Tourism is a massive subject in Northern Ireland. It’s a news topic almost every day. It’s our economic future and in a sense ‘saviour’. Public policy is geared towards it, bringing much needed inward investment. Hotels are growing up all over the place (well in greater Belfast at least). Which is why this YouGov poll took me by surprise.
From a sample of 8,000 people surveyed across the UK, Belfast is bottom of the list of UK cities they have visited, equal with Sunderland. Twice as many people have been to the hotspots of Leicester, Norwich and Coventry.
We do have the added disadvantage of people having to take a ferry or a flight to get here. And of course a generation or two of ‘bad news’. But it does make you wonder if the weekly diet of pro-tourism publicity is working out in reality.
(NB: It is a pity that the Republic of Ireland isn’t included in the survey, as the comparable stats for Dublin would be really interesting)
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