Fáilte Ireland today announced additional funding to encourage Irish people to holiday in the State and for the development of regional tourism.
The tourism development authority is to increase its budget for the promotion of home holidays by 20 per cent to €3.3 million and will spend an additional €25 million on developing regional tourism this year.
"In the last number of years the domestic market has become increasingly important to the tourism industry, especially in difficult times," the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue said.
Speaking from Kenmare, Co Kerry, he added that the tourism body hoped to encourage people to visit different, less visited parts of Ireland and to take short-breaks before and after the peak summer season.
"Holidaying at home and abroad is no longer an either/or situation and the very strong performance of the domestic market in recent years demonstrates that even as Irish people travel more and more that they still appreciate what is on offer at home," Mr O'Donoghue said.
He also said the increased investment in regional tourism was intended to address the need to entice overseas visitors to less visited areas of the country.
The chairperson of Fáilte Ireland, Ms Gillian Bowler, said that while Ireland was performing well "versus our international competitors" internally "we must ensure a better spread of visitors".
In 2003, three quarters of the bednights outside Dublin were from the home market.
"One of the most important features of our tourism industry is its regional and rural character which plays such an important part in local economies," she said
The increased investment will aim to increase home holidays, in particular through the Ireland.ie website, but it will also assist Regional Tourism Authorities and special activities and attractions in targeting overseas visitors.