Fáilte Ireland is to set up a new unit to act as a watchdog over the environment in the interest of tourists.
A tourism industry meeting in Killarney, Co Kerry, heard that the unit, which will liaise with bodies such as An Taisce, the Heritage Council, and the Environmental Protection Agency, will focus on planning and on policy.
"We will be taking a much more strident attitude in the future in terms of the physical environment," Mr Malcolm Connolly, of Fáilte Ireland, told the meeting which was opened by the Minister for Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.
The country's unspoilt environment was one of the most important attractions for overseas visitors, surveys had shown.
The unit was being set up to form policies on issues such as fish farms and wind energy and would go before the Fáilte board for approval.
The meeting also heard that the growth in ownership if second homes by Irish people here and abroad was eating into the number of nights spent in hotels in places such as Kerry and Donegal. In general B&Bs, guesthouses and the smaller hotels, especially in rural areas, showed a continuing decline in business.
With cheaper air fares facilitating short breaks, foreign visitors tended to stay in cities or large urban towns, said Mr Shaun Quinn, Fáilte Ireland's chief executive. However, the domestic market, which was vitally important for the south-west, had also changed. For 2005, a different picture from that of the thatched cottage would be used to attract the new Irish market, he added.
There were several calls for a greater spread of tourists outside the Dublin and east coast area.
"At a time of overall national tourism growth, we cannot ignore nor be complacent about the unbalanced spread of that growth, with Dublin and the east and urban centres gaining most, and the performance in the other regions being mixed, especially along the western seaboard," said Mr O'Donoghue.