THE damage done to the tourism industry in Northern Ireland by the events of last summer had been discussed with all the political parties, Mr Ian Henderson, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, yesterday told the annual conference of the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation in Dublin.
Mr Henderson said 1995 had been the "dream year" for tourism in Northern Ireland, with both ceasefires in place. "Now we are back in limbo for reasons known to you all," he added.
He said he believed some progress had been made in the discussions with the political parties to prevent a repetition of the marching and other incidents last summer which led to a drop in the number of tourists visiting Northern Ireland.
The tourist board was an enthusiastic partner in Tourism Brand Ireland, the common international marketing of the island, Mr Henderson said. The board had to be convinced that it was economically beneficial to market the island of Ireland because there were "sceptics" who said there might be a political dimension. The economic benefit would have to be demonstrated to everybody's satisfaction.
The ending of duty free sales in the EU by 1999 was to be welcomed, he said, though its abolition was strongly resisted by tourist interests in the Republic. "We won't be regretting the abolition of duty free," according to Mr Henderson. It was a distortion of the market airlines and car ferries operating in and out of the North had to do without duty free sales.