B&B bookings plummet by 50 per cent in city

Back in 2007 there were 932 tourist accommodation bookings made through the Foyle Street office. But this fell to 802 in 2008, to 562 in 2009, to 382 in 2010, before a marginal recovery to 467 last year.

Worryingly, the exploitation of tourist pounds is one of the key lynchpins in Derry City Council’s strategy for economic regeneration.

The local authority estimates that 500k people visit the city every year, generating roughly £25m in revenue and supporting 3,500 full time jobs.

But now Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has revealed that across the North West B&B and hotel bookings at local tourist offices are down.

In Limavady there were 62 bookings in 2009 but last year there were just two.

And in Strabane there were 10 in 2007 but none in 2010 and 2011.

Mrs Foster said the figures referred to: “The number of tourist accommodation bookings made by networked Tourist Information Centres (TICs), in each of the last five years, broken down by council area.” The figures refer only to bookings made via TICs.