Cheaper air access and a second terminal at Dublin Airport are crucial to the development of tourism in Ireland, a forum for the tourism industry was told yesterday.
Mr Frank Magee, chief executive of Dublin Tourism, said: "We support the call for cheaper air access to Dublin. The huge loss in air capacity to Dublin will have a detrimental effect on tourism for the whole of Ireland." An inter-departmental committee - set up in the wake of the September 11th attacks on the US - has recommended both lower airport charges and a low-cost terminal but Aer Rianta, which operates the main airports, has expressed reservations.
An estimated 600,000 seats to Ireland could be lost this year as airlines cut back, Mr Magee told the meeting in Dublin at which Tourism Ireland and Bord Fáilte outlined their marketing plans for this year. Aer Rianta contested the figure and a spokesman said yesterday more than 800,000 new seats may be created as new routes are opened.
Ireland was in the unique position of being the only European country without land access, said Mr Magee. "The bottom line is if we don't have sea or air access, it just doesn't work, the figures don't stack up," he said.
"The issue is a second terminal. If you get that, you're going to have competition in pricing."
Tourism figures for 2001 as a whole are down 7 per cent on the previous year when 7,250,000 people visited the island. Tourism Ireland, the new body which will market the island of Ireland overseas, has set itself the objective of recovering that loss this year.
