OVERSEAS VISITORS:TOURISM HAS a key role to play in Ireland's economic recovery, Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin said yesterday, where he outlined the party's objective was to increase visitor numbers to eight million by 2015.
This, Mr Martin said, had the potential to deliver up to 15,000 extra jobs in the sector.
“We recognise that the tourism industry is a labour-intensive sector that will provide job opportunities and foreign revenue earnings as the economy recovers,” Mr Martin said. “Our priority now is to continue to invest, upgrade and promote the tourism sector in order to take advantage of recovery,” he said in Ballina, Co Mayo.
One of the ways in which Fianna Fáil would seek to maximise the number of overseas visitors was through competitive airport and port charges, competitive and tourist friendly immigration and visa arrangements and co-operative marketing support programmes with air and sea carriers.
Tourism Ireland would be supported in co-ordinating “The Gathering 2012” as a major initiative to encourage people of Irish heritage from all over the world to visit Ireland next year with a range of special programmes on offer.
Greater co-operation between the tourism authorities north and south of the Border would be promoted as would co-operation between Britain and Ireland, he said.
Mr Martin promised to extend the Section 481 Film Investment relief to maintain Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for film production. The party would also continue the digitisation programme of key historic papers and collections and continue to invest to support cultural tourism especially in the area of smart technologies.
In response to Mr Martin’s launch, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said Dublin Airport Authority had failed to respond to a proposal it made seven weeks ago to grow passenger traffic by four million each year.
Mr O’Leary said it involved an investment in aircraft of €1 billion and would create 4,000 jobs. He outlined the proposal in another letter he wrote to Mr Martin saying the party’s new tourism policy was a Damascene conversion.
Mr O'Leary told The Irish Timeslast night he had read the tourism document with incredulity yesterday, given it was the Fianna Fáil Government which had introduced a €10 tourist tax, and which had allowed what he described as the "Dublin Airport Authority monopoly" increase airport fees in 2010 and 2011. "We welcome this remarkable reversal of Fianna Fáil's disastrous policy failures over recent years," he wrote.
Referring to Ryanair’s proposal to the DAA, he wrote: “This plan committed Ryanair to investing up to €1 billion in new aircraft for Irish tourism, deliver up to four million extra passengers annually at Dublin airport, which would create up to 4,000 new jobs in and around Dublin airport.”
“Perhaps before Fianna Fáil leave office, it is not too late to finally do something positive to deliver traffic, tourism and jobs growth for Irish tourism.”