TERRORIST THREAT: A conference in Dublin on tourism as part of Ireland's EU presidency has heard that the threat of terrorist attacks in Europe would persist.
Mr Egon Smeral, economist with the Austrian Institute of Economic Research was addressing the conference titled "Charting Tourism Success" .
"The trend appears to point to a rising demand for domestic stays, familiar destinations or those in the "near-abroad", with a sluggish demand for flights and a growing demand for authentic experiences within a local cultural setting," he said.
Many were opting for a car ride of a few hours away at most and taking short breaks.
He said he thought consumers thought of terrorism in terms of mass transportation.
Dr Reinhard Klein, head of the tourism unit, enterprise directorate-general, European Commission, said he thought the bombings in Madrid would have no significant impact on the Spanish tourism market.
The city might experience a certain fall off for a limited time but tourists were not targeted there. Certain trends could overlap. "People stayed at home last year but did they do that because of a politically unstable situation or the weather?" he asked.
In the UK, Germany and Benelux countries a significant percentage of people stayed in their own country last summer, he said. The conference also heard that new EU accession states would pose a new level of competition on the international tourism market. Mr Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council said Ireland was ranked tenth in the expected top ten performers in Europe with a 5.2 per cent annual growth rate forecast.
The Czech Republic was ranked top with 7 per cent.
"Apart from Ireland and Luxembourg, the remaining top 10 "growers" expected in Europe are new accession states, underlining the level of competition the new entrants will pose on the international tourism market," he said.
Mr Willie Walsh, chief executive of Aer Lingus said the airline industry was in serious decline prior to September 11th but after that Aer Lingus faced closure.
After cutting costs, capacity and staff and aggressive pricing, there would be no return to the old model. Aer Lingus was transformed and fares would stay low.
Fáilte Ireland chaired the conference at Dublin Castle.
Its chairman, Ms Gillian Bowler said European tourism was expected to have a net increase in terms of expenditure and yield of around 3 per cent per year over the next 20 years so tourism numbers would double in that time.
Sir Rocco Forte chairman and chief executive of his hotel group said he hoped to increase the number of hotels in Europe from ten to 20 in the next five years.
However, he said although he would like to open one in Dublin, it did not make financial sense.
The conference was closed by the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.