Debate contribution: All-Ireland Tourism

Debate contribution by Mr Doug Beattie MC on 18 June 2024.

MLA

Mr Doug Beattie MC

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

18 June 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

All-Ireland Tourism

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4497305

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will start by apologising for missing topical questions to the Minister for Communities. My timing was just pretty shoddy. The motion and the DUP's amendment No 1 are good, and I have no issue with Sinn Féin's amendment No 2 either. The debate brings me back to my childhood, when I used to holiday on the lakes in Fermanagh with my mother and father. It is a good subject to discuss. We are all fortunate to live on this island, be that in Ireland or Northern Ireland. We have a rich heritage, history and culture. The motion and the amendments mention some of the wonderful tourist attractions that we have that draw people here from across the British Isles and from across the world: the Wild Atlantic Way; the Causeway coastal route; the walled maiden city of Londonderry; Fermanagh and Tyrone in the Hidden Heartlands; and Armagh and Down in the Ancient East. Those are all wonderful things that make us stand out. We have exceptional golf courses, lakes and mountains. We have the Titanic museum and superb hospitality, food, sporting events and leisure activities. All the ingredients are there, but we just need a plan. I will concentrate on three elements, and I hope that people will not mind if I concentrate on Northern Ireland, because it is sometimes missed when we look at the whole, but it is part of the whole. I visited the Tourism Ireland office in New York just after COVID restrictions had started to ease. Its representatives talked about the routes between North America and Ireland reopening. Those routes are vital to tourism, but all go into the Republic of Ireland and not Northern Ireland. It is key that we try, through our tourism strategy, to get more direct routes from the United States and the rest of North America into Northern Ireland. There has been much talk about US pre-clearance for Northern Ireland. That would be an absolute game changer for us, although I acknowledge that it is a difficult issue to resolve.

Yes.

I am glad that you do not disagree, and —

— I am glad that you are a person of aspiration. I am also a person of aspiration, so I will keep that aspiration. We should still aim to get in long-haul routes. I still think that getting US pre-clearance is important, however. Electronic travel authorisation is an absolute obstacle to tourism, without a shadow of a doubt. If it were gone, that would be by far the best outcome for everybody. We all know that. I attended the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce mission brief on business growth, however, and it outlined how the ETA is a real issue and said, as the DUP has said, that we could create a five-day waiver for movement, including tourists and tour operators, by working with the Irish Government to create a mobility task force for the island of Ireland. The five-day waiver is not ideal, but, as the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce said, it is a solution to the problem that has been put in front of us. Those are two issues: direct flights from North America and the ETA, to which we need to come up with sensible solutions if we are not able to get rid of it. However, I concede that, as the motion states, getting rid of it is the best thing to do. The last issue that I would like to raise is our hospitality sector. There is no point in having all those things if we do not focus on our hospitality sector. Our hospitality sector is part of the draw to get people to come to this part of the island and across the whole of the island, and it will help to create an economic bounce. However, to fully staff the sector, we need controlled migration. That means working to reduce the minimum salary threshold from £38,000 to something more akin to the average wage here, which is £32,000. What we are basically saying at this time is that those key people whom we need to come and work in our hospitality sector cannot come here because they cannot earn £38,000. Our average wage is around £32,000. We are therefore being priced out. To allow Northern Ireland to compete in an all-island tourism strategy, we must provide the tools that give our hospitality and tourism businesses a level playing field. Reducing VAT for hospitality and tourism to 13·5%, which is in line with what they have in Ireland, would provide a huge opportunity for the industry here. It is OK to have an all-Ireland strategy, but there must be a degree of harmonisation, and reducing VAT for the hospitality sector could help us with that harmonisation. We have to look at what is in front of us. The ETA issue is in front of us, and we have to deal with it. The DUP's amendment provides a solution, which is the one that the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce gave us as well, although it is not ideal. Lastly, it is about the aspiration of direct routes from North America to Northern Ireland and US pre-clearance for those leaving Northern Ireland to go to North America. Those may be aspirations, but let us think big, not small.

887 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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