LAST year was the most successful year on record for the Irish tourism industry, according to CERT. A total of 8,000 new jobs were created in 1995, 4 per cent above target. Foreign earnings are estimated at £1.7 billion, up 13 per cent on the previous year.
More than 104,000 people are now fully employed in the industry, the chairman of CERT, Mr James Nugent, announced at the publication of the organisation's annual report in Dublin yesterday. This represents an increase of 36,000 since the first operational plan for tourism began in 1988. By the end of the decade, it is planned to recruit an additional 16,000, a target Mr Nugent described as ambitious but attainable.
Commenting on 1995 as the first year of peace for 25 years, he expressed the hope that political developments would allow the strengthening of bonds between the industry North and South to continue.
Two-thirds of CERT's £12 million income comes from the European Social Fund; 22 per cent is contributed by the Department of Tourism and Trade; and the rest is generated in fees and income.
The CERT chairman warned that after the present round of ESF funding ends in 1999, industry would have to assume a greater responsibility for training.