Tourism Policy
Dail Éireann — 2021-06-22
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Marc Ó Cathasaigh (GP), Waterford

What does "sustainable tourism practices" mean if we are talking about a suite of actions? Surely we want to focus on longer stays rather than getting people in and out of the country quickly? Surely we want to look at more dispersed tourism rather than all the pressure and bed nights being in Dublin? I will naturally refer to Waterford but also to the rest of the country, so that tourism spending is more dispersed. People will increasingly focus on experience rather than consumption. Will we focus on cultural output, heritage and those intangibles, which is what we do well in this country, rather than on just consumption? The pandemic has taught us many things, including perhaps that tourists need to slow down to enjoy their stays rather than to get quickly in and out.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-06-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:25+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-06-22