More than 800 additional grade A bedrooms will come on stream in hotels in the north-west by 2004, as increased efforts are made to attract a greater proportion of visitors to the region.
Five hotels are being built while nine others are undergoing extensive refurbishment and upgrading, with the private sector committing more than €90 million. "There is huge room for increasing the number of visitors," said Mr Paul McLoone, chief executive of the North-West Regional Tourism Authority, which covers Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan.
Addressing the 14th annual Colmcille Winter School, he said the region attracts only 5 per cent of all overseas visitors to Ireland and has not benefited to the same degree as other parts of Ireland. Nationally, the number of tourists visiting Ireland has jumped from 2.2 million to just under seven million in the past decade.
"Traditionally the region has suffered from poor access by rail and road, the distance from international airports and ports, and The Troubles in the North," he explained. Domestic tourists and those from Northern Ireland account for most visitors.
However, there has been a significant increase in those taking short holiday breaks. He believes that a strategy should be put in place concentrating on the promotion of the region as an area of excellence, particularly for outdoor activities such as angling, water sports, hill-walking, golf and equestrian sports, while also preserving the special "unique Irish experience" and cultural attractions like music and dance.
In order to develop the short-stay sector of the market, he feels that more attention needs to be given to developing what is know as an "open jaw" policy at regional airports. This would allow people to fly into an airport, for example Galway, hire a car and leave it back at another airport such as Sligo or Donegal from where they would make their return trip. This would enable far more flexibility in marketing the west and north-western regions.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr McLoone also said there were too many agencies working in tourism and there should be one co-ordinated body.
Meanwhile, in a paper on "Ireland's future in an enlarged EU", Mr Andrew O'Rourke, former secretary general in the Department of Foreign Affairs, stressed that the biggest economic challenge will be for the new member-states rather than for existing ones.
Mr O'Rourke, a council member of the Institute of European Affairs, said the combined economic weight of the 10 new member-states who would formally join the EU this year is less than the Netherlands. Playing down fears of possible adverse economic effects for Ireland, he said the Republic has a trade surplus with all of the new member-states. In terms of agriculture, he highlighted a study by the Institute for European Affairs which argues that the impact of enlargement will be broadly neutral.
Nearly 250 delegates attended this year's Winter School on "The Economic Prospects for Ireland - Post the Celtic Tiger". It was organised by the Colmcille Heritage Trust and Co Donegal Vocational Education Committee.
