One of the country's largest hotel groups has warned of a potential downturn in the domestic tourism sector unless Ireland's label of an expensive overseas destination is redressed.

Dunne Group (DG) Hotels, which comprises seven established owner managed hotels, claims that the huge increase in the number of accommodation providers across the country has not led to a corresponding drop in room rates.

The Group also says that the continued weakening of the US Dollar and strengthening of the Euro, coupled with the emergence of cheaper holiday destinations, is leading to a decrease in the number of American visitors to Ireland.

Mr Christy Power, Commercial Director, DG Hotels, said: "The fact of the matter is that increasing numbers of price-conscious American tourists are deciding to ditch stays in Ireland in favour of cheaper overseas destinations.

"Central Statistics Office figures for August revealed that trips to Ireland from the US decreased by 4,100 compared to the same period last year. The figures also showed that high-spending US visitors, that once dominated overall tourism numbers to Ireland, are being replaced by traditionally lower-spending tourists from Britain and other European countries. The Irish tourist sector simply cannot sustain its growth if this decline in US visitor numbers is to continue."

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The Irish hospitality sector needs to take account of the situation by presenting Ireland as a more affordable tourist destination for prospective American visitors.

Mr Power continued: "We cannot afford to jeopardise Ireland's attractiveness as a tourist destination at a time when economists are issuing almost daily warnings of a dramatic economic slowdown. The provision of attractive room rates would help strengthen the considerable efforts of regional and national tourism promotional agencies in showcasing Ireland to overseas markets, and thus result in long-term benefits for the entire domestic sector."

Mr Power indicated that the introduction of more attractive room rates would also help reverse a growing situation whereby visitors are staying in Ireland for shorter periods of time.

Dunne Group (DG) Hotels has announced that it will launch a website promotion on November 1 of 5000 hotels rooms at €19 each. All bookings must be made on www.dghotels.com prior to November 30 while the promotion applies to the period November 1 2007 to March 31 2008.

Dunne Group (DG) Hotels comprises seven hotels, including Patrick Punch’s and The Two Mile Inn (Limerick), The Woodstock (Ennis) The Fitzwilton (Waterford), The Clybaun (Galway), The Ridgepool (Ballina), and the Shannon Shamrock (Bunratty).

(GK/JM)