The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) said yesterday overseas earnings this year from the industry could fall by 15 to 20 per cent, amounting to a loss of revenue of £500 million.
It called for the setting up of a high-level action group to monitor "the enormous losses" facing the industry because of the crisis. ITIC said international publicity is causing serious worries among potential travellers about Ireland's safety as a destination.
The chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation, Mr John Power, said his members were "hurting badly". Six hotels dependent on angling have closed, Mr Power added, although ITIC remained strongly supportive of the measures, including the angling ban, to keep the disease out of the State.
The vice-president of CIE Tours in North America, Mr Brian Stack, said the 10,000 people who had booked to come to Ireland for St Patrick's Day were expected to decide today or tomorrow whether to cancel. Mr Stack added the visitors are mainly high school children who put a big fundraising effort into financing their Irish holiday.
"We are telling them that even though the parades are cancelled, they can still have a good time. But if they decide not to come, we'll refund their money and book them again for the following year," said Mr Stack. He added that some parents have been calling to insist that beef be taken off their children's menus when in Ireland.
"They don't understand what foot-and-mouth is."
Bord Failte said yesterday it has cancelled all travel agent familiarisation tours and press trips. Ms Margaret Cahill, Bord Failte's general manager for Europe, said that reaction in the travel trade to the crisis had been "muted".
Ms Eileen O'Mara Walsh, ITIC's chairwoman, said: "The longer the present scare, the larger the short- and long-term losses are likely to be and this will doubly devastate rural areas in particular, since these are among our primary attractions."
Ms O'Mara Walsh said a lot of people in the industry said many of the 10,000 tourists booked for St Patrick's Day could still be hosted without posing any dangers to the agricultural industry.
ITIC believes some advertising should be abandoned but not generic long-term advertising. "Confusion is already being caused in some markets and it is essential that Ireland should not disappear off the screen and consequently from the consideration of potential holidaymakers at a time when people are contemplating making holiday decisions for summer and autumn," Ms O'Mara Walsh said.