Recent reports of overcrowding at Dublin Airport have raised questions regarding the airport's capacity, and renewed the debate about the merits of a new terminal.

Such debate is welcome, but what happens to our visitors after they have negotiated Dublin Airport? Are they then free to sample the crowds-free landscape and warmth of Irish people, or is there now a hint that such perceptions are changing?

Does Dublin need to rediscover its soul, as suggested by Fodor's Guide? Is there a perception, as the Lonely Planet guide suggests, that Killarney is an overcrowded theme park?

In the early 1980s, we attracted annually just over two million visitors. Last year, the figure was just over six million and is projected by Bord Failte to rise to nine million by 2006. This latter figure is well over twice the population of the Republic.

The number of visitors per capita in Ireland is greater than Spain. In the past, the Spanish Mediterranean coast lost market share due to the perception that tourism was growing too fast and that the local infrastructure was incapable of handling the number of visitors. Could we be heading this way in Ireland?

There are, of course, tourism providers in such places as Clonmel, Roscommon and Carlow, who are seriously short of customers. Perhaps, some are already mentally composing a stinging riposte. Fair enough, but let's consider the issue fully.

The tourism carrying capacity of an area can be defined as the maximum number of people that can use a destination without an unacceptable alteration in the environment or a decline in the quality of the experience. When capacity point is passed, tourists vote with their feet.

Irish tourism is heavily concentrated in three areas - Dublin, the south-west and Galway/Connemara. It is here that increasing numbers will make carrying capacity an issue.

In Kerry, on a summer morning, it is not uncommon for 100 coaches to set out on a tour of the Ring.

What of the Irish people themselves? Do people in high-concentration areas feel overwhelmed by tourists and, if so, is this lessening the traditional welcome from locals, as surveys of visitor attitudes now suggest? It is too early to say. Nevertheless, before the horse bolts the stable, we need a debate on our tourism capacity and the regional and seasonal spread. With Newgrange burial chamber over-booked, why are we not considering the development and positioning of other passage graves, such as the nearby and equally impressive Loughcrew?

In the past, Ireland employed a regional policy for industry where tax breaks, grants and incentives were used pro-actively to support economically weaker regions and avoid diseconomies in the stronger areas. Could this now be a model for the tourism industry?

Why for example are the treasures of Ireland centralised in the National Museum where their impact is not optimised. Security and cost considerations may mean that large-scale regional dispersion is not possible, or even desirable, but it is difficult to see the argument against three secure centres, provincially spread, and housing the treasures of Leinster, Connaught/Ulster and Munster. Why not in Carlow, Roscommon and Clonmel?

It is certainly true that even in the areas of highest tourist concentration we can handle greater numbers, but we must have more imaginative planning, greater seasonal dispersion and targeted marketing.

Venice handles up to 100,000 tourists a day on what is really a group of tiny islands. The secret, of course, is the absence of the motor car. Should we be looking at similar approaches here? While Killarney has made some moves in this direction, would the development of fully pedestrianised, urban heart with tasteful shops and sidewalk cafes not help to deflect visitor criticism and provide a more relaxed resort atmosphere?

Tourism Ireland, a new tourism marketing body for North and South will begin soon. This presents an opportunity for the development and branding of alternative destinations within Ireland. Such a move will need to be supported in both jurisdictions with enhanced levels of infrastructural investment, targeted at under-capacity destinations.

We must strive towards a situation where Mayo, Wexford, Armagh and others destinations, rank alongside Kerry, Connemara and Dublin in terms of international visitor recognition.

Carmel Needham is a lecturer in Travel at Tourism Studies at H.S.I. International College, Limerick.