The tourism picture for the south-east looks rosy this year, but is there a downside to the growth pattern confidently predicted by Bord Failte? Almost 280 tourism trade operators from the region attended the board's marketing forum in Kilkenny last week and heard strongly optimistic forecasts, the key one being that an 8 per cent growth can be expected on the region's estimated £250 million revenue from tourism last year.
With the Tour de France coming to the south-east and many major 1798 commemorative events in Co Wexford, this summer should certainly see enhanced visitor numbers, but there may be problems spreading the jam evenly.
The regional tourism manager, Joe Palmer, struck a cautionary note against over-optimistic expectations by individual operators in the trade.
He said the region's accommodation base increased by almost 60 per cent since the beginning of the decade. In other words, those involved in servicing tourism have responded so enthusiastically to the visitor growth of re cent years that they may have outstripped the requirements at certain levels of the business.
The approved room stock in the region has grown from 4,287 to 6,778 in a five-year period. Hotel bedrooms have increased by 28 per cent, and there has been a massive 178 per cent rise in self-catering accommodation.
All of this investment expands the tourism infrastructure and will be important in the future if tourism growth is sustained but for the moment, there may be many rooms, particularly in the bed-and-breakfast sector, left idle because of over-capacity.
The figures also show how tourism buoyancy in the south-east has become increasingly reliant on the British sector. Revenue from British tourists grew by more than 140 per cent since 1990 and the trade was told that the south-east is now second only to the south-west in terms of British visitor numbers.
The managing director of Bord Failte, Mr Matt McNulty, stressed the importance of political stability in the North for continued growth in this sector. Re search indicated that if there was a sustainable peace, 5 million people in Britain who today would not consider holidaying in Ireland would consider it.
The south-east, meanwhile, has been chosen to be the pilot region for a new initiative on Bord Failte's Internet site. There will be worldwide access through the Internet to information on the region, and the link will include a computerised reservations facility for every approved accommodation supplier in the south eastern counties.
The Kilkenny marketing forum also saw the launch of the 1998 South East Holidays Guidebook, 80,000 copies of which are to be distributed in the region's main holiday markets at home and overseas.