For the last 25 years, the words Northern Ireland have conjured up images of bombed-out buildings and grieving families.
Now, with the cease-fire entering its eighth month, tourism officials here are trying to sell the province as a vacation destination.
Realizing that most Western travelers view a visit to Belfast as about as inviting as a stopover in Sarajevo, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board is working overtime to lure tourists to its emerald shores.
Rushing to capitalize on the cease-fire, the NITB has launched a joint marketing campaign with its Dublin counterpart. The $10 million program, which is promoting the island as a whole, is targeting tourists from Great Britain, Germany, France and the United States.
At least one-fifth of that sum will go toward attracting North America’s large Irish-American community, as well as golf and fishing enthusiasts. Of the 1.3 million visitors to Northern Ireland last year, just 54,000 hailed from the States.
In truth, Northern Ireland has much to offer tourists. Boasting some of the best golf courses and fishing spots in the world, the province offers unspoiled landscapes dotted with quaint cottages and meandering rivers.
While Belfast and Londonderry are no beauties, they do offer good dining, pubs and other night life. With assistance from the European Community and other sources, the war-weary cities are slowly getting back on their feet. Sites once destroyed by terrorist bombs are being transformed into shopping malls and convention centers, and the feeling on the street is noticeably upbeat.
In an attempt to woo visitors of Irish descent, the government has established a number of computerized centers where people can search for their roots. Depending on tourists’ needs, the centers can do a thorough genealogical search or serve as a starting point for do-it-yourself genealogists.
Already, industry insiders report a marked increase in the number of visitors. Hotel occupancy rates have jumped more than 10 percent, and once-quiet restaurants and nightspots are buzzing with activity.
At the moment, the majority of newcomers hail from the Irish Republic, according to the Tourist Board.
“We’ve seen an influx of people, especially from the south,” said NITB spokesman Joris Minne. “Just after the cease-fire began, people suddenly came up north to do their Christmas shopping and to get away for the weekend, just like they did before the Troubles.”
Local people use the term “Troubles” to describe a quarter-century of sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants.
If the number of inquiries is any indication, 1995 could be a bumper year for tourists. In January alone, the Belfast Tourist Information Center fielded 16,000 inquiries, a 95 percent increase from the same period last year. In Dublin, the number was 5,694, up 208 percent.
Attracting foreigners could be difficult, officials concede, because most tour operators set their 1995 itineraries well before the cease-fire. Prior to mid-October, when the truce went into effect, most tour operators considered Belfast and Londonderry war zones, not holiday destinations.
“Without a doubt, the Troubles have been the greatest obstacle in selling Northern Ireland as a tourist spot,” Minne said. “How do you sell a country that has been in the news almost every day for 25 years?”
Tourism accounted for just $183 million–about 3 percent–of the province’s 1994 Gross National Product.
Officials here, though cautiously optimistic, would rather not speculate. “It’s difficult to forecast trends, given the situation. If pressed, I would predict a 3 to 5 percent rate of industry growth in 1995. On a long-term basis, if the cease-fire continues, we’re hoping for an additional 1 million visitors by the year 2000,” Minne said.
That could mean up to 20,000 new jobs, he adds.
In addition to the Hilton and Radisson chains, which had planned new hotels way before the laying down of arms, “several other hotels have expressed interest,” Minne said. He declined to give specifics.
To meet the challenge, hoteliers and restaurateurs, tour operators and travel agents, are revving into high gear.
“Until the cease-fire, virtually all of my work involved outgoing tourism,” said Doreen McKenzie, APTA chairman for Northern Ireland. “Now, for the first time, I’m being asked to arrange accommodations for incoming tourists, as well as locals wishing to take a holiday within the republic.”
But if Northern Ireland hopes to compete with other destinations, asserts magazine editor Maggie Caul, it will have to improve its service and facilities.
“Twenty-five years of violence have made us rather complacent. Traditionally, people said, `Why provide top quality when so few tourists are here demanding it?’ To compete, we’ll have to provide the level of services people have learned to expect in places like the U.S. We need better restaurants and hotels for a start,” she said.
John Tomer, general manager of the oft-bombed Europa Hotel, balks at such criticism.
“I admit that in some professional areas, we may not be 100 percent. But here in Belfast, we have the one thing any tourism industry requires: a genuine inbred willingness to serve and be of assistance. Our attitude toward customers makes up for any failings.”
Though industry personnel obviously yearn for tourists, it is peace–first and foremost–that is on their minds.
“If the peace process were to fail,” said Minne, “it would be a blow not only to tourism, but to all the people of Northern Ireland.”
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For more information, contact: Northern Ireland Tourist Board, 551 5th Ave., Suite 701, New York, N.Y.; 800-326-0036 or 212-922-0101.
