"Major errors" in tourism policy have led to a decline in the number of tourists visiting the west, a senior tourism executive has said.
At a Mayo Tourism Forum meeting in Castlebar yesterday, Mr Richie O'Hara, chairman of Ireland West Tourism, said "Major errors and misguidance in terms of tourism policy for Mayo has occurred over the years.
"We want that misguidance, those badly tailored and unsuitable policy issues to stop, and, if that is to happen, our Oireachtas members have to listen to what is being said by people who know and who are on the ground".
Mr O'Hara said the region accounted for approximately 13 per cent of national overseas tourism receipts in 2003 down from 15 per cent in 2002. "That trend is set to continue", Mr O'Hara stated.
He was critical of the fact that no TD for Mayo attended the Forum with the exception of Independent, Dr Jerry Cowley.
Access to the west was critical, Mr O'Hara said and a radical overhaul of the N5 between Longford and Westport was long overdue.
He also lamented "the inexplicable hiking up of insurance premiums which has put many of ourselves under intense financial pressure and has put us, or is near to putting us, out of business altogether".
There was also now the very real problem of the international perception of this country being an expensive place in which to live.