The year 2002 has been a difficult one for Irish tourism. It has been characterised by a marked shortening in the booking period for holidays. This has made it difficult for operators to predict levels of business from month to month. That, in turn, led to a high and understandable level of uncertainty in the trade. The latest available official tourism and travel statistics from the CSO relate to the first quarter of 2002. These show an increase in the total number of overseas visitors of 10.3% on the same period last year with foreign revenue earnings up 5.8%. These are good figures but should be treated with a degree of caution given that first quarter business generally accounts for less than 20% of total annual visitor numbers. I understand that figures for the second quarter are scheduled to be published by the CSO by the end of this month. These may be expected to show a certain softening of demand, due to a number of factors – the so-called World Cup effect, political instability internationally, economic uncertainty in Germany and the USA and a marked reduction in airline capacity on American routes. The poor weather over the summer months also had a negative impact on the British and domestic markets.