OVERSEAS visitors should be encouraged to fly into airports other than Dublin to help combat the growing imbalance between tourism spending in the east and west, according to a consultants' report prepared for the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC).

The report, which shows that overseas tourism is growing twice as fast in eastern areas, also calls for a number of other initiatives to ensure that the west can keep pace with the huge growth being experienced by Dublin and the east coast.

However, ITIC chairman Mr Eamonn McKeown stressed that the confederation was not attempting to persuade visitors to forsake Dublin and the east, but rather to encourage a more even spread of tourists.

"We are very anxious that this shouldn't be an east versus west issue it's not a begrudgery issue."

The 50 page report, which has already been sent to the Department of Tourism, also argues that Government and other financial support for a wide range of small scale tourism projects should be replaced by support for larger schemes or clusters of projects capable of "attracting new incremental holiday traffic".

According to the study, Ireland has outperformed most other tourist destinations over the past two years as overseas arrivals grew by 27 per cent to 4.2 million, earning £1.28 billion.

The number of holiday visitors was up 22 per cent to 2.1 million generating an estimated 2.5 million bednights last year.

Eastern areas enjoyed the bulk of the growth during the past two years, and this trend is expected to continue, according to the report's author, Mr Noel Sweeney of Tourism & Leisure Partners.

The most marked shift was in the British market as British holiday makers spent 28 per cent more nights in the east but 19 per cent fewer nights in the west over the past two years. The average length of stay has also shortened in recent years and the average length of car rentals has fallen.

The report identifies six factors which have influenced the regional spread of tourists:

. access transport mode and port of arrival;

. mobility within Ireland;

. length of stay;

. seasonality;

. growth in city tourism;

. and the marketing and promotion of holidays.

Due to the importance of access transport, investment in additional capacity in direct terra services to continental Europe should be encouraged, according to the report.

Selective incentives should be also introduced for disadvantaged areas, and the regional tourism plans should be revised to be more complementary and less regionally competitive.

The report calls for tourist marketing to concentrate on rural areas outside Dublin, which form the core of the country's image abroad. Dublin's success as a city destination could be further developed by promoting the capital separately, according to the report.