The North begins to exploit its post-conflict tourist cache

Nobody is quite sure whether the Europa in Belfast ever really deserved the title "Most Bombed Hotel in Europe", but whether it was targeted 13 or 30 times the fortunes of the city's answer to Sarajevo's Holiday Inn are very different now.

So different, in fact, that the company responsible for the refurbishment of Connolly Station in Dublin is currently putting the finishing touches to 56 new bedrooms at the hotel, each costing £100,000, giving the hotel a total of 240 rooms. This kind of expansion is typical as peace-processed Belfast continues to blossom, attracting more and more tourists - particularly of the suit-wearing, briefcase-carrying variety.

August is traditionally the month for businesses in Belfast to "regroup and recoup" after the mayhem caused by some 12th of July parades and the annual standoff at Drumcree. And while hoteliers, bar owners and restaurateurs are still counting the millions of pounds lost due to three nights of violent protest last month, there are indications that Northern Ireland has turned a corner in terms of the tourism industry.

As in Dublin, the number of cranes gracing the skyline is one such sign. The Europa is now competitor to a string of recently opened hotels with several others still under construction, such as the Posthouse Premier on Ormeau Avenue, and Shaw's Inn on Shaw's Bridge Road.

"The growth in the industry since the ceasefires has been steady and strong," says Howard Hastings, managing director of the Hastings Group of Hotels which bought the Europa for what was thought to have been a steal (he won't say how much) in 1993. He says the effect of recent violence had been overstated. "You have to remember, Tiger Woods came and played a round of golf at the Royal Co Down golf course on the 14th of July this year, a time perceived as contentious, and if Tiger thought it was safe to go, other golfers will follow," he says.

In 1969, Northern Ireland attracted one million visitors. But after the Troubles took hold, it took the post-ceasefire climate of 1995 to entice such numbers again. Visitors have increased steadily since then, averaging growth of around 10 per cent, and the latest figures from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board showed that a record 1.6 million visitors arrived last year. The majority of these were from Britain, followed by the Republic of Ireland, Europe, North America and Australia.

The improved infrastructure around Northern Ireland means that more in the tourism industry can prosper, says Roy Baillie, chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. He points out that the number of hotel, B&B and hostel rooms has doubled since 1995, and in November Northern Ireland's largest indoor arena, the Odyssey, will open its doors. Other attractions, such as the Downpatrick Visitors' Centre and the Giant's Causeway Railway, due to open next year, will keep the momentum going.

"There is the potential here to make £500 million a year from tourism, to create 20,000 jobs . . . obviously the recent protests are an impediment to us reaching those kinds of targets. I think it my job to draw attention to those impediments. It doesn't so much affect tourism this year, but it has an effect on next year and the year after that," he says.

Baillie is encouraged by the fact that many of those visiting Belfast and surrounding areas come to attend conferences around the North - an industry which organisers say has considerable spin-off potential. Last Easter the World Irish Dancing Championships and the Irish League of Credit Unions annual conference, both held in the Waterfront Hall, brought an estimated £7 million into the city.

The Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau (BVCB) has been instrumental in attracting the high-spend delegate to the city and today 1,000 people will attend the British Deaf Association's annual conference, which takes place for five days at Queen's University. Other high-profile conferences have been booked up to 2006.

Some are sceptical that Northern Ireland or Belfast could ever rival other leading tourist hot spots. Mr Joris Minne, press officer for the BVCB, concedes that Belfast or Northern Ireland is never going to be a "mass tourist destination" in the same league as Paris or Prague.

But he points to Belfast's post-conflict cachet, including benefits from the curiosity of visitors seeking an understanding of the Troubles. The Living History Tours of Belfast, run by transport company Translink, and the Black Taxi guide to the locations where some of the worst atrocities of the Troubles took place are proving more popular than ever. "For obvious reasons, this place won't appeal to the sombrero-wearing sunshine seeker," he adds. Where the North can make an impact, he suggests, is in attracting the specialist holidaymaker. It will also attract those interested in pastimes such as fishing, golf, motorsports, as well as delegates looking for a new place to hold their annual general meeting.

"There is no doubt that after 30 years of Troubles you do have implacable stances taken; but the tourist who gets a puncture on the Shankill Road will not wait 30 seconds before someone goes to help them and the same can be said of the Falls Road. Crime against tourism is so rare that when it happens it makes front-page news," he says.

Some people take more convincing. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme this week, local freelance journalist Malachi O'Doherty questioned why anyone would visit Northern Ireland for their holidays. "We are living with the assumption that a peace dividend awaiting us is a huge boom in tourism, and that the only thing currently deterring the hordes is the prospect of being petrol-bombed or confined to their hostels or hotels by roadblocks. But it is not as simple as that."

"1995 was a boom year for tourism here, and it was the ceasefires that got the credit for that. It was also the warmest summer we had had for years and it hasn't been repeated since. Look out your window. Who is going to pass up a chance to toast themselves in Corfu or Tenerife for about £400 a week to suffer this grim climate? For what that we have here, would anyone pass up a restful fortnight on a Greek beach?"