Tourists put a high value on our natural and built environment. If we want them to keep coming, we have to do so too, writes Shaun Quinnof Fáilte Ireland
There is an easy analysis that in a growing economy such as ours, economic progress and environmental protection are the two components of a zero sum game, destined to be in permanent conflict. We can have one or the other, not both, according to this view.
The tourism sector more than any other needs to challenge this notion. Because this €5.5 billion industry depends on Ireland's unique environmental attractions for its survival, the destruction of the environment would destroy tourism too.
Yet tourism also requires infrastructural development, not a nation preserved in aspic. Tax incentives have stimulated private investment to transform the quality and quantity of tourist accommodation available in Ireland.
Today's challenge is to ensure these rooms are filled as often as possible. To do that we must first give tourists things to do as well as places to stay.
The development of walking, cycling and water sports and investment in sensitively-developed quality visitor attractions will provide experiences to visitors. These developments are central to the viability of surrounding accommodation.
In 2005, 82 per cent of visitors rated Ireland's scenery as an important reason for visiting Ireland. Some 77 per cent nominated the natural unspoilt environment, while 60 per cent mentioned Ireland's attractive cities and towns. So a damaged natural and built environment will ultimately result in empty hotel and B&B rooms.
We are fortunate that our mixed record on environmental performance has not damaged our green and positive image abroad. Ireland's distinctive landscapes and seascapes continue to draw visitors to Ireland more than any other attraction. These are very fragile resources that are coming under increased pressure to accommodate greater levels of development.
The management of this issue will be a key determinant of the sustainability of Irish tourism. Poorly located, designed and managed development will ensure there is no distinctive Irish tourism product, or no significant potential for ecotourism.
We need to safeguard our landscapes and seascapes; eliminate the litter that is still commonplace in urban, rural and coastal areas; and protect our inland rivers and lakes from environmental damage.
But tourism also needs to attend to minimising its own impact on the environment.
Air travel accounts for only three per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, but its impact is growing fast. Some projections say the rapid growth in cheap air travel will mean that, by 2015, aviation will account for some 15 per cent of man-made global warming.
As an island destination, this could well impact on tourism and is worth thinking about. Higher fares to pay for the environmental cost of flying would pose an obvious threat. Already airlines are adopting more fuel-efficient pre-landing routines.
Our 7,500km coastline and offshore islands provide many of the iconic visual images of Ireland and must be protected. A substantial proportion of tourism is at or near the coast.
We may be surprised that 60 per cent of all overseas visitors to Ireland think that Irish streets are dirtier than those in their own country. Although the 2002 plastic bag levy has removed one billion bags from circulation every year, and serious inland waterway pollution has been reduced in recent years to just 0.6 per cent of river channels surveyed - the lowest level that has been recorded since the early 1990s - complacency could quickly reverse that progress and cause serious damage to our salmon and trout stocks.
People still think of foreign tourists as being attracted by the John Hinde postcards of an idyllic, sparsely-populated Irish landscape. But our rural landscapes are continually changing - sometimes for the better, sometimes not.
With the exception of the National Parks, our system of identifying and designating areas and routes of scenic value is unco-ordinated. A national approach is required to identify scenic areas and scenic routes that are nationally important tourism assets.
The historic centres of our cities and towns remain a core tourism product. But these urban areas are under threat. Generic building designs are eroding the distinctiveness of many urban areas. Where commercial development seeks to locate within town centres, the challenge lies in integrating the new with the old in a way that enhances the area's character.
We want a clean environment for ourselves. But we also need to protect our unique and remarkable landscapes, seascapes and historic urban centres if we are to have a sustainable tourism industry into the future.
Environmental protection is clearly at the heart of tourism development - without it, Ireland's tourism product will deteriorate no matter what investment plans are devised.
• Shaun Quinn is chief executive officer of Fáilte Ireland. Today, Fáilte Ireland holds its annual National Tourism Conference on the themeThriving in Tourism: What Smart Businesses are Doing to Stay Ahead . It will be attended by 150 tourism policy-makers from Fáilte Ireland, Government and industry and representative bodies.