Tourism Renewal Group
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In December 2008 the Minister for Arts Sport and Tourism announced the establishment of a high-level Tourism Renewal Group, chaired by Mr Maurice Pratt, to review and, where appropriate, renew Ireland's tourism strategy as set out in "New Horizons for Irish Tourism: an Agenda for Action 2003-2012".
The Tourism Renewal Group will examine the current tourism policy and programme priorities, in the light of the challenges facing the tourism sector. It will report to the Minister in 2009 with its recommended Framework for Action. This framework will set out key actions to be taken to assist in ensuring that tourism continues to be a major industry for Ireland and the strategies necessary to maintain the long-term sustainable growth of Irish tourism.
The Group bases its work on the fundamental principles and strategic drivers set out in New Horizons. It is examining policy and programme priorities, actions and targets, taking particular account of:
Background
In December 2002, the Tourism Policy Review Group was appointed by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism to
- Identify the key elements of a strategy, both industry-led and Government-led, for the further sustainable development of tourism in Ireland, in the light of the assessment of the performance and economic impact of the sector over the past 10 years and
- Specify recommendations and actions, by the industry and the public sector, to give effect to the future strategy.
In September 2003, this Group's final report New Horizons for Irish Tourism: An Agenda for Action was published, which set out a strategy for Irish Tourism from 2003-2012. The Final Report (pdf format, 1.4 mega-bytes) and Executive Summary (pdf format, 465 mega-bytes) can be viewed online or downloaded.The group also produced an interim report in May 2003 which is available on the publications page of the Department's website.
In January 2004, the Tourism Action Plan Implementation Group (TAPIG) was appointed to monitor implementation of the recommendations contained in the New Horizons report and to assess and report on progress. In March 2006, TAPIG presented its third and final progress report to the Minister. In this, the Group noted that, by the end of 2005, good progress had been made on 82% of the Review Group's recommendations. All three progress reports are available on the publications page of the Department's website.
In May 2006, the Tourism Strategy Implementation Group (TSIG) was appointed for a two-year period and its remit was to advise the Minister on implementation of the outstanding recommendations of the New Horizons report and to work with the tourism industry and other Government Departments and Agencies to address a number of key areas. The report of the Tourism Strategy Implementation Group (TSIG) is available on the publications page of the Department's website.