Top travel writers fly in to review Derry

Ciaran Doherty, Tourism Ireland (back row 4th right); Ian Woodley, BMI Regional (back row 4th left); Roy Devine, City of Derry Airport (back row 3rd left) and Odhran Dunne, Visit Derry (back row 2nd left) with GB journalists who arrived at the City of Derry airport on the inaugural BMI Regional London Stansted flight. Pic by Stephen Latimer.

The journalists from The Mirror, Daily Mail and The Independent among others, have a combined circulation of more than nine million readers.

They have been invited to the city as guests of Tourism Ireland, Tourism NI and Visit Derry.

During their stay they will take in a walking tour of Derry, and visit the Tower Museum, the Guildhall, the Walled City Brewery, the Museum of Free Derry, the Siege Museum, the Seamus Heaney Home Place and Mussenden Temple.

The aim of the visit is to highlight to their readers the ease of access from London to Derry, as well as the many things to see and do on a holiday here.

Julie Wakely, Tourism Ireland’s Deputy Head of Britain, said: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to invite these leading GB journalists, to experience for themselves some of the many interesting things to see and do here.

“Visits like this are an invaluable part of our overall promotional programme, helping us to get positive exposure for Northern Ireland through the media in Great Britain.”

She added: “The introduction of this new BMI Regional flight is wonderful news for tourism to Northern Ireland, and the North West in particular, and will certainly expand travel options for people living in and around London Stansted wishing to visit in 2017.

“We look forward to working with BMI Regional, to maximise the promotion of this new service.

“As an island, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated – they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism.

“Tourism Ireland is committed to working with BMI Regional and all our airline partners, through co-operative marketing, to drive demand for flights to Northern Ireland.”