The £10 million package earmarked for the tourism sector should be spent on a one-day advertising blitz, the Green Party said yesterday. Bord Failte has already set £3 million aside for the reassurance campaign, and the Government is matching this.
Mr Eamon Ryan, the Green Party's tourism spokesman, said it would be more cost-effective to spend the entire fund on April 19th in "an intensive one-day international advertising campaign with a clear message that Ireland is open for business".
The US market dried up when St Patrick's Day festivities were cancelled, he said. "Now we have to get the same sort of coverage on the US and British networks to encourage people to come here. An intensive marketing campaign on April 19th would do that." The relaunch of the St Patrick's festival on this day would encourage media interest, he said.
Mr Ryan was speaking at the party's publication of its 10point rescue plan for the tourism industry. He said a further £10 million should be provided to follow the one-day campaign. "Given that tourism is a £3 billion industry, I think we have to spend whatever is necessary to rescue it. It would be money well spent," he said.
Tourists had been scared off by warnings from the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, claimed Mr Trevor Sargent, the Green Party's chief spokesman. He called on the Taoiseach to replace Mr Walsh as chairman of the Government's expert group on foot-and-mouth.
Bord Failte should have played a stronger role in the crisis, Mr Ryan said. "When the international media picked up the wrong story and ran with it, Bord Failte did not deal with it quickly enough. It didn't send out the correct story in time."
He said the foot-and-mouth crisis showed that Bord Failte's powers in product development and quality control should be strengthened. "It should be more than a marketing board."
He also claimed that agencies such as Shannon Development, the county development boards and the regional tourism authorities were duplicating marketing activities.
The Green Party also called for a new marketing initiative in the autumn and winter for the 2002 season and increased marketing of Ireland as a green destination.
