Written Evidence Submitted by the National Trust (TNI0018)

Introduction

The National Trust is a conservation charity which cares for and provides access to many of Northern Ireland’s special places such as Northern Ireland’s only World Heritage Site at the Giant’s Causeway, our highest mountain Slieve Donard, the internationally important and beautiful Strangford Lough and houses and gardens including Mount Stewart in County Down and Florence Court in County Fermanagh. Our purpose in caring for these and many other special places is to ensure that they are accessible and enjoyed by local communities and visitors from all over the world now and for ever.

Although the National Trust’s core purpose is conservation, some of Northern Ireland’s most popular visitor attractions are in our care. We are Northern Ireland’s largest non-government owner of visitor attractions with 12% of visits to attractions taking place at one of our places in 2017.[1] The Giant’s Causeway is Northern Ireland’s and the National Trust’s most popular attraction with over 1.01 million visitors in 2018. Combined with Carrick-a-Rede, the Giant’s Causeway attracted circa 1.5 million visitors to the Causeway Coast in 2018.

Summary

• Growth in tourism can be beneficial by generating income and creating employment opportunities. It also provides a means and an incentive for regeneration and investment within the region. However, if tourism is not properly manged, it can harm the natural and built environment and alienate host communities.
• With further tourism growth forecast globally[2] we believe that it is essential that tourism is planned and delivered sustainably with meaningful participation from all sections of society.
• Our vision for tourism is that it should respect the natural and built environment as well as the host communities that tourists visit. To achieve this, we believe that measuring success in the tourism industry must change from a volume based economic model to a value model that seeks to balance economic, social and environmental considerations.
• Data and shared knowledge are essential to managing tourism. We believe that there should be a coordinated approach to collecting, evaluating and sharing economic, social and environmental data relating to tourism in Northern Ireland. This could be modelled on Barcelona’s Tourism Observatory.[3]
• We believe it is essential that tourism in Northern Ireland is supported by a sustainable tourism strategy; this should be delivered collaboratively between government, the tourism industry and local communities. This strategy should be informed by a coordinated approach to tourism related data and knowledge.
• A joined up and evidence based approach will inform outcomes such as better product development, event programming and the delivery of more cost effective targeted marketing. It will also inform government investment decisions such as infrastructure and policies to ensure that tourism supports better places for people to live, work and visit throughout Northern Ireland.

1. The economic impact of tourism in Northern Ireland

1.1         In recent years Northern Ireland has experienced significant growth in tourism. Between 2012 and 2017 overnight trips are estimated to have increased by 18% to 4.9 million. Of these overnight trips, 2.7 million were by visitors from outside Northern Ireland, an increase of 26% since 2012. Tourism is a significant contributor to the Northern Ireland economy, bringing in an estimated £939 million of revenue in 2017/18 of which £662 million came from visitors from outside Northern Ireland.[4] An assessment of the wider economic impact of tourism can be gained by compiling direct contributions from visitor spending, indirect contributions such as supply chains into the sector, and induced impacts such as spending by those employed in the tourism industry and its supply chains.[5] Deloitte estimates that the direct, indirect and induced contribution of tourism to the Northern Ireland economy was £2 billion in 2013 (representing 6.6% of GDP) and supporting one in every 15 jobs.[6]

1.2         Tourism directly supports the hospitality sector, visitor attractions and transport services in Northern Ireland. In 2015 it was estimated that the hospitality sector employed 45,000 people and contributed £1.1 billion to the Northern Ireland economy.[7] Visitors contribute to the hospitality sector by purchasing food, drink and accommodation. Visitor attractions are a key component of Northern Ireland’s tourism product and are a key motivator for tourists to visit the region. In 2017 there were a reported 19.8 million visits to attractions in the region, 38% of these visitors were by people from outside Northern Ireland.[8] Tourism directly supports these attractions through admission charges and additional purchases such as souvenirs and refreshments. The National Trust is supported in this way, with all of this income reinvested locally to support our conservation purposes. Tourists also provide direct income to local transport services such as coach and taxi services as well as public transport services.

1.3         Tourism indirectly supports a wide range of industries and jobs through investment spending, government spending and supply chain purchases. Investment spending supports other industries such as the construction industry through the building of new hotels, visitor attractions and associated infrastructure. Government spending such as that spent on marketing by Tourism NI and local councils help to support the advertising industry. Supply chain purchases such as food and drink help to support Northern Ireland’s agri-food sector. These indirect contributions show the economic benefits of tourism are not confined to one sector.

