Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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163. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which provision is being made to ensure that the hotel and leisure industry is adequately prepared for the winter tourist season both in terms of staff and accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37249/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The importance of the tourism sector to the Irish economy and communities in every corner of Ireland is well understood.

My Department's role in relation to tourism lies primarily in the area of national tourism policy and implementation of that policy is a matter for the tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, as well as certain other bodies.

Fáilte Ireland's role as the National Tourism Development Authority is to support the long-term sustainable growth in the economic, social, cultural and environmental contribution of tourism to Ireland.

Fáilte Ireland's research indicates that the recruitment and retention of staff within tourism, while still a significant challenge for the sector, has shown improvement throughout 2024. My Department and Fáilte Ireland continue to support the tourism industry to build the talent and skills it needs to remain profitable, competitive and resilient. A key priority in this regard is to support tourism businesses to adopt quality employment practices, to ensure that the sector is recognised as a desirable and rewarding career choice, and that individuals working in it can continue to develop their own expertise, knowledge and skills, to build a long-term and successful career.

Work is also continuing with industry and across Government to ensure a coordinated approach to addressing labour and skills shortages. This includes engagement by my officials with the Department of Social Protection to target jobseekers locally and with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) to ensure that the current two-week processing time for work permits is maintained. For employees, hourly rates of pay have improved, compensation for working unsocial hours has become more common and job security has grown. This has led to a significant increase in employee recognition for long term career prospects within the sector.

Fáilte Ireland continues to support and promote employment and career progression in the industry by continuously developing and broadening the 'Employer Excellence' programme; the online learning management system 'LearniFI' ; the tourismcareers.ie website; and the Transition Year Work Placement programme. The Employer Excellence programme, for instance, is now open to all tourism businesses with five or more employees and the LearniFI platform facilitated the upskilling of approximately 6,500 employees in key areas critical for business success.

Fáilte Ireland maintains tourist accommodation registers as provided for under the Tourist Traffic Acts. It has identified that supply in the accommodation sector is ahead of where it was last year due to a mix of factors including more hotels opening in Dublin and some existing operators leaving the humanitarian accommodation sector. I expect that both these factors will continue to apply into 2025.

The use of tourist accommodation to support the Government’s response to the humanitarian crisis has impacted the sector. However, it is clear that the revised approach taken by the Government since earlier this year is taking effect and reducing the reliance by the State on the use of tourism accommodation for humanitarian purposes.

Fáilte Ireland's analysis of DCEDIY data from May 2024 shows that 10% of all registered tourism accommodation stock was then under contract to the State, down from 12% in November 2023. An additional quantum of tourism-type accommodation that is not registered with Fáilte Ireland is also contracted to the State.

Fáilte Ireland will undertake a further analysis of new data from DCEDIY in Q4 2024 and the expectation at this time is that that analysis is likely to show a further reduction in the State's reliance on tourism accommodation for humanitarian purposes, as we move in to the winter period and onward to 2025.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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164. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she continues to support the tourism sector through the medium of Irish culture at home and abroad, with particular reference to the needs of the industry in the present challenging times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37250/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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My role and that of my Department in relation to tourism lies primarily in the area of national tourism policy development and in securing resources to assist the tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, in implementing that policy.

The matter raised is primarily an operational matter for Fáilte Ireland. Accordingly, I have referred this question to that agency for direct response to the Deputy. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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165. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which Ireland’s traditional culture of welcome, friendship and support continues notwithstanding worldwide threats; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37251/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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As the Deputy rightly notes, Ireland has long held a reputation for the warmth of its welcome to visitors. The world-famous warmth and hospitality that awaits visitors to Ireland, combined with the beauty of our landscape and the richness of our culture, are enduring strengths and have been instrumental in making tourism one of our most important economic sectors.

Hospitality is an important component of the holiday experience in Ireland for our overseas visitors and a key promotional theme for Tourism Ireland in all of our overseas markets. This year, Tourism Ireland’s Fill your heart with Ireland campaign has been expanded, with content focused on passion points such as built heritage, adventure, views and landscapes and enhanced Wild Atlantic Way content in support of its 10th anniversary.

The best way to deliver sustainable growth in tourism is by taking a strategic approach when exploring new marketing opportunities. Tourism Ireland focus on tourists with ‘value adding tourism traits’, that is, those with funds to travel, who prize memorable experiences and tend to travel around regions and across seasons. This approach is in line with the strategic direction of the new tourism policy framework that is being developed by my Department and is due to be finalised in the coming weeks.

Tourism Ireland continue to leverage the motivators to travel to Ireland and the opportunities presented by key events and global opportunities. Tourism Ireland will continue to encourage regional spread and build seasonal landmark moments. Activities during 2024 include promotions around St Brigid’s Day, a St Patrick’s Day campaign and a significant investment in the Home of Halloween campaign. In addition, Tourism Ireland will ensure that messaging appropriately and increasingly reflects the diverse and ever-changing variety of visitors to the island of Ireland.

While tourism faces many challenges, I am confident that our traditional values of support, friendship and welcome towards visitors will continue to be strong as ever and that the sector is well positioned to grow sustainably in the coming years. Our reputation as a destination matters and I am keen to ensure that these traditional values remain enduring strengths for the future.