ONE of Ireland's best known architects has issued a wake up call to the north's hospitality sector which he said is "way behind" on providing what present day tourists expect.
Hugh Wallace specialises in the designs of hotels and holiday accommodation.
In a stinging analysis of the leisure sector, Mr Wallace said Northern Ireland's network of hundreds of bed and breakfasts would affectively "disappear overnight" if it doesn't keep up with modern trends.
And he said said the tourism sector north of the border was failing to holiday makers from the Republic.
"They know nothing about you," he said.
He was speaking however, as new statistics showed the hotel industry in Belfast had seen occupancy rates rise faster than the rest of the UK over the past six months.
Mr Wallace is a regular visitor to Northern Ireland were he is involved in projects including the new boutique Bedford Hotel in Belfast city centre and Millbrook Lodge in Ballynahinch.
On the current hotel offering, he told the Irish News: "You're nowhere near it".
"I just think you have something amazing and nobody down south knows anything about you. That's really bizarre.
"It's 96 miles up the road and people just don't know about it. You have the most amazing countryside and hotels need to gear themselves up in terms of quality.
"Everything stopped in 2008 and nothing got refurbished. Unfortunately it is now 10 years on and therefore the product isn't available in Northern Ireland to meet the demand.
"The other thing that is fascinating is the number of bed and breakfasts is still very high and that to me shows the issue of hotels.
"There is something like 580 which is quite extraordinary. It is completely disproportionate.
"Their business is going to disappear overnight because of Airbnb and I don't think the industry has grasped the implications of that."
He said many living in the Republic had a perception "that the only bit of Northern Ireland that's fabulous is up around the Giants Causeway".
"But because I'm working up here now, I travel around a lot, all of a sudden I'm going, isn't that amazing?
"You have the fundamentals right here. You have the Titanic Quarter and Titanic Belfast is an amazing asset to have.
"But the city itself is still a bit behind so there's vacant lots and sites everywhere."
According to the most recent official statistics, more people travel for an overnight stay in Northern Ireland from England than the Republic.
And the numbers coming north of the border fell by 3 per cent in 2014 compared to the previous year with around 400,000 trips made.
Meanwhile, a report from business advisers PwC found occupancy levels in Belfast's hotels increased from 75 per cent to 79.3 per cent over the first half of 2015.
In the first half of the year, Belfast enjoyed the second highest occupancy increase after Birmingham - with Belfast levels increasing well above larger cities including London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Belfast hotels also performed well when measured by Revenues Per Available Room, which showed a 15.8 per cent increase in the first six months of this year over the same period in 2014 - which was also 15 per cent up on the first half of 2013.
The increase in revenue across Belfast hotels in the first half of this year was more than three times the UK average.
Martin O'Hanlon, PwC Northern Ireland partner, said: "Belfast may not be achieving the annual daily rate (ADR) of some GB city hotels, but growth is steady, the gap is closing and we see no reason why that should not continue."