1.4         In Northern Ireland the National Trust directly employs over 300 people throughout the year, doubling to more than 600 people during peak season (April – September). Due to the location of our places, much of this employment supports rural communities across Northern Ireland. In order to meet the demands created by growth in tourism, we believe that more work is required to change perceptions of working in the tourism industry in order to attract more people for these roles. A joined-up approach between the tourism industry, government and the education sector could help identify potential skills gaps in the workforce, inform measures to promote the industry as a career choice and to develop appropriate training and development programmes.

1.5         The National Trust offers a wide range of training and development opportunities to all our employees. As a conservation charity that operates in the tourism industry we have been unable to benefit from grants that are available to the private sector to support skills development in the tourism industry. We believe that these grants should be made available beyond the private sector, as this would support organisations such as the National Trust and the museums sector to play a greater role in attracting and training people to work in the tourism industry.

1.6         Currently Northern Ireland enjoys a global reputation as a great place to visit with Lonely Planet listing Belfast and the Causeway Coast as the top place to visit in 2018. In order to maintain this reputation, quality standards such as those delivered by Tourism NI for parts of a visitor’s experience such as accommodation and visitor attractions should be extended to other areas such a coach operators, this will ensure that visitors receive an excellent experience from start to finish and help secure Northern Ireland’s reputation as a high quality tourism destination.

1.7         In order to ensure that visitors to our places receive a warm welcome and feel comfortable and valued the National Trust has visitor experience standards by which properties are measured, this helps to identify areas that are performing well and others that need improvement. These standards look at the visitor journey through the various elements that make up a visitor experience. We believe that such an approach should be adopted for Northern Ireland as a destination whereby each element of a visitor’s journey is assessed against a set of standards co-created and agreed by the industry and other key stakeholders.

2. The social impact of tourism in Northern Ireland

2.1         Whilst there has been significant growth in tourism in Northern Ireland, statistics show it is seasonal. Hotel room occupancy rates in 2017 were lower during the winter, with a low of 58% in January and higher in the summer, with a high of 88% in August.[9] Visitor numbers to the Giant’s Causeway for 2017/18 also reflect this trend with the lowest number of visitors in January (19,913) and the highest number in August (180,217).

2.2         Not only is tourism in Northern Ireland seasonal, but it is focussed within a few geographic areas. Visitor data compiled by the National Trust shows that 70% of all visits to National Trust sites in Northern Ireland took place at the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede. We recognise that this concentration of visitors to the Causeway Coast combined with the seasonality of tourism has the potential to cause disruption in host communities, particularly during the summer.

2.3         Even though the Causeway Coast has two of Northern Ireland’s most popular visitor attractions, hotel room occupancy rates do not reflect this trend. In 2017 room occupancy for the Causeway Coast and Glens region was 65%, much lower than the rate for Northern Ireland (73%) and Belfast City (80%).[10] This is supported by visitor data for the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede that show that 55% of visitors arrived by coach in 2018. Many coach visitors were not staying within the Causeway Coast and Glens region or even in Northern Ireland, but rather were based out of Dublin. This means that local businesses have limited scope to generate income from these visitors; this in turn reduces the ability for these businesses to develop and to create employment opportunities in the local area.

2.4         With a significant proportion of visitors to key attractions in Northern Ireland not spending time in the local area, there are reduced opportunities for the economic benefits of tourism to be captured within the locality of the attraction. If disruption caused by tourism is not adequately offset by the economic benefits to the community, there is the potential for resentment and opposition to tourism by local people, as seen in popular tourism destinations such as Barcelona. This could damage Northern Ireland’s reputation as a welcoming tourism destination impacting on growth and the benefits this can bring if it is managed sustainably.

2.5         We believe that in response to these challenges a joined-up approach is required between the tourism industry, government and local communities to plan and manage tourism sustainably. The social impact of tourism should be measured through regular engagement with local communities to provide information that can be evaluated and interpreted together with other tourism related data such as market research. This knowledge will help to establish where and when there is capacity for visitor growth and could also be used to plan a long-term and coordinated programme of events to attract visitors at quieter times of the year.

2.6         Currently flagship events such as the 2019 Open Championship attract large numbers of visitors to a particular area. By adopting a coordinated approach, other events could be planned in parallel to distribute visitors to areas with capacity for visitor growth, helping to prevent bottlenecks in overcrowded locations and spreading the economic benefit these flagship events bring to a much wider area.

