Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world and has been on a continuous growth track for years. That growth was somewhat derailed in 2001 for obvious reasons, but if we can surmount the current period of international political uncertainty, there is every likelihood that global tourism will resume its upward trend. Irish tourism has also performed strongly over the past ten years or so. For much of the 1990s it was one of the best performing tourism sectors in the OECD and a star performer among the northern European tourism destinations. Tourism is now one of our major economic sectors. Recent economic studies suggest that it accounts for approximately 5.4% of annual GNP. It generates approximately €4 billion in foreign earnings and approximately €1.2 billion from domestic tourism. The industry supports approximately one in every 12 jobs in the economy.