Some 55 per cent of visitors to Ireland this year used the Internet to plan their holiday, a conference has heard.
The Dublin event, organised by Tourism Ireland, also heard that the industry must adapt to technology in order to survive.
Mark Henry, director of Central Marketing, said: "As little as seven years ago, Google, blogs, 3G meant nothing to the ordinary consumer.
"Today, they are common currency for our potential customers across the globe. The tourism industry here must move fast to keep up with changed ways of doing business, or it could lose market share."
Minister for Tourism John O'Donoghue, who opened the conference, said the challenge for the industry and the agencies is to ensure that all tourism players and products on the island were fully visible to potential holidaymakers.
"In 2006, an estimated 55 per cent of holidaymakers to the island of Ireland used the internet to plan or book their holiday here," he said.
"By 2010, Tourism Ireland estimates that the percentage of people using the web to plan or book at least one element of their holiday here will grow to over 75 per cent. Marketing channels have changed and we ignore this at our peril. The inherent charm of so much of the tourism product here is that it is small and independent in nature. But this presents its own challenges. It is essential that the smaller-scale players in the industry make themselves look-able and book-able by overseas consumers on-line.
"Huge strides have been made in the development of platforms via the discoverireland.com websites, but much more needs to be done. This symposium is therefore timely and welcome."
Research by Tourism Ireland has found that consumer knowledge and usage of the Internet is becoming "increasingly sophisticated and demanding", with user-generated content becoming increasingly popular as a source of information for potential travellers.
"Word-of-mouth and the recommendations of friends have always been key factors influencing the choice of Ireland as a holiday destination. This is now shifting to word of mouth recommendations from strangers across borders," said Mark Henry.