The Sunday Business Post

It is widely recognised that tourism is an important facet of the economy of this country, to the extent that the business of welcoming, catering for and servicing visitors is described by the misnomer `the tourist industry'.Anything that generates money soon becomes an industry -- hence the `music industry' or `leisure industry'. To strike a balance between commercialising an asset to create livelihoods, and destroying or damaging it so that it is no longer attractive or useful, is a difficult task. The very act of regarding tourism as an industry -- as an unlimited production line which will yield wealth and jobs carries this danger, especially with regard to Ireland's most precious asset, its landscape.