Tourism welcomes Budget announcement

Tourism is one of the few sectors welcoming the Budget announcement.

They are set to receive the largest budget allocation in the history of the State.

The Minister for Tourism, John O'Donoghue, has announced he is increasing the tourism budget by more than €30m next year.

Niamh Fitzpatrick, Marketing Director for Tourism Ireland, says the sector's received a massive boost.

"Tourism Ireland are delighted to hear of the increase in tourism marketing funds, in this difficult fiscal year.

"We are very pleased with the Government return on investment that tourism marketing can deliver on, and we have acknowledged that we did have a difficult year in 2002, but we believe we are turning the corner."