tourism

#Creationism to be included in the [#GiantsCauseway] exhibition, as a grant condition.

John Ó Néill on October 16, 2012, 5:16 pm

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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 within DETI and dated 9 November 2009, states that ‘I’ve amended draft to take on board NITB [Northern Ireland Tourist Board] comment re National Trust unwillingness …

“I think that Northern Ireland needs great cultural events for an international audience”

Pete Baker on August 28, 2012, 2:20 pm

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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 from London 2012 and the local Enniskillen council. “On the one hand, it’s a very tight budget for the diversity and scale of the program,” Mr. …

Oh les beaux jours!

Pete Baker on August 24, 2012, 3:06 pm

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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 Olympic Festival, and Fermanagh District Council, it’s promising to be “the world’s first annual festival to celebrate the work and influence of Nobel Prize-winning writer Samuel …

We’re looking for questions for Friday’s #DigitalLunch panel, now!!

Mick Fealty on August 15, 2012, 3:53 pm

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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 previous editions this week we can give you the URL where you will be able to watch the broadcast live, but also where (but you will …

“Mr Varadkar said Ireland and Britain could become a ‘mini-Schengen'”

Pete Baker on May 14, 2012, 7:53 pm

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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 forced to source one set of travel papers for the UK and a second set for th Republic. “This means that there are real opportunities to …

Snap, Craickle and Pop: The Controversy of Popular Gaelicisation

Of This Island on May 2, 2012, 10:11 am

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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 now the most quintessentially ‘Irish’ institution of them all is under intense academic scrutiny, the much celebrated notion of ‘the craic’ (and that’s before considering the …

“At present persons granted an Irish visa are not permitted to use that visa to travel to the UK.”

Pete Baker on April 23, 2012, 2:36 pm

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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 is one of her answers I discussed this issue with Hugo Swire, NIO Minister of State last month. The Republic of Ireland, ROI, introduced a visa …

#CATJRF: A property asset is much like any other asset…

Mick Fealty on February 20, 2012, 12:25 pm

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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 reasons. In my interview with Maurice Kinkead of the East Belfast Partnership talks about some of the blockages to transferring physical assets to community organisations. He …

POTD – Everyone wants to be Kate Winslet

Moochin Photoman on April 5, 2011, 7:56 am

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Moochin PhotomanPhotographer and visual artist based in Belfast. I have facilitated community based workshops with groups as diverse as visually impaired individuals in Dungannn, Travellers across Northern Ireland, Young Offenders and many community groups across Belfast. My work has exhibited extensively here in Northern Ireland in group and individual shows and has been shown in North America and i had my first solo international exhibition in New Zealand. I have been the recipient of a number of grants from the …

The Amelia Earhart mystery may soon be solved

Brian Walker on December 17, 2010, 8:58 pm

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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 her disappearance is finally solved, it should give a boost to the little local museum, currently closed. Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester …