Jobs will be lost in the tourism industry in Northern Ireland this summer if violence flares on the streets for the fifth year in a row, the chairman of the North's Tourist Board has warned.

Mr Roy Bailie , said that tourism was more vulnerable this year because of foot-and-mouth disease.

"I would appeal to people in the community at large in Northern Ireland to support the tourism sector as the rest of Northern Ireland supported the farming community," Mr Bailie said.

He said incidents of unrest, such as the rioting in Portadown, Co Armagh last weekend, would not help convince visitors to holiday in the region.

"Tourism has the potential to deliver another £500 million sterling (#830 million) per annum to the Northern Ireland economy. However, the knock-on effect of civil unrest not only has an impact on the current tourist season but on next year's tourist potential," Mr Bailie added.

The board has launched a £1 million sterling advertising campaign largely directed at potential visitors from the Republic and Britain. Mr Bailie believes the campaign could be undermined if there were widespread unrest in the North over the coming weeks. "The tourism sector is underperforming as it is against its nearest neighbour, the Republic, by a factor of three to one. We cannot sustain another summer of unrest because many people are currently operating on an income of zero because of the impact of foot-and-mouth," Mr Bailie warned.

He said any further damage to Northern Ireland's image would mean these businesses would simply close.

"Either the Orange Order is allowed to walk down Garvaghy Road or it is not allowed to march, or we find some solution in between, but we need a resolution of some description or it will be very negative for Northern Ireland's tourist industry".