The chief executive of the tourism agency Fáilte Ireland has said that 2008 could be a more difficult year because of international economic conditions.
Speaking to tourism groups in Limerick this morning, Shaun Quinn said they could not ignore the potential impact of stock market volatility and exchange rate movements on the tourism business, but it was too early to speculate exactly what the impact would be.
He said the priority should be to continue to minimise costs but not quality for international visitors. His warning comes on the back of a decline of 3% in the numbers of overseas visitors coming to the Shannon region in 2007.
Tourism Ireland chief executive Paul O'Toole acknowledged the particular challenges posed in the region by the transition to Open Skies, in the context of difficult trading conditions in the US and other key markets.
Both he and Mr Quinn welcomed €3m in extra funding announced by Tourism Minister Séamus Brennan to promote tourism to the West of Ireland after Open Skies.
Tourism Ireland and Shannon Development have formed a working group to draw up a marketing plan for the Shannon catchment area to deal with the implications of Open Skies and decide a strategy about how best to distribute the additional Government marketing fund.
