In areas where the income derived from international tourism is critical to the success of the local economy, the crippling effects of the ongoing pandemic are most obvious. Northern Ireland’s renowned north coast is a prime example.

For many months, visitors were unable to visit the region’s fabulous golf courses and beaches or sightsee along its world-famous Atlantic shoreline and a plethora of big revenue-generating events, including the North-West 200 and the SuperCup NI tournament, were cancelled.

Speaking to LCN this week, the Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens, Alderman Mark Fielding, conceded that the local fallout from months of lockdown had been considerable:

‘The impact was very noticeable, we had lockdown in effect over the important Easter period, and there’s no doubt that was a big thing for us. I live in Portstewart so I saw exactly how we were affected.’

The council, which faced a debt burden of more than £70m in February this year, owns six caravan parks in the north coast area, including two large facilities in Portrush. All of these were closed when lockdown commenced in March and didn’t open again until early July. Mr Fielding reported that all the parks had been booked out for the remainder of the summer and that the weekends remained busy through September.

‘We did have a loss of revenue, our leisure centres were also all closed, but we have been very busy trying to recoup some of that since the facilities opened again,’ added the mayor.

‘We depend very much on tourism here, the north coast is Northern Ireland’s premier region, and the challenge is now for the hospitality sector and how they will cope through the winter…The council has now launched a marketing campaign designed to help local hospitality market their products to the NI and RoI audiences and we are working with hotels and restaurants to help them target key market sectors such as families.’

As for future prospects, Mr Fielding added:

‘I would like to be optimistic, but throughout the year we have not had our international tourists and we have really felt that. We now need to adapt to the changing situation. We need to be looking more closely at our own home market, there are lots of things here that people can still do, they can play golf on our great north coast courses, for example, and this is the kind of thing that we can continue to target going forward.’

The plight of Northern Ireland’s hospitality sector – and those business in the north coast and Glens of Antrim regions in particular – was cast in sharp contrast during August when the Shadow Chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, visited the area in the company of Hospitality Ulster (HU) Chief Executive, Colin Neill and Chairman, Danny Coyles, himself a licensee with premises in Portstewart.

During the trip, Ms Dodds engaged with a series of hospitality and tourism businesses and attended a round table lunch in Ballycastle at which she learned first-hand about the difficulties many of them are facing because of the pandemic. The lunch was attended by representatives of HU, the NI Hotels Federation, the NI Tourism Alliance and the Taste Causeway Collaborative Growth Network.

The shadow chancellor also visited the Giant’s Causeway after which she said that she had been ‘overwhelmed’ by the friendliness of the welcome she had received:

‘It’s also clear to me that the tourism industry here is really struggling in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. The UK government’s decision to withdraw wage support across the economy in one fell swoop will only make things worse,’ she added.

‘Many businesses are set to lose support before they’ve been able to get back on their feet. The chancellor must think twice before more jobs go in sectors like tourism and hospitality both in Northern Ireland and across the UK.’

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This magazine reported in February that the RBL intended to sell four of its ‘break centres’ across the UK in order to cut its costs. Other venues in Bridlington, Weston-Super-Mare and Southport are also now for sale.

At the time, the Legion said that the decision to dispose of the properties had ‘not been taken lightly’, but pointed to the increasing demand for complex support across a range of issues.

Bennet House, which is situated at Lansdowne Crescent, isn’t trading at present but is said to be in excellent condition with 15 en-suite bedrooms, a dining room, lounge, atrium, activities room, roof terrace, salon, guest laundry room and games room.

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The cash, announced by Economy Minister, Diane Dodds, has been earmarked to help boost demand among local consumers and help providers to deliver experiences that reflect Tourism NI’s Embrace a Giant Spirit campaign.

Successful applicants in the private or voluntary sectors can secure up to 80 per cent funding towards the costs of implementing improvements to their offerings. Public sector enterprises will be able to get up to 50 per cent of their costs reimbursed.

Mrs Dodds said on Monday that she believed the programme would help local tourism providers capitalise on their assets and connect more of them with the customers that they need. She urged all ‘forward-thinking, innovative providers’ to apply for the assistance.

Brian Connolly, markets and product experiences development officer with Tourism NI says that the new scheme comes at a critical time for the survival of many of Northern Ireland’s tourism businesses:

‘The programme will help tourism providers develop new and attractive experiences and excite visitors to explore all that Northern Ireland has to offer,’ he added. ‘Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the tourism sector and through this new programme, we want to support tourism experience providers in their journey to recovery.’

For full details of eligibility and details on how to apply, visit here.

The closing date for applications is September 25 at 3pm.

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