NI Hotels Booming - In A Different Way

As memories of daily bomb attacks and deserted night-time Belfast streets patrolled by heavily armed troops recede into another era, it has emerged that hotels in Northern Ireland have had their best year ever.

The man who was at one time running the beleaguered Belfast Europa Hotel when it was taken into receivership - after the latest of dozens of IRA bomb attacks - and whose optimism about the future was shared only by the eventual owner of the hotel, Dr Billy Hastings, who invested several £millions in the then struggling city centre facility - has now got much better news to tell.

After earlier years of struggle to support an industry in 'terror turmoil', Michael Williamson, now Director of Hotel, Tourism and Leisure Consulting at ASM Horwath (pictured with the NI Tourism Minister Arlene Foster, serving-up the new report) has said the results of the report are the best he has seen in almost 15 years.

Announcing results of a survey that even those few committed individuals from the dark days of The Troubles could scarcely have believed possible, he said: "In financial performance terms, the industry now outperforms hotels in Dublin, one of the most dynamic markets in Europe over the past number of years.

"This can be regarded as a major transformation to an industry that was once considered the domain of only the brave or the foolhardy," he said.

He said that demand for hotel bedrooms outstripped supply in some areas like Belfast - a huge turnaround from when Mr Williamson featured on BBC TV news among the wreckage of the Europa Hotel - announcing his commitment to 'business as usual'.

The survey carried out by consultants ASM Horwath found that the increase in bed occupancy rates had been fuelled by overseas holidaymakers, short-break and business tourists.

The increase meant that hotels in Northern Ireland outperformed all regions in the Republic in financial terms.

Unsurprisingly, NI Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has welcomed the findings.

She said the local hotel industry should maximize the contribution that tourism can make to the economy.

(BMcC)