The Government’s national tourism policy, People, Place and Policy: Growing Tourism to 2025 is implemented by way of action plans. The Tourism Action Plan 2019-2021 sets out 27 actions aimed at helping tourism to continue to grow sustainably to 2025. This latest action plan, published in December 2018, focuses on the following areas: policy and research, marketing Ireland as a visitor destination, enhancing the visitor experience, supporting local communities and co-ordinating the industry. In general, the actions address the potential for more sustainable tourism, regional growth, season extension, enhanced experiences and also reflect the need for a whole-of-government approach in support of tourism. Specific focus is currently being given to the development of principles for sustainable tourism, the identification of new and emerging markets, best practice as regards accessible tourism and a review of data and tools to improve understanding of tourism trends.
A number of wider challenges relating to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union and the world economy are of current concern, with both potentially having impacts on Ireland’s tourism sector. Domestically, there is a risk that strong demand for tourism accommodation coupled with a tightening labour market could exacerbate competitiveness pressures in the sector. Additionally, any reduction in air access would pose a major risk for tourism given Ireland’s reliance on overseas tourism.
In May 2019, Fáilte Ireland launched Platforms for Growth, a EUR 150 million four year capital investment programme. Major new visitor attractions of scale will be developed and existing attractions enhanced. This is the largest investment programme of its kind to benefit tourism with individual grants available for major visitor attractions of EUR 2.5 million upwards. It specifically targets ‘platforms’ or project types that have the greatest potential to grow tourism across Ireland and throughout the year. The first ‘Platform’ focuses on developing Immersive Heritage and Cultural Attractions that appeal to overseas visitors looking for experiences that help them to connect with Ireland and bring the country’s culture, heritage and people to life. This call for proposals is part of a suite of tourism capital grants programmes envisaged under the Fáilte Ireland’s Tourism Investment Strategy for the period 2016-2022 and is part of the Grants Scheme for Large Tourism Projects 2016-2020.
More broadly, other future policy initiatives include the Climate Action Plan published in June 2019 which sets out a whole-of-Government approach to climate action and maps a potential pathway to meet Ireland’s 2030 emission reduction commitments. Whilst the Plan does not address tourism directly it is clear that many related sectors, such as transport, will be subject to significant change and adaptation. As a tourism focused sustainability initiative, a long term strategy was launched in 2018 for the development of Greenways across the country with the aim of increasing the number, length and regional spread of Greenways over the next ten years (Box 1.22).
In 2019, the Government also developed Future Jobs Ireland and Global Ireland, two frameworks that seek to strengthen the economy and develop and reposition Ireland’s international presence with both strategies having a tourism dimension. The Global Ireland Strategy sets out ambitious targets to grow tourism from new and emerging markets, as well as established markets such as the United States and Germany, based on market strategies for growth. Future Jobs Ireland commits to delivering key business development programmes to senior and middle managers across the tourism sector. These strategies, together with Project Ireland 2040, the Government’s long-term investment strategy, represent an integrated approach to prepare for the opportunities and challenges of the future economy.
