tourism
The Sad State of North Belfast’s Riverside
Tweet A bright, cold, day earlier this week saw me head out for a constitutional along what is now rather a pleasant route along the banks of the Lagan past the Odyssey and up to the Titanic Museum. With the hazy afternoon sun making the East Belfast bank of the river look particularly pretty, and [...] more »
And at Belfast City Airport: “Joy to the world…”
Tweet I’m more of an Aldergrove man myself these days, but this is just, well, nice… more »
Expect an influx of social energisers and culturally curious tourists in 2013 … as well as the G8 leaders
Tweet Slugger readers in Great Britain who fall into the marketing segments of “social energisers” and “culturally curious” should expect to see adverts tempting them across the shuck Irish Sea in 2013 to “explore the landscapes, history and culture we have on offer”. social energisers = 18-34, no kids; heavy social networkers; often living in [...] more »
The Gathering: Why isn’t NI getting any of this #Diasporic action…
Tweet Nice report from Al Jazeera… I’ll let it speak for itself… more »
For what is Northern Ireland going to be known in 2013?
Tweet As NI2012 Our Place Our Time comes to a halt, does Northern Ireland Tourist Board have a fight on its hands to maintain this year’s impetus? Competition comes from Tourism Ireland’s The Gathering (which Tourism Minister Arlene Foster made no mention of in her party conference speech at the weekend) not to mention VisitScotland’s [...] more »
#Creationism to be included in the [#GiantsCauseway] exhibition, as a grant condition.
Tweet The British Humanist Association is reporting that an FOI request by Andew Muir of the Alliance Party suggests that the origin of the creationist content in the National Trusts’ Giant’s Causeway exhibit can be traced back to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment: … an email uncovered by the Alliance Party, from a civil servant [...] more »
“I think that Northern Ireland needs great cultural events for an international audience”
Tweet The Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival makes the pages of the New York Times. From the New York Times article The Happy Days festival has a budget of £300,000 (about $474,400), of which the greatest part comes from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, with smaller contributions [...] more »
Oh les beaux jours!
Tweet As the Irish Times notes, the inaugural five-day Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival is under way. Launched yesterday by the Northern Ireland Tourism Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, as part of the NI2012 “Our time, our place” programme. Funded by the NI Tourist Board, Arts Council of NI National Lottery funds, the London 2012 [...] more »
We’re looking for questions for Friday’s #DigitalLunch panel, now!!
Tweet A quick heads up on Friday’s #DigitalLunch session on Google Plus… This week we ask how digital is affecting tourism? And not just at home, but globally. To that end we hope to have guests from as far apart as a Caracas and east Africa, encompassing industry practitioners and travel writers. In contrast to [...] more »
“Mr Varadkar said Ireland and Britain could become a ‘mini-Schengen’”
Tweet The Irish Times reports some odd comments by the Irish Government Tourism and Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar, at a meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly at Leinster House in Dublin. Odd, that is, given what we already know. From the Irish Times report Mr Varadkar said tourists and business visitors should not be [...] more »
Snap, Craickle and Pop: The Controversy of Popular Gaelicisation
Tweet Ever since Ireland was told that the black stuff might not be Irish, but rather a porter stout from Covent Garden, the country has descended into a frantic state of uncertain soul-searching and impassioned reflection to clarify once and for all what is actually ‘Irish’ (potatoes, Gaelic Storm, and Saint Patrick aside). But [...] more »
“At present persons granted an Irish visa are not permitted to use that visa to travel to the UK.”
Tweet Not that we didn’t already know that… However, the Northern Ireland Tourism Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, fielded a number of NI Assembly questions back in Feb/March on the issue of the Irish Government’s “Visa Waiver Scheme for nationals of 16 countries who hold a valid visa for entry into the United Kingdom.” Here [...] more »
#CATJRF: A property asset is much like any other asset…
Tweet Most prominent examples of asset transfer in Northern Ireland tend to be to ‘stewards’, i.e. where ownership is retained by a statutory sector landlord leaving the group to concentrate on delivering community services. Government in Northern Ireland has been traditionally shy of transferring the title to pre existing physical assets, for a range of understandable [...] more »
The Amelia Earhart mystery may soon be solved
Tweet Ever eager to take a share of wider fame, the Derry heritage industry will be as keen as anyone to learn the verdict of the tests on a sliver of bone found off Kiribati. Her story shows that Derry did not quite enjoy a monopoly of the famous American aviator but if the riddle of [...] more »
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Books
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Have we Learned our own Lessons? Book Review of John Brewer’s Peace Processes
Tweet Northern Ireland’s peace process has been promoted as an international success story. The Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs has its Conflict Resolution Unit, which aims to disseminate the ‘lessons’ of the Northern Ireland peace process. And some of the prominent players in our peace process have travelled abroad to other troubled spots to share [...] read our review »
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“Unionism Decayed 1997-2007″ by David Vance: book review
Tweet I initially wrote this when the book was first published three years ago; whilst certain elements of it now sound dated, its basic premise that the period of 1997-2007 was a period of irreversible decay for Northern Irish Unionism can still be argued as a valid opinion. My own feeling is that it did [...] read our review » -
What Ireland did right (and what it needs to do)…
Tweet It is difficult to believe now that one country recently sent 19 delegations to Ireland to study how well our economy was managed. The revelation that our model of economic management featured positively in political and economic discussion in countries including Estonia, Greece and Scotland may also come as a surprise. As we survey [...] read our review »
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