourism.