Fine Gael TD for Kildare South Martin Heydon has today (Friday) welcomed the Draft Tourism Policy (2014 to 2025) published this week by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar.

 

“The new policy sees a shift from focusing on overseas visitor numbers to concentrating on growing employment and Revenue from overseas. The central goal of the Draft Tourism Policy is to increase revenue from overseas tourism from €3.3 billion to €5 billion per year nationally by 2025, excluding the cost of air fares and ferry charges. It also sets a target of 250,000 people employed in tourism by 2025, compared with approximately 200,000 at present.

 

“In Kildare, we have the potential to benefit from a boost in Tourism, using it as a means of generating additional employment and revenue for the County. With attractions such as the National Stud, along with our world renowned race courses, golf clubs and high quality accommodation, eateries and shopping venues we can compete with any County in Ireland.

 

“The Department are now seeking the views of interested parties on the future of Irish tourism policy by commenting on the Draft Policy before the final report is published later this year. The draft Policy can be accessed at http://dttas.ie/tourism/english/tourism-policy-review-20132014.

 

Submissions are invited until 31st July 2014 preferably by email to: tourismpolicy@dttas.ie and I would encourage all those with an interest in Tourism and its future direction to get involved and make their views known.