The 2nd annual tourism policy workshop took place at the week-end (Nov4-6). The programme was very wide-ranging with topics on tourism development, the Irish economy, innovation, public policy, employment, marketing, technology, culture, the arts, and tourism in the west of Ireland. I gave a presentation on tourism developments in Europe and their implications for Ireland here
Overall, the workshop was excellent and I was particularly impressed with the attendance of Minister Leo Varadkar at almost all of the sessions. He also gave a very interesting address in which he outlined the following:
- The commitment of the government to the development of the tourism sector
- A reduction in the tourism marketing budget of approximately 5% year on year for the next few years
- A statement on aviation policy to be published next year
- The possible rationalisation of state agencies involved in tourism marketing and development
- The creation of a Centre for the Irish Diaspora
- A sustained focus on competitiveness
Jim Deegan and the team at UL deserve lots of credit for organising the event as does Mark Nolan and his team at Dromoland for looking after everyone so well.
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