109. Deputy George Lawlor asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in light of the recently calculated €1 billion fall in tourism revenue year-on-year, the factors his Department has identified as driving this decline; the immediate actions he intends to take to stabilise the sector and prevent further losses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1338/26]

Sentiment score: -0.12

What factors have been identified by the Department as driving the year-on-year decline of €1 billion in tourism revenue, as recently calculated? What immediate actions does the Minister intend to take to stabilise the sector and prevent further losses?

Sentiment score: -0.19

I thank the Minister for his response. Someone’s figures are not adding up. There has been a clash – I think the CSO was saying one figure and the industry was saying another. The indications are that foreign spending slumped by almost €1 billion and total international visitors are down year on year by some 13%. As one can imagine in an industry worth €8.9 billion to the economy with, I think, around 200,000 people employed directly and indirectly, that is a shocking statistic. I appreciate what the Minister said about there appearing to be some pickup. While North America showed some growth, markets like Britain, France and Germany, surprisingly, appear to have declined. One could suggest geopolitical activity may have had some influence on some of the markets but for North America to show growth while the others decline is quite surprising and requires some investigation.

Sentiment score: 0.26

I welcome some of the initiatives the Minister has announced. There are markets we can work on. I gave the example of Savannah in Georgia before. A number of Ministers have visited Savannah as part of the St. Patrick’s Day connections. Savannah has huge Irish connections. The city has a population of 170,000. Last year, it had 17 million visitors. If one considers that Australia had about 10 million in total, this is a vast market we should tap into. There is no direct flight to Savannah. I flew there a number of times to celebrate with the local people because of the strong Wexford connections. It took me 24 hours to get there despite the massive connections we have with that part of North America in south-east Georgia. We really need to tap into it and work with it. We will reap the rewards and the dividends will come back to Ireland Inc.

Sentiment score: 0.14