Minister urges people to ‘rediscover’ NI

Enterprise Minister Sir Reg Empey has spoken out about the need to encourage people in Northern Ireland to ‘rediscover our country’ and what it has to offer everyone in terms of tourism.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of a new initiative to encourage shoppers across the province to take a break at home this summer. The move will see all 33 Tesco stores across the province displaying NI Tourist Board (NITB) literature, in a bid to improve domestic tourism revenue for the next few months, while a special poster has been designed to support the drive. The promotion will initially run for four weeks.

During a visit to the company’s Knocknagoney outlet, Sir Reg praised Tesco for their initiative in attempting to redress the damage caused by foot-and-mouth disease to the tourism industry and for its willingness to make store space available for the provision of tourist information.

He said: "Domestic tourism contributes approximately £60 million annually to the local economy and, this year above all, plays an important part in the overall tourism sector. I hope that people will take the opportunity, while shopping, to look at the brochures and see the vast range of holiday opportunities available in Northern Ireland.

Richard Baker, Stores Director of Tesco Northern Ireland said: "We are delighted to be part of this joint initiative with NITB. Given our extensive business across Northern Ireland, we are very aware of the difficulties caused for many industry sectors by the foot and mouth situation. Our stores are an ideal outlet for the brochures, which will hopefully stimulate leisure and tourism business." (CL)