The group's chief executive Martin Dalby has pinpointed Ireland, north or south, as its next location and he is known to have been looking at central Ireland .

One possibility is a location in the border area such as the Fermanagh lakelands.

Fermanagh is already a major European boating and fishing favourite, and would be an ideal setting for a Center Parcs development.

Center Parcs is due to open its next UK outlet at Woburn on the Duke of Bedford's estate in 2010, the total cost being £200m.

Mr Dalby said the opening of its fifth site, at Woburn, would effectively complete the company's geographical spread in Britain.

This, he said, made Ireland an obvious next step.

"Ireland is interesting and could well be our next location, although given the size of the population it would probably be two-thirds the size of our current sites", he said.

"We've had some discussions over the last three or four years and made some contacts, but that's all. We need to get some traction on our fifth site first".

Fermanagh — with its big stretches of open water and forests — has always been a popular destination for German, French and Dutch holidaymakers.

Tourism Ireland is already actively targeting the GB market in a bid to boost tourist numbers in the region.

A Center Parcs spokesman told Business Telegraph that any plans for Ireland would depend on how successful Woburn was after it opened in 2010-2011.

The £200m Woburn project was granted planning permission in September. Although it is being built in Green Belt its environmental approach attracted support from Friends of the Earth, with 500,000 trees being planted there in the first five years, as well as creating 1,500 jobs.

Center Parcs UK is controlled by the giant American property investment and buy-out company, the Blackstone Group.