The midwest is having a healthy tourism season but needs to continue to market itself aggressively as a region, according to Shannon Development's tourism development manager, Mr John Leonard, who has received results from a survey of the first six months of the year.
The Shannon Pulse survey, carried out by the MRBI, found that effective marketing and personal recommendations had been two of the main factors helping successful businesses achieve their growth.
More than six in every 10 businesses were experiencing business similar to or ahead of last year, according to the survey of 83 respondents. Mr Leonard said there was a difference in the experience of larger and smaller tourism businesses. "Not everybody is benefiting," he said.
Larger businesses were more likely to have the resources to market themselves. But smaller businesses could pool their resources within co-operative marketing groups, he said.
Shannon Development has developed a "Take Two' initiative, encouraging more couples into the region, which stretches from north Kerry to south Offaly. Visitors to the region are mobile, free to take short or long stays, and flexible about the time of year they take breaks. "This is exactly the type of business we need to attract in order to ensure business spreads throughout the region," he said.
There has been surprise that the strength of sterling has not attracted more British visitors. "While Ireland represents great value for them, so does everywhere else," Mr Leonard said. Everybody has noticed a declined in continental business. Italian tourism, which flowered following the World Cup exploits of the Irish football team, has fallen off notably.
Mr John Madden, chairman of the tourism committee of Ennis Chamber of Commerce and owner of the town's Temple Gate Hotel, questions whether the region's value to British tourists has been sold sufficiently.
He says the earlier part of the year was good for hoteliers, particularly April and May, and while July had been "soft" business had picked up again this month.
He said there were a lot of tourists around in Ennis, particularly in recent weeks, and while many of these could be low-spending people visiting friends and relatives, the town was buzzing.
"The year will be somewhat better than last year," he said.