New £5m campaign to boost tourism to Northern Ireland from Great Britain

The £5 million advertising campaign is expected to reach more than 80% of all adults in Great Britain.

It will include advertising on major TV channels and on catch-up TV sites, digital outdoor advertising at more than 500 locations; ads on popular social media channels, a partnership with The Guardian newspaper and promotions with air and sea carriers.

Further promotions for the ‘Northern Ireland – Embrace a Giant Spirit’ campaign are also underway with online travel agents.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons described tourism as an “enormously important industry for Northern Ireland” and a “key driver of our economy”.

He said: “In fact, before the pandemic hit us all, 2019 was the best year ever for overseas tourism to Northern Ireland, when we welcomed over 2.2 million overseas visitors, a significant number of which came from the GB market.

“We have a terrific product for visitors on offer across Northern Ireland, including the beautiful Causeway Coastal Route, the historic city of Londonderry, the fantastic lakelands of Fermanagh, and, of course, our capital city, Belfast, with our maritime history highlighted at Titanic Belfast, a truly world-class visitor attraction.”

Mr Lyons said the GB market is “a vitally important one for our tourism industry,” and added: “I am confident that this campaign will show the best of what Northern Ireland has to offer.

“With the TV ads alone set to be viewed by almost 13m people across GB, I believe this campaign will help convince tourists to visit Northern Ireland. Our tour operators, visitor attractions and accommodation providers have worked hard to introduce new safety measures and precautions to help ensure visitors and staff are kept safe.”

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said the ads “will highlight our great cities, spectacular scenery and the many things to see and do here.”

He added: ”As we begin to rebuild our tourism business from the all-important GB market, our aim is to remind prospective visitors that Northern Ireland is the perfect destination for a short break or holiday.”