Towards a 'tourism for all' policy for Ireland: Achieving real sustainability in Irish tourism

The importance of tourism for all initiatives in contributing to the economic and social well-being of citizens has long been recognised by many European Union Member States. The European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee have acknowledged not only the social value of tourism for all in terms of personal development, well-being and social cohesion, but also its potential economic value in terms of revenue generation, job creation and regional development. This paper focuses on Ireland, where the concept of tourism for all is poorly understood. While social inclusion is explicitly on the national policy agenda, Irish tourism has tended to be viewed entirely through economic lenses, with little acknowledgement of its social value. Within the context of sustainable development, which is a stated policy objective in Ireland, environmental issues have received a disproportionate level of attention within the tourism domain. The core argument forwarded here is that unless Irish tourism policy-makers turn their attention to 'making holidays available for all', Irish tourism will fail to meet at least one of the eight key tourism sustainability challenges, as identified by the European Commission (2007) and further fail to realise the existing Irish policy commitment to sustainable tourism development.