TOURISM businesses have warned they face disaster if they don’t see an increase in visitor numbers this year.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) has welcomed many of the measures in today’s Budget saying it gives the tourist sector a "realistic chance" of recovering.

IRELAND’S hospitality industry will not recover before 2015 as the sector continues to struggle with issues raised by zombie hotels, says Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) chief executive Eamonn McKeon.

TOURISM here may never return to its pre-recession levels, a hard-hitting industry report has concluded.

TOURISM spend will take as much as a €200 million hit following a decision by Aer Lingus to axe routes to America from Shannon and Dublin.

Aer Lingus’s decision to scrap one of its Shannon transatlantic routes will deal a major blow to the region’s tourist industry, it was claimed tonight.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) has slammed the travel tax introduced by the minister for finance Brian Lenihan in today's Budget.

Tourism chiefs today urged Aer Lingus pilots to call off a two-day strike planned for next week, branding it a crude tactic.

The number of American tourists visiting Ireland has returned to level of before 9-11, following an 11% increase this year.

TOURISM chiefs yesterday predicted 2006 could be a record year for the industry.

PLANS to centralise tourism offices around the country are a direct response to the effects of the budget airline phenomenon which is encouraging city breaks, according to tourist chiefs.

THE number of overseas visitors to Ireland grew by 6% in the first three months of the year but tourist numbers from the key north American market tumbled by 11%, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

MORE foreigners will visit Ireland and tourism costs could be cut if we protect the environment, a tourism agency said yesterday.

THE country’s top young caterers offered a taste of the future in the finals of a national competition yesterday.

SOME Irish hotels and restaurants are making a meal of it when it comes to providing proper menus and value for money, say continental tourists.

Some 60% of Irish tourism businesses are pessimistic about the prospects for the sector in 2002, according to tourism training agency CERT.