A growth of 5 per cent in the number of international visitors to Ireland has been targeted for 2003 by Tourism Ireland, the all-island tourism marketing body.
Tourism Ireland's most ambitious target is a 10 per cent growth in the US market, despite the difficulties experienced in that market this year.
The number of North American holiday visitors is forecast to drop by about 10 per cent this year and this has been mainly blamed on the September 11th attacks.
The strong emphasis on this unpredictable market was yesterday defended by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, and Tourism Ireland's chief executive, Mr Paul O'Toole.
Mr O'Toole said the US market was extremely valuable because North American visitors stayed in Ireland for longer and spent more money than their European counterparts.
North American visitors spent an average of €806 during their stay in Ireland, while some European and British visitors spent half that. "It is a fantastically important market for Ireland," he said.
Mr O'Donoghue said the reinstatement of the Aer Lingus Baltimore service and increased seat capacity to the US were major factors in this projected growth.
However, the targeted growth does not factor in any potential military escalation of the US-Iraq conflict.
Tourism Ireland is aiming for 5 per cent growth in the UK, and 4 per cent in Europe.
Mr O'Donoghue said the doom and gloom scenarios which were widely predicted for the tourism sector this year had not materialised.
"While we may not achieve the record heights of the year 2000, there is a growing air of confidence in the sector, which has been buoyed up by positive results in key markets such as Britain, and some parts of Continental Europe."
Tourism Ireland estimates that overall visitor numbers to the island of Ireland will have increased by 2 per cent by the end of the year.
While some tourism operators felt the State should have promoted the tourism sector more this year, Mr O'Toole said he believed that the marketing had been "played right".
Marketing funds were limited and had to be carefully targeted at the right market at the right time, he said.
