Paul O'Toole's office is a model of efficiency. There's not a stray piece of paper in sight. On the bookshelf, an atlas jostles for attention with other titles such as 'Swedish Landscapes', and a book on Shanghai (it's twinned with Cork).

Indeed, China is one of the next targets for the Tourism Ireland chief executive, as he attempts to lure a new moneyed class from the country to Ireland.

"We're not targeting high volume, but certainly high-spending tourists," he says, pointing out that India is also being included in the agency's plans to broaden the consumer base of visitors to Ireland, north and south.

Higher oil prices, a stronger euro and an uncertain economic climate in the US could hit tourist growth from North America this year, despite the advent of Open Skies that will liberalise air travel between Europe and the United States. The combination of factors provide a "challenge" for 2008, according to O'Toole. And there's a lot to live up to.

Last year was a record one for Ireland, with over 9.1m foreign visitors coming to the island, 7.8m of those to the Republic. They generated about €4.6bn in revenue. Mainland European countries including France, Spain and Italy performed above expectations, while figures from Britain, the most important market for the Republic, were up only marginally, with 4.9m tourists coming to the island.

"The number of holidaymakers from Britain grew by about 6pc, but the so-called 'visiting friends and relatives' segment was the biggest challenge in 2007," explains O'Toole.

That segment consists of Irish or British people visiting friends and family in Ireland, and O'Toole postulates that instead of such visitors coming perhaps four times a year, they may now only be coming three times.

"That put pressure on the overall market."

So, is this a trend that will become more evident in 2008?

"The surge of the euro against sterling makes it about 6pc more expensive for British visitors now," he says. "Now, that's a European issue, not just an Irish one, and when you add in a softening of consumer confidence in Britain, it means that people are just that little bit more under pressure on their discretionary spending, so holidaymaking will come under scrutiny. We're not pessimistic about this year's figures from Britain, but we're not targeting it for significant growth."

O'Toole has previously stated that service levels in Ireland have been slightly eroded, with the traditional Irish welcome having waned. But tourist surveys, he says, still show that most visitors perceive the "basic attributes" of Irishness to be evident.

He adds that most recount visits that exceed their expectations.

"But maybe that means that we need to raise the bar. In 2008 we'll be developing a new campaign that will focus around the idea of Ireland being the island of unique character and characters."

For those who may baulk at the idea of Ireland being marketed abroad as the land of twee (and the new campaign won't be doing that), the John Hind postcard image of the country remarkably retains a resonance for many overseas visitors, particularly those from the US. It's not unusual even today to see US tourists enquiring on major travel sites whether they can use credit and debit cards in Ireland, underlining the latent strength of stereotypical images.

"We're going to bring in more Irish, and non-Irish people into our campaigns," explains O'Toole. "We would have previously focused on what is perceived to be a southern Irish perspective. The story of Northern Ireland and its different traditions should from now on be more easily expressed with the new campaign, for instance."

Reassurance will be a key message, he says. Not the type you might expect, for instance, that the violence that dogged the North for decades has ended. It's far more basic than that.

"It will be that there are good hotels and good food," says O'Toole. "People's preconceptions can be very deep-rooted."

He admits though, that this year will be a tougher one. He applauds the Aer Lingus decision to launch new routes to the US, such as to San Francisco and Washington, but has no illusions that Ireland will face competition for in-bound traffic once Open Skies becomes fully operational.

"This will benefit Ireland, but there will be some short-term issues in relation to carriers' availability of aircraft, for instance," says O'Toole. "The North American market in 2008 will be a bit of a mixed bag, but research says that the demand among North Americans to visit Ireland is strong. The challenges are the dollar weakness when people arrive here, and the fact that consumer sentiment in the US isn't as good as it could be."

He admits that while Dublin and the east of the country have been doing well in attracting US visitors, the advent of Open Skies this March represents a "period of transition" for Shannon and the west of Ireland.

Already Shannon has had to suffer the withdrawal of its Heathrow route by Aer Lingus, but O'Toole believes that the airport does have a future.

"We need to put in place campaigns that remind Americans of the appeal of the west of Ireland. During peak months demand will remain strong for Shannon, but the pressure will be on the off-peak. We're going to have to be imaginative in how we try to create demand during those months."

At least the marketing coffers are swelling. Last year the government allocated €335m under the National Development Plan towards the international marketing of Ireland until 2013.

Tourism Ireland has also recently appointed a company in Dubai to represent its interests in the Gulf, but as with its move to China and India, this is viewed as a long-term play.

And where will O'Toole be spending his holidays this year?

"We'll have a few days in Westport and then France for the sun fix."

- John Mulligan