A REPORT published last year in the Republic of Ireland commended the

''localised approach'' of Scotland's 32 area tourist boards and

recommended that Dublin set up its own marketing company, writes

Elizabeth Buie.

The findings of Dublin City Centre Business Association report are now

being quoted by Scottish tourism directors, angry at the Scottish

Tourist Board's recommendation to the Scottish Office that the current

32 ATBs be restructured into seven, including one region merging

Edinburgh with the Borders and Forth Valley, and another merging Glasgow

with Clyde Valley.

The Irish report, written by Mr Felim O'Rourke, a lecturer in tourism,

and Mr Jerome Casey, a consultant, compared city tourism in Amsterdam,

Edinburgh, and Dublin and recommended that Edinburgh's ATB ''could

usefully be copied by Dublin''.

The report stated that the Irish approach to tourism development had

originally been local but was changed to a centrally-run industry by the

first Fianna Fail Government.

It added: ''It is vital that we change the way we develop and promote

Irish tourism. We need to adopt the approach for tourism development and

promotion which has been proved worldwide to be the most effective. It

is working very well in Scotland.''

Mr Tom Coffey, chief executive of the Dublin City Centre Business

Association which commissioned the report, said yesterday: ''We feel

that the idea of having local involvement is better than having

centralised, planned tourist boards. They do not work and they fail

because tourism can only be based on local people.''

The report's conclusions have been music to the ears of many of

Scotland's tourism directors, who are concerned that a more centralised

approach in the Scottish industry will alienate local trade members.