THE region around Shannon Airport is losing more than its share of tourism and it is also losing out in industrial development, according to SIGNAL, the lobby group representing 8,000 workers at the airport.
In a submission to the MidWest Regional Authority, SIGNAL said unacceptable changes in development must be tackled as a matter of national concern.
"We are not replaying the Shannon stopover campaign or engaging in Dublin bashing," the group's chairman, Mr Tony Russell, said yesterday. "SIGNAL is drawing attention to the fact that not just one, but a series of tides are now flowing against Shannon and its region.
Shannon is losing ground to Dublin as the preferred choice of US tour operators, according to Mr Russell. This is an urgent matter for Shannon, he added, because American business accounts for only 5 per cent of the business through Dublin Airport, but for 30 per cent through Shannon.
Shannon's share of US tour operator business since 1992 has fallen from 32 per cent to 18 per cent, while Dublin's share almost doubled, according to SIGNAL.
The SIGNAL submission describes the "neglect" of the Shannon Free Zone as a location for major industry as intolerable, saying that it is "incomprehensible that the change in the status of the airport would appear to be reinforced by the diminution of the role of the free zone in the industrial development of the region".