McQuillan questions personal safety warning

In the advertisement, which was carried in last Friday’s Sun newspaper, readers are offered the chance to win a cultural break to Londonderry.

At the bottom of the advert it states “NITB does not accept any responsibility for personal safety during this trip”.

Speaking to the Times, Mr McQuillan said: “Putting a personal safety warning on an advertisement for a Northern Ireland destination seems a bizarre course of action for a body that is charged with marketing our Province as a tourism product, yet that is exactly what the Northern Ireland Tourist Board has done.

“Just what sort of a message does such a disclaimer send to people who may have been interested in entering the competition in order to win the chance to visit Londonderry?

“Londonderry has just recently won the prestigious UK City of Culture competition – a fact featured prominently in the advert – it is ridiculous that the NITB should have undermined that positive message in this way.

“I want an explanation for this wording. If the NITB were trying to make reference to people having to make special arrangements when in Londonderry, surely they could have put a few words on the advert saying “see NITB website for full terms and conditions” and put the details online?

“Through their choice of words the NITB have managed to convey the impression that tourists aren’t safe in Londonderry, which is hardly what one expects from a body charged with attracting tourists to Northern Ireland,” said the DUP Assembly Member.

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board commented: “Contrary to some reports, this was not an advertisement but a newspaper competition, which was placed by our communications agency to promote Londonderry and celebrate its recent UK City of Culture status.

“When placing a competition in the press there are generic terms and conditions attached which are managed and placed by the communications agency. The clause in question is a standard disclaimer used by the agency for all competitions which involve travel to any destination. It is designed to cover any type of accident or personal injury which the competition organiser would expect personal or travel insurance to cover.

“This is standard practice for many travel related competitions to a wide range of destinations across the world including New York, Rome, Majorca, Egypt, other areas of the UK and the Republic of Ireland – even to Disneyland in Paris.

“The clause in question is simply designed to ensure that clients are not liable for any type of accident or personal injury which would generally be covered by the winner’s personal or travel insurance.

“NITB is pleased that this has been brought to our attention and we will be addressing the wording for future competitions.”