2026-01-13

112. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to outline the specific North-South tourism initiatives included in the Government’s new tourism strategy; how these initiatives will support the growth of sustainable all-island tourism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2419/26]

We are all aware that the Good Friday Agreement established tourism on the island of Ireland as a key North-South co-operation area, and it markets the island as a single destination for visitors. Will the Minister outline initiatives in the Government’s new tourism strategy that aim to grow sustainable, all-island tourism on a North-South basis? My concern is that the plan will leave parts of our island behind, particularly the Six Counties, and that we are not maximising the potential there.

Enhancing cross-Border co-operation and connections is a key ambition of this Government, and the tourism plan is an important asset towards achieving this goal. Tourism Ireland is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination, and it works closely with colleagues in Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland. In addition to a commitment to work with Fáilte Ireland to develop a balanced regional spread of tourism throughout the country, further advancing the experience brands, the programme for government also includes a commitment to support Tourism Ireland to further integrate tourism offerings on an all-island basis. In line with the programme for government, my Department published the new tourism strategy, A New Era for Irish Tourism, on 1 December 2025. This policy provides an overview of the Government’s long-term approach to tourism development to 2031 and sets out a clear framework to support a competitive, sustainable and regionally balanced tourism sector. The policy provides for the delivery of all-island product development and promotion through the tourism agencies and shared island funding, and for the development of new tourism opportunities, building on the Wild Atlantic Way and Causeway Coastal Route brand collaboration project and the implementation of the Cuilcagh lakelands, Carlingford Lough and Sliabh Beagh shared destinations projects. The commitments outlined in the new policy on North-South tourism include the Government’s commitment to ongoing co-operation in the overseas marketing of the island of Ireland as a holiday destination. In this regard, the Government will work with counterparts in Northern Ireland to ensure that Tourism Ireland continues to be adequately resourced to successfully carry out its remit and help achieve the policy objectives. My Department, in consultation with the tourism agencies, will continue to support shared island bids for joint initiatives, which will enhance regional connectivity and create more cohesive visitor experiences across the island. Under the All-Island Strategic Tourism Group, which was established by the North South Ministerial Council, my Department and tourism agencies will work with counterparts in Northern Ireland to identify key areas of North-South co-ordination and co-operation to harness the tourism potential of the whole island, offering rewarding experiences for visitors while supporting communities across the island.

While I am happy to finally see a regional focus on the Government's latest tourism policy document, which aims to grow sustainable tourism in historically overlooked regions, I fear that we have missed an opportunity to integrate successful tourism campaigns from both jurisdictions. Ireland's Hidden Heartlands, for example, only recently expanded to include a fraction of County Fermanagh. While I welcome that, it could be further expanded into mid-Ulster to offer visitors a unique experience across both sides of the Border and bring much-needed footfall and spending to rural towns and villages there. Another missed opportunity was the potential to join the Wild Atlantic Way to the Causeway Coastal Route. Marketing co-operation alone is not enough. We need a Government-led vision that links infrastructure, transport, heritage and regional development to a coherent North-South tourism strategy. We want our visitors to experience the best of what the island of Ireland has to offer, all in one trip.

We are doing exactly that. We are harnessing the close co-operation with Northern Ireland. I am working very closely with the Minister, Dr. Archibald, whom I have met on a number of occasions, and we are promoting the country as an island internationally while abroad at trade missions. Fermanagh has been included in Ireland's Hidden Heartlands. As for the Causeway Coastal Route, collaboration is taking place as we speak to have a joint project that attracts visitors across the island. As I pointed out, we are harnessing the ambition and opportunity through our all-island culinary strategy, which we will be developing over the coming year. It will be an exciting opportunity to really penetrate markets, particularly from a European perspective. We have a bit of work to do in that regard because people may have a different impression of Ireland before they come here. However, when they experience our authentic produce, particularly artisan foods and brewery products, they are very impressed. We have the North-South distillery trail, which is another prime example of the work that Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland are doing in close collaboration. I want to see that continue because, as an island, our success is shared, and I am very keen on that.

I welcome the work that has been done in that area, but I want to encourage more of it, and I want to encourage it to go beyond the marketing. In particular, tourists travelling North and South still face poor public transport options. If I tried to get public transport from Mayo to Belfast, it would take me hours upon hours, and I would nearly be in New York by the time I would be in Belfast. There is much to do there. Other issues are the disjointed visitor information and the lack of integrated ticketing for travel passes. There are some basic things that we can get right. The continued neglect of rail links, greenways and co-ordinated transport planning undermines the potential of the natural pairings of the campaigns that I mentioned earlier, such as the Wild Atlantic Way and the Causeway Coast Route. There is a lot more to be done in this area. Structures such as the North South Ministerial Council are underused when it comes to tourism co-operation with real economic impact. I believe that is where the future growth of our island will be.

I assure the Deputy that any time I am marketing Ireland as a tourism product, it is the island of Ireland. We can see this in the infrastructural projects that reach into other sectors outside my Department. Through the shared island economic brand, it is very important to tackle the key infrastructural deficits we have on the island. We are being honest that they are there and very visible. We have a huge amount of work to do. From my perspective, I want to develop the brand and work on the infrastructural projects in the tourism sector. We will be taking some €7.5 million from the shared island fund to really penetrate into some of those key projects that need development in Northern Ireland, in particular the Causeway Coastal Route, the expansion of the Hidden Heartlands and the other projects I mentioned in view of the UNESCO status that Sliabh Beagh and other areas will get. We are working very closely with Dr. Archibald, my ministerial counterpart in the North, on marketing Ireland as a brand. We are resourcing Tourism Ireland very strongly this year. As I said, boots are back on the ground internationally. We are going after new markets in the Asia-Pacific region and North America. That will yield significant results in the coming months and years.