Up to 2000 the country benefited from ten years of exceptional growth in the tourism industry, peaking with the generation of €4 billion in annual foreign revenue earnings and €1.2 billion in domestic expenditure per year. However, 2001 saw an end to this period of growth due to a number of factors with perhaps the most telling being those outside our direct control – the foot and mouth disease crisis and the incidents of 11 September. This change in fortunes has presented many challenges for the industry, but there may be a small silver lining to its decline – it has allowed us time and space to alter the direction of tourism policy.