Sinn Féin Councillor Sandra Duffy has welcomed the ‘astounding’ performance of the local tourism sector which has seen a huge increase in visitor numbers and spend.

Colr. Duffy, who chairs the council’s Business and Culture committee, was commenting after members were updated on the latest encouraging figures.

She said: “It's astounding that the city and district has seen visitor spend increase by 87% to £93.6 million, overnight trips have grown by 41% to almost 400,000, and tourism employment increased by 12% to 5,230 jobs.

“The fact that overnight stays here increased by more than four times the North’s average of 9%, is reflective that the sub-regional approach being pursued by our current Minister for the Economy Caoimhe Archibald is bearing fruit with her focus on the development of the peace tourism sector and the positioning of Derry as the hub between the Wild Atlantic Way and Causeway coastal route.

placeholder image — Sinn Féin councillor Sandra Duffy.

“We are ambitious for more and the onset of the new DNA Museum, made possible through the City Deal and Strategic Growth funding allocated by Conor Murphy as Finance Minister, will be an absolute game changer for the tourist economy when taken in tandem with our existing core tourism.

“What is now required is a renewed focus on developing our rural tourism offering, increasing our night time economy offering, increasing the resources available to market the city and district globally and increasing connectivity. The huge uplift in users of City of Derry airport, including the restoring of the Derry to Dublin flight, will make a massive contribution to this and justifies this council's decision to maintain support for the airport when some were advocating its closure.”