Ó An Roinn Turasóireachta, Cultúir, Ealaíon, Gaeltachta, Spóirt agus Meán
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Tá an-áthas orm a bheith anseo libh inniu. Is mór agam an fáiltiú mór a cuireadh romham agus táim cinnte go bhfuil na haíonna eile an-bhuíoch as chomh maith.
I would like to personally thank Tourism Ireland for facilitating my trip today. I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet with the UK team led by Julie Wakley and have gained a valuable insight into the work that Tourism Ireland continue to do during such unprecedented times.
I would also like to thank Christopher Brooke and Niall Gibbons for accompanying me today.
Even though I have been Ireland’s Minister for Tourism for over a year now, because of Covid, this is my first trip overseas with Tourism Ireland. I’m absolutely delighted to be here in person this evening and to have this opportunity to meet you all face to face. I look forward to further engagement with the entire industry as we plan for recovery of one of our most important sectors.
I am very much aware that the past 18 months has been an incredibly difficult time for everyone working in the tourism sector. Tourism is, and will continue to be, a hugely important industry for us in Ireland.
As you will all be aware, last week my cabinet colleagues and I announced our plan to ease pandemic restrictions further in Ireland. This will be a phased approach to re-opening, with almost all of our remaining pandemic restrictions due to be lifted by 22nd October.
Prior to the pandemic we welcomed over 11 million overseas visitors to the island of Ireland – including almost 4.8 million British visitors. Most importantly our Tourism sector supported around 325,000 jobs in community’s right across the island – both North and South.
The Irish Government and my department acknowledge the importance of this sector and remain fully committed to tourism. We have certainly recognised the extremely serious challenges facing the industry since the spring of 2020 and have taken action to address those challenges.
A Tourism Recovery Taskforce was put in place in May 2020 under the stewardship of Ruth Andrews to prepare a Tourism Recovery Plan with recommendations on how best the Irish Tourism sector can adapt and recover in a changed tourism environment as a result of the crisis. This plan has been more than useful for both my cabinet colleagues and myself in considering measures that can assist the sector.
I appointed a Recovery Oversight Group to oversee the implementation of the Plan and they report to me on a regular basis with updates on implementation and the recovery of the sector. I expect this Group to report to me again in the coming days with its latest evaluation of how the sector is faring. This will be a very useful input into my thinking as I take stock of where the sector finds itself and how it can progress to a sustainable recovery.
As a Government, we have already introduced a broad range of measures, both economy-wide and tourism-specific, which have helped the sector to survive the pandemic. Some of the measures we have introduced for the survival and recovery of our tourism industry have included the reduction of the VAT rate to 9%; as well as a record level of funding for tourism, with a €55 million business continuity funding being allocated to support tourism businesses. We have also introduced a number of schemes to facilitate outdoor service and activities.
In July, we launched a new support scheme to help companies working in the events sector; this is an €11.5 million ‘Events Sector Covid Support Scheme’, targeted at SMEs in the events industry. And only yesterday through Fáilte Ireland I allocated €9 million to further develop outdoor dining facilities across the country.
Together with economy-wide measures aimed at supporting businesses and jobs, these supports have been critical in keeping our tourism sector solvent during a period which has threatened its very existence. I am confident that the worst is over and we can now begin to look forward.
I am delighted to announce this evening that Tourism Ireland is ready to roll out its new ‘Green Button’ campaign, from the 1st October in Britain. This will be a really extensive, multi-channel campaign which will be seen by millions of people across Britain. It will include advertising on television, Video-on-Demand, outdoor, as well as on digital and social media channels. It will generate awareness of Ireland and drive bookings for breaks and holidays in Ireland between now and the end of 2021. I am really excited about the new campaign and I want to wish the team at Tourism Ireland every success. The key message is that we cannot wait to roll out the green carpet and welcome back visitors from our near neighbours in Great Britain.
I am also pleased to say that we will continue to invest in developing exciting and world-class tourism experiences at home. In June, I was delighted to announce a major investment of €73 million to develop four new, large-scale tourist attractions.
These include a UNESCO Global Geopark in Co Cavan, a fort perched on a hilltop in Co Donegal overlooking the Wild Atlantic Way, a state-of-the-art flight simulator in the centre of Dublin, as well as the reimagining and rewilding of Westport House estate in Co Mayo.
This continued product development will help increase employment, drive more visitors to our regions and lengthen our tourism season beyond the summer months. I believe that this continued investment in our tourism product on the ground is very much a vote of confidence in the future of our industry.
As we emerge from the pandemic, I am committed to supporting the long-term sustainability of our industry. We have a unique opportunity to re-imagine and reconfigure our tourism sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe that this opportunity will allow us to address sustainable tourism development in a more meaningful way during the recovery and rebuilding phase following this crisis and we will seek to realise Ireland’s ambition to be amongst the world-leaders in sustainable tourism practises.
As well as producing a set of guiding principles for sustainable tourism development in Ireland, a sustainable tourism working group under my remit has recently drawn up an action plan which aims to promote sustainable tourism practices. The actions identified in this plan will aim to form a clear narrative for communicating the sustainability agenda and to build a better understanding and awareness among our tourism stakeholders and the general public.
The implementation of these actions along with the guiding principles will underpin the advancement of a new tourism policy which will mainstream sustainability. Shortly, my officials will initiate the development of this new national tourism policy. The policy will set out what type of tourism sector we want out to 2030 and beyond.
I would like to thank you, Ambassador O’Neill, and Aisling for your generous hospitality this evening. It is indeed a pleasure to attend an event like this in person and to be looking forward now with optimism and hope, as people return to international travel.
And, I must commend the entire Tourism Ireland team for their work as well as our tourism partners, for their concerted efforts to keep the island of Ireland ‘top of mind’ with British holidaymakers and high on their wish-lists for future travel.
Mar fhocal scoir, thar ceann Rialtas na hÉireann gabhaim buíochas libh go léir as bhur dtacaíocht leanúnach. Táimid ag tnúth lena bheith ag obair go dlúth libh sna míonna agus sna blianta atá romhainn agus le turasóireacht na hÉireann a atógáil go rathúil.