Tourism potential in Ireland is being endangered by the erosion of such "core values" as friendliness and the natural environment, according to the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation.
Its chairwoman, Ms Eileen O'Mara Walsh, conceded yesterday that the industry was itself partly responsible for damaging the environment through developments like the proliferation of holiday homes in seaside resorts.
Though the ITIC had not backed the tax incentive scheme which encouraged it, she said many of the more traditional resorts - such as Achill, Co Mayo, and Courtown, Co Wexford - had been damaged, in some cases "quite considerably".
Ms O'Mara Walsh was speaking in advance of a seminar on the industry's "People and Place" programme, pilot projects to counteract negative impressions of Ireland as a tourism destination.
She said research in North America, Britain, France and Germany had found the main reasons why Ireland scored so highly in the past were its friendliness and the perception of its environment as "green".
Unless these "core values" were retained, the industry's potential would be "seriously at risk", she warned. "It's not just about not killing the goose that lays the golden egg; it is about sustaining the values which make us who we are."
Through practical measures, ITIC's "People and Place" programme "forces the industry to focus on how to protect and enhance the essential values of people, welcome and the natural environment which lie at the heart of visitor expectations."
Surveys of visitor attitudes were now showing "the beginnings of a shift in their perceptions of our friendliness and care for the environment", Ms O'Mara Walsh said, pointing to "dwindling hospitality" and litter as major factors.
She denied that too many tourists were coming to Ireland; it was a question of achieving a better regional spread to avoid congestion in areas such as Dublin. This could be done by providing cheaper access to Cork, Shannon and other regional airports.
However, more thought would have to be given to sustainable tourism and she said this would require partnerships between the tourism industry and people at local level.
The ITIC's pilot projects focus on generating more awareness in the industry and elsewhere to stimulate individual and corporate actions to enhance the environment, possibly through an awards programme to recognise achievements in this area.
The confederation is also developing a model of partnership between tourism interests and local authorities, including greater emphasis on "tourism-supportive measures" in county development plans, and an education project aimed at young people.
A training programme is being introduced for people working in the industry focusing on "the key elements of friendliness, spontaneity and care for the environment in their work".