2.7         Whilst tourism growth can create social challenges if it is not managed sustainably, it also offers social and economic opportunities for rural communities. Currently the farming industry is undergoing great change with alterations in agricultural support policies together with advances in farming practice and technology and a decline in employment opportunities. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affair’s Rural Development Programme provides investment support for the creation and development of non-agricultural business activities in rural areas such as tourism. We believe that Invest NI could play a more proactive role in supporting product development in the tourism industry particularly in rural communities that have been identified as having capacity for visitor growth.

3. The environmental impact of tourism in Northern Ireland

3.1         More visitors to Northern Ireland have impacted some of the National Trust’s places such as erosion on the island at Carrick-a-Rede. As a conservation charity it is our responsibility to look after these places and ensure that they are accessible for future generations. In response to the challenges faced at our busiest sites we have taken a number of actions such as introducing timed ticketing at Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and commissioned a large-scale project to examine how we can manage our busiest sites such as the Giant’s Causeway sustainably into the future. This project is split into four areas of focus examining physical spaces, the environment and ecology, visitor experience and how we can work with local communities. Once information has been gathered from these areas of focus a multi-disciplinary team will examine the data and make recommendations as to how the National Trust should manage its sites sustainably in the context of anticipated future growth.

3.2         Tourism growth has the potential to place additional pressure on the wider natural and built environment and it is therefore important that appropriate planning policies are put in place to protect these important tourism assets. The Regional Development Strategy provides the overarching strategic planning framework for Northern Ireland. This strategy acknowledges the importance of the region’s natural and built heritage and requires that it is protected and enhanced where possible.[11] The strategy also requires a sustainable approach to the provision of tourism infrastructure.[12] Since the devolution of planning powers to local councils in 2015, each council has had to prepare a local development plan to decide the type and scale of new developments and where they will be permitted. In preparing these plans councils must reflect the Strategic Planning Policy Statement for Northern Ireland which in turn is informed by the Regional Development Strategy.

3.3         In order to balance and redistribute the social and economic wealth generated by tourism local councils have created or are in the process of creating tourism development strategies. These strategies propose the development of tourism infrastructure such as hotels that will encourage visitors to remain within the area, generating income and employment for the region. In exercising their new planning powers local councils must consistently apply the appropriate polices in strategic and local development plans to balance the need for development that supports tourism with conserving the environmental assets on which tourism depends.

3.4         The growth of tourism in Northern Ireland is a driver for developments that help reduce the environmental footprint of visitors and improve facilities for host communities. Sustainable transport methods such as park and ride facilities to key attractions can reduce congestion and pollution caused by traffic, other initiatives such as greenways would not only promote healthier modes of transport but they can themselves become a tourist attraction such as the Great Western Greenway along Ireland’s Atlantic Coast.

4. The promotion and management of tourism in Northern Ireland

4.1         Tourism NI is responsible for the promotion of Northern Ireland as a tourist destination to domestic tourists from within Northern Ireland and to visitors from the Republic of Ireland. As many international visitors to Northern Ireland choose to visit the whole island of Ireland and plan their trips on both sides of the border, Tourism Ireland takes on the role of promoting Northern Ireland internationally as part of a broader strategy for the island of Ireland. Since the overseas marketing function of the NI Tourist Board was transferred to Tourism Ireland in 2002, the estimated number of overnight trips by visitors from outside Northern Ireland grew from 1.6 million in 2002 to 2.7 million in 2017.[13] This growth indicates that Tourism Ireland has successfully carried out its task of growing overseas tourism business to Northern Ireland. However, we believe tourism growth should not be considered as the only measure of success.

4.2         Increasingly tourists are looking for experiential travel that allows them to interact with local communities including locally run tours, restaurants and shops.[14] As tourism continues to grow, it is important that the industry is supported to develop authentic experiences for visitors that enable them to become more deeply engaged with the destination and communities they have chosen to visit. Such experiences should be based on the rich cultural, built and natural heritage which underpins our tourism industry.

4.3         We believe that tourism marketing in Northern Ireland should be informed by a sustainable tourism strategy. This strategy should be delivered through a joined-up approach between the tourism industry, local communities and government and should be underpinned by coordinated economic, social and environmental tourism related data and evaluation. Such an approach would deliver outcomes such as targeted more cost effective marketing, coordinated programming, the identification of where and when there is capacity for visitor growth and the protection of the natural and built environment in which tourism in Northern Ireland depends

5. Conclusion

5.1         We very much welcome the committee’s inquiry into tourism in Northern Ireland and we would be willing to contribute to oral evidence to provide further information on the points we have raised.