The tourist industry is awaiting with some trepidation the outcome of a judicial review being sought by North American tour operators to unravel the deal by which a majority stake in Gulliver, the central reservations system, was sold to Killorglin-based FEXCO.

The tour operators are complaining that the vendors, Bord Failte and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, sold Gulliver to a competitor, as FEXCO has a small tour operation business called Go Ireland. FEXCO says Go Ireland does simple packages like walking and cycling tours of Kerry, which are of no interest to the big operators. But the latter argue that Go Ireland, while now small, might become very big if it has exclusive access to the tourist boards' booking and information system - and their websites.

This is one to watch.