Leading American travel and tourism leaders attending a summit in Dublin have met this afternoon with the President, Mrs McAleese.
The delegates are meeting with the President at Aras an Uachtarain.
The 14th Annual Travel Industry Summit Conference is a three day event, at which a series of briefing presentations and conference sessions will be staged.
Last night the Minister for Tourism, Mr John O'Donoghue, addressed the representatives at a gala dinner, to open the conference, in Dublin Castle.
The choice of Dublin as host city for the conference has been seen by Irish tourism representatives as an important coup for the industry here.
"It is clearly a feather in Ireland's cap that Dublin has been chosen as the site for this high-level gathering, especially at such a crucial time in our industry," Tourism Ireland's Mr Jim McGuigan said.
The conference opens amid falling bookings so far this month, with American tourists remaining edgy in advance of any possible strike on Iraq.
The conference is sponsored by the Tourism Ireland in conjunction with American Airlines, Aer Lingus and CIE Tours International.
Tourism Ireland is the all Ireland tourism marketing body, which markets Irish tourism destinations overseas.