Derry tourism plans to exploit 'massive opportunites'
Derry's official tourist body has said it will be a challenging year for tourism in the city but massive opportunities exist to increase visitor numbers
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Plans were revealed this week by Derry City Council to help boost the city's economy by eight per cent each year until 2011.
Launching the Tourism Strategy and Action Plan this week, Mayor of Derry Gerard Diver said the plan was ambitious but achievable and would increase revenue from 1.9m to 2.5m in 2011.
He said: "Over the next three years we aim to grow visitor numbers by eight per cent per annum, sustain and grow the 3,500 full-time jobs supported by local tourism."
Odhran Dunne, from the Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau (DVCB), said tourism would focus on home markets due to the current weak value of the pound sterling.
He said: "(We] recognise that 2009 will be a challenging year for tourism not just for the island of Ireland but globally.
However, the industry is resilient and we believe that massive opportunities exist in our closer to home markets - NI, ROI and GB for 2009, given the current relatively weak value of sterling against the Euro.
We are confident that the city and Northern Ireland are well positioned to offer great value for money to its visitors, comparable with any tourism destination in Western Europe."
Mr Dunne said tourism in Derry was an extremely important sector which generated up to 30m annually to the local economy. He said: "The DVCB is confident that tourism will continue to show increased growth going forward. Indeed hotels in the area have reported an increase of three per cent in occupancy levels to 56 per cent for the first four months of the year comparable with 2008 with much of this attributed to increased leisure business from the closer to home markets."
Speaking at the launch of the plan this week, Valerie Watts, Derry City Council's Town Clerk and Chief Executive, said the strategy acknowledged underperformance in visitor numbers in the city but also identified huge potential.
She said: "This strategy clearly identifies the opportunities that exist for us to rise to the challenge of providing an experience that meets the needs of a more discerning consumer who wants a high value, high quality and welcoming experience in this city and region. I believe that by working collectively on the 70 or so actions identified in the strategy we can achieve a world-class visitor destination."
More than 77,000 tourists visited the tourist information centre last year with international tourists accounting for the highest percentage of business. Visitors from Europe and Great Britain accounted for 27 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
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Weather for Derry
Saturday 26 May 2012
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