A MINIMUM of £1 million extra is needed to market Dublin as a tourist destination, according to Dublin Tourism chief executive, Mr Frank Magee.

This Friday he will tell a Dublin Chamber of Commerce conference on Urban Led Growth, that the city has the potential to attract many more visitors.

However, the price of hotel beds has been rising ahead of inflation and this presents dangers. Dublin has the highest level of room occupancy in Europe. The boom in demand has led to some hotels "tearing up their marketing plans", Mr Magee said. "They should not do that on any account. There is always the danger that the tourists could decide to go elsewhere.

"The Dublin experience is not necessarily an aquarium, nor is it a theme park. It has to have a cultural element and be uniquely Dublin," Mr Magee said.

"There is a logic to the Viking theme, to the Writer's Museum and the James Joyce centre. If we were to import something, in the way Copenhagen has the Ripley's exhibition, it would lose money and it wouldn't work," he said.

The proposed National Convention Centre is an urgent priority. The city is losing large numbers of tourists because it is not there, according to Mr Magee.

An answer from Brussels on funding is awaited by the Government, he added.

"People tend to assume that Dublin tourism means Grafton Street and Temple Bar. There are 45 golf courses in Dublin, 25 of them within 20 minutes of Dublin Airport.

"I don't agree that Dublin has reached its potential. We have capacity for a hell of a lot more. We are merely catching up with opportunities which were lost over the years," Mr Magee said.

It is necessary to prioritise, to get the basics right. Dublin has become dirty again and the litter problem figures strongly in survey after survey of foreign tourists.

Terenure, the road in from the airport, Rathmines and the Dodder park all need improvement. Operation Freeflow is wonderful when it works, he said.

The issue in future will be one of managing growth, not necessarily attracting more numbers, according to Mr Noel Toolan, international marketing director of Bord Failte, who will address the conference, organised in conjunction with the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business.

The dramatic growth of recent years was fuelled by improved access and the city's recent fashion ability. Bord Failte will concentrate on extending the season.

In July and August segments of the Dublin tourist industry decline. Five star hotels have to sell more aggressively, as there are fewer business travellers. Yields and revenue in the months from January to March, also have to rise, Bord Failte believes.

Mr Magee rejected criticism that Dublin had become a Mecca for backpackers.

There have been a number of new three star hotels but the Davenport, Conrad and Merrion Hotels were at the top of the range.

"We have managed to attract a broad cross section of tourists," he said.

Much of the growth in Dublin tourism has coincided with the growth in commercial traffic, as the economy boomed.

Growth in the economy sustained a rise in the number of hotel rooms. A lot of the hotel growth on the Naas Road and the urban motorways, was not tourist linked, according to Mr Conor McCarthy, chairman of Ryan Hotels.

It is not just the tourist industry which has benefited from the boom of the last five years. Some retail chains take in as much from tourists as the Doyle Hotels Group, for instance.

Doyle's has a 15 member marketing department selling the capital to foreign tourists. But on a smaller scale, shops also recognise the value of Dublin tourism.

"We participate in some things. We print 200,000 copies of a street map for visitors. Shopping is a secondary but important attraction for tourists," according to Mr Tom Rea, general manager of Clery & Co.

"We support Irish merchandise. In future, Irish products will have to be up to date and sensitive to fashion. John Rocha will shortly be designing for Waterford Glass, for instance."