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.
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