TWO Kerry TDs have clashed following the release by the Central
Statistics Office of new figures for tourism which contains some
worrying trends for the industry in Kerry.
Figures
confirming that more Irish people are choosing to travel abroad instead
of holidaying at home have been described as “alarming” by Deputy Jimmy
Deeniha, Fine Gael’s spokesman on tourism.
He said the new figures are bad news for the industry and they show that tourism is “virtually stag-nating”.
But Tourism Minister, John O’Donoghue, had
a different reading of the CSO figures and insisted that Ireland was
still well ahead of its targets.
The minister pointed out
that tourism revenue from mainland Europe was up by 32 per cent and was
now on a par with revenue from the British market.
Deputy
Deenihan insisted, however, that the fact that over one million more
Irish people now go abroad to holiday - compared to half a million in
2001 - suggests that the government has failed to address the problem
of increasing business costs.
He said the CSO figures painted “a depressing picture”.
“The
net outflow from Ireland of over half a billion euro in the area of
tourism and travel in 2005 illustrates just how high the financial
implications are for the native tourism sector. Unless the government
gets to grips with the rising business costs that are driving Irish
holiday makers abroad, then I fear for the long term future of the
industry,” he said.
Minister O’Donoghue, however, argued
that the latest figures show a very positive result both in terms of
overseas numbers with a six per cent increase to almost seven million
and revenue earnings up almost eight per cent.
“We are
ahead of targets for the year and I congratulate Tourism Ireland,
F·ilte Ireland and the industry for turning in such a strong
performance in 2005,” said Minister O’Donoghue.
http://archives.tcm.ie/thekingdom/2006/03/23/story19909.asp
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