The four local authorities in Dublin are to be given a direct role in promoting tourism in the capital for the first time, it has emerged.
Dublin Tourism is to retain the power to market the city as a holiday destination, under a revamp of tourism structures approved by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue.
As disclosed in The Irish Times yesterday, regional tourist authorities around the State will hand over the operation of their offices and marketing and administrative functions to Fáilte Ireland.
However, Dublin Tourism has argued successfully for the right to retain its autonomy after raising its concerns about the revamp with Mr O'Donoghue.
The Minister has accepted a recommendation from an expert group led by former Forfás head John Travers that Dublin Tourism should continue to market the capital to foreign visitors, although its shareholder structure will be changed.
Frank Magee, chief executive of Dublin Tourism, said the reconstituted body would be a "totally separate entity" from Fáilte Ireland. Its board will include one representative from Fáilte Ireland, four from the local authorities, three trade representatives nominated by Fáilte Ireland and five trade representatives nominated by the business community.
Mr Magee said he was delighted at the decision to retain a separate entity. "Dublin is a different tourism product. We're competing against Amsterdam, Rome, Paris and other short-stay urban destinations."
He said that while bed nights in Dublin over a four-year period grew by 2.7 million, they fell by two million in the rest of Ireland.
"So Dublin is a totally different proposition and it needed to be allowed the freedom to achieve its own approach . . . We're number three in Europe, we're outperforming the rest of the country - and if you've a winning formula, why change it?"
The Minister's decision to implement the recommendations of consultants PricewaterhouseCooper in relation to five other regional tourism bodies means most of the country's 68 tourist offices will come under the control of Fáilte Ireland.
The review said they had become synonymous with the delivery of information and had not given a lot of consideration to changing visitor requirements.
Labour's tourism spokesman Jack Wall criticised the Government's plans, saying there was a danger they could worsen the situation.
"A major plank of this Government's platform over the past three years has been its promise - so far unfulfilled - to decentralise functions away from Dublin.
"Yet in this case, they are planning to do the direct opposite, by taking functions away from the regional tourism bodies and centralising them in Dublin."
However, Ireland West Tourism welcomed the changes, saying they would enhance local tourism and lead to the provision of more resources.
"This is a brave step by the Minister," said its chief executive John Concannon. He added that there was "no question" of tourism information offices closing at the moment.
Last year, the number of visits to Ireland by overseas tourists increased by 3.3 per cent to 6.4 million. However, this was weaker than the 10 per cent growth rate worldwide, and visitor numbers to the regions fell.
