IHF Welcomes Creation of Implementation Group by Minister for Tourism

Monday 13 March 2006: The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) today welcomed the announcement by Mr. John O’Donoghue TD the minister for Arts Sport and Tourism that he will, in the near future appoint a high level Implementation Group to monitor and shape, in a partnership basis the next stages in the evolution and implementation of the New Horizons strategy.  The Minister’s announcement follows the publication of the third and final report of the independent group he established to implement the strategy set out in the Report of the Tourism Policy Review, New Horizons for Irish Tourism: An Agenda for Action.

The President of the IHF, Ms Annette Devine, stated that “the appointment of this group to continue the effective monitoring of the implementation of the recommendations of the New Horizons Report will be a major driver in ensuring that government departments, state agencies and the tourist industry continue to focus on and are urged to take the appropriate action necessary to achieve the demanding targets as set out in the Report.  A cohesive and integrated approach across government departments to the development of our tourism offering remains vital to achieving the targets.

The structured method by which it’s Chairman, John Travers and the Tourism Action Plan Implementation Group, over the last two years, monitored and urged the taking of appropriate actions by Government Departments, state agencies and industry sectors including the IHF heightened the recognition of the national importance of tourism and its relevance to our economy. From an IHF’s perspective it was enormously helpful that such a high level and objective group were so committed to achieving a trading environment which is essential to enable tourism to meet the demanding targets of doubling to €6 billion, in the ten years to 2012, the value of overseas tourism earnings”. 

The third and final report of the independent Tourism Action Plan Implementation Group clearly acknowledges the challenges which still face tourism in meeting these demanding targets. “Through its access to all government departments at the highest levels it has considerably increased the chances of getting a better resolution of the issues that continue to confront the industry. The Group’s comments on these issues such as the negative impact of the non reclaimability of VAT on business tourism, the less than satisfactory facilities at Dublin airport and the most disappointing numbers of overseas visitors to the regions, serve to highlight that there remain barriers to the growth in tourism. The IHF looks forward to supporting the incoming Implementation Group and to taking the lead through its members in providing an added impetus to visit the regions” concludes Ms Devine.

The IHF is the premier representative tourism body in Ireland, and the national organisation representing some 1,000 hotel and guesthouses who employ over 57,000 people.

ENDS

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