NI tourist board defends use of chairman's cottage

THE Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) has defended a decision to put a photograph of a cottage owned by its chairman, Lord Rathcavan, on the cover of a guide to self-catering accommodation.

A Co Antrim hotelier complained that there was a conflict of interest in Lord Rathcavan (Mr Hugh O'Neill) having his self-catering cottage at Cleggan -Lodge, Broughshane, Co Antrim, featured so prominently in tourist promotional literature.

Mr Billy O'Neill, who owns the Causeway Coast Hotel and a number of self-catering properties in Co Antrim, said it was unfair competition to have Lord Rathcavan's property featured on the cover when there were so many other self-catering properties inside the publication that could have been featured.

A photograph of the interior of Lord Rathcavan's cottage is featured on the cover while another shot of the exterior is published inside the brochure. There is no indication in either picture that the property is owned by the NITB chairman.

Mr Ian Henderson, chief executive of NITB, said the cottage was featured to represent the best of the type of rural cottages that tourists would expect to be able to rent in Northern Ireland.

The brochure was published two years ago and - as previously planned - is to be replaced with a new cover and format in mid-February this year. "It was an ideal representation and at that time there were very few alternatives of that nature," he said.

In a further statement NITB added that as the owner and location of the cottage was unidentified it could give no marketing advantage to Lord Rathcavan. The NITB chairman played no part in choosing the cover picture, and was not consulted on having his cottage featured on the cover, NITB said.

The statement said the picture was chosen from the limited number then available.