Cost of living crisis will have ‘major impact’ says tourism chief

Tourism NI’s John McGrillen gave a short presentation of the Spring 2024 campaign at a meeting of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council’s Leisure and Development Committee on Wednesday, January 23.

Mr McGrillen outlined Tourism NI’s marketing strategy for the north coast and wider area, which includes radio and TV advertising, social media and newspaper brochures.

He added: “In 2023, we had 100 media visits to the Coast and Glens region, which was one third of all media who came here, and there’s a huge benefit to bringing journalists over and getting a strong overseas promotion.”

In terms of visitors, Mr McGrillen said people were “still very keen to travel”, but the cost of living crisis was “no doubt” impacting upon tourism. He said: “What we’re increasingly hearing is that people are probably going to take fewer short breaks and spend less when they’re there.

“It’s really important that low cost attractions are proactively promoted so people get the sense that, if they come to the north coast, they’re going to get value for money.”

Last year’s tourism spend was lower than 2022, and Mr McGrillen speculated that this was due to cost of living crisis “starting to bite” but also the recent poor weather.

" A good summer this year would definitely help in terms of last year’s challenges. The fact that we’re seeing a significant number of tourists from overseas, hopefully that will also counter the impact of the cost of living crisis.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Kathleen McGurk asked if Tourism NI’s strategy included other destinations aside from the north coast.

“I’m thinking particularly of the Sperrins and places a little bit off the beaten track,” Cllr McGurk said. “They’re worth exploring, because the north coast is pretty well known and we could be developing other destinations.”

Mr McGrillen said the current Spring strategy was aimed at “developing experiences that people can find in those areas”.

He concluded: “The focus is on getting people to come, stay longer, travel further and spend more, so we want to look at areas outside “honey pots” like the Giant’s Causeway and Titanic, Belfast.”