The CSO has looked at the method of travel, reason for journey and the area of residence from which people are coming. I am aware that the tourism industry has many more details on why people are coming to visit. The Government has now spent more than ever on marketing Irish tourism with an allocation for this year of €30.4 million. There are also specific figures on sports tourism, festival and cultural events in order to market the country.
The Government has also funded specific advertisements and marketing campaigns to attract the type of tourist the Deputy mentioned. For the autumn and winter marketing campaign, Tourism Ireland invested €8 million. In Germany, for example, a 50 page walking Ireland special wander magazine was printed and distributed to encourage that variety of tourist to visit.
The largest factor against people travelling is not so much travelling to Ireland but travelling at all due to certain international situations. A feature now noted is that people are booking holidays later in order to travel. The Government is trying to capitalise on this. In the last number of months, overseas tourist numbers grew by over 3%. Given the international situation in the first six months of 2003, that is a positive sign. I will ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, to provide more details to Deputy Sargent as to the type of marketing used for walking breaks etc. in attracting that type of visitor.