In 1999, Northern Ireland had fewer than 5,000 hotel bedrooms, and only a third of these were graded four-star or above. This included the new Hilton and Jurys, but there was no Radisson, Dalata, or Premier Inns, no Galgorm Collection or McKeever Hotels. The Waterfront Hall had just opened, but there was no Convention Centre, and no SSE Arena.
Such was the market failure after the Troubles, that to encourage new hotels, there were grants in excess of 30% available to developers.
In these inauspicious market conditions, the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation was born. As a trade body, it has been independent of all governments, both devolved and direct rule, and has “spoken truth to power” to give voice to the hopes and dreams of our private sector members.
Other private sector organisations have been generous in their support. Our trade suppliers, the breweries and food distributors played their part. When we devised our first manifesto, our “Blueprint for Tourism” in 1998, we had enormous help from (now Sir) David Fell and the Northern (now Danske) Bank, and from Stephen Kingon at the newly formed PriceWaterhouseCoopers (now PwC).
It took a while for Government to realise we were serious. The Causeway Visitor Centre burnt down in 2000, and was not reopened until 2012. It was a period of direct rule when Labour Government minister Ian Pearson ringfenced a fund for new capital investment in tourism infrastructure that proved the catalyst we needed. The “Signature Projects” were conceived as Titanic Belfast, the Walled City of Derry, the Giants Causeway and the Causeway Coastal Route, St Patrick and Christian Heritage, and the Mournes. These were selected as key drivers of future growth.
Devolved government was restored, and 2012 was selected as the year when we would tell the world what we had. “Our Time Our Place” was a year long celebration, book-ended by the arrival of the MTV Awards in 2011, and Derry City of Culture in 2013. We won the right to host the Irish Open, and then The Open for Royal Portrush. We attracted the Giro d’Italia, and we had a further year celebrating our local food and drink.
Our visitors liked what they saw. Visits have increased from 7.5 million in 1998 to 16.6 million by the most recent estimates, and this does not include 300,000 cruise liner passengers because they don’t stay overnight.
The number of hotel rooms has doubled. At the same time hotels have improved in quality to meet the expectations of international visitors. We have over delivered on our highest expectations from 1998, and are developing into a highly professional and sophisticated industrial sector. Ulster University has a super-abundance of candidates for its hospitality and tourism, its events management, marketing and culinary courses.
We are an increasingly key driver of overseas earnings into our economy, and the restored Government has acknowledged in the way in which it is developing its priorities the contribution we are making, with a sector income of £1.2 billion last year, and burgeoning employment prospects across the region, not only in hotels, but in visitor attractions, tour guiding, taxi driving, transport, retail, and events. Covid helped to unlock the previously hard to crack Republic of Ireland market, currently our fastest growing segment.
Our capacity for future growth (and we are still some way short of our potential, when we look at how tourism income is divided up across the island of Ireland) is in no small measure dependent on providing a greater number of bed spaces to visitors.
The private sector has shown evidence of its desire to fulfil this potential, and it is for continued persuasion by the NI Hotels Federation to set out the road blocks which exist. These include the institutional planning blockages, the need for transport infrastructure development, together with an ongoing commitment by government to support marketing and training, as well as an acknowledgement of our difficulties in competing against a much more advantageous VAT and rating system that our neighbours in the Republic enjoy.
Our visitors comment on the warmth of our welcome, the authenticity of what we have to offer, and the value for money proposition that we represent as a leisure destination.
Hotels play a central role in the delivery of these attributes. These are visitors whose comments make us feel good about ourselves, and so our prize is not merely an economic one, but a societal one as well.
- Howard Hastings is the founding chairman of the NIHF, whose Hospitality Exchange (www.hospitalityexchange.org.uk) takes place on October 15 & 16 in Crowne Plaza Belfast
