Cullen Continues To Focus On Cultural Tourism

Martin Cullen TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, met with the heads of fifteen State tourism agencies, State arts bodies, and the cultural institutions last week to begin the work of further developing the cultural tourism market.

This is the first step in implementing the Minister's undertaking, given in his address at the Fáilte Ireland National Conference in November 2008, to put in place an initiative to further develop the potential of cultural tourism.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister Cullen said: "I have asked the relevant agencies this afternoon to take a number of specific measures to preserve, develop and promote Ireland's cultural tourism industry.

These measures include the need for research to target the profile and needs of potential cultural tourists; the requirements that have to be put in place to improve access to information on Ireland's cultural asset base; how cooperation across the marketing efforts of all the relevant bodies can be enhanced to present Ireland as a first-choice destination for culture seekers and the examination of opportunities for creating new jobs, building additional arts/culture events and carefully-themed product development for the international market."

The Minister also said that he wants to "set in train this programme of specific actions that will enable Ireland to more effectively address the needs of overseas and domestic tourists who wish to experience Ireland's cultural and artistic resources."

He also reiterated the Government's commitment to the development of niche cultural tourism markets.

Representatives from Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Dublin Tourism, National Museum of Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland, National Concert Hall, Irish Museum of Modern Art, National Library of Ireland, National Archives, The Arts Council, The Abbey Theatre, The Irish Film Board, Chester Beatty Library, Crawford Art Gallery and Culture Ireland were present at the meeting, which was held at the National Gallery's offices.

Minister Cullen said: "Cultural tourism is growing in importance internationally. It has been achieving average annual growth rates of 15% - three times the overall growth rate for tourism. It represents a third of all tourism business and is high yield. It is essential that Ireland places itself as a premier destination for the many tourists for whom experiencing culture is an important component of their holiday."

Research carried out by Fáilte Ireland indicates that the largest segment of potential visitors to Ireland are in the category known as sightseers and culture seekers. This sector makes up over half (50 to 60%) of Ireland's overseas holidaymakers each year.

"I am confident that these kinds of measures will strengthen the arts and culture family and help the Irish tourism industry to address the current challenges and boost business in future years," he concluded.