Ireland Network Hosts N. Irelands' Minister of Economy Conor Murphy

Special Guest Joseph P. Kennedy III Also Attended

Story Includes an Interview with Conor Murphy
By Cliff Carlson

The Ireland Network, with the help of Matt Walsh II who hosted the event at his offices of Hinshaw and Culbertson LLP, with support from Invest Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland’s Emigrant Support Program, held a large gathering that became standing room only, to hear what Northern Ireland's Minister of the Economy for Northern Ireland, Conor Murphy, and special guest Joseph P. Kennedy III, US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs, had to say about tourism and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland working together. 

Mary Sugrue, Chief Executive of the Irish American Partnership led the panel while attendees from every sector of Irish life in Chicago were present.

Key players from the tourism sector in Chicago were in attendance to hear about  the North’s great tourism offerings for American and Canadian visitors.


CEO of the Irish American Partnership, Mary Sugrue, fielding
the questions that were put to the panelists by the audience.

Minister of the Economy for Northern Ireland, Conor Murphy, and special guest Joseph P. Kennedy III, 
US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs

(L to R):  Alison Metcalfe (EVP, North America Tourism Ireland), Minister Conor Murphy,
(MLA Northern Ireland’s Economy Minister), Siobhan McManamy (Director of Markets, Tourism Ireland)


Interview with Northern Ireland Minister of the Economy Conor Murphy
By Cliff Carlson

While in town promoting tourism in Northern Ireland, Minister of the Economy Conor Murphy took the time for an interview.

Cliff: Northern Ireland has seen significant growth in overseas tourism in recent years, what do you attribute this to  and what major plans are in store to keep the growth momentum going?

Mr. Murphy: The number of visitors to Northern Ireland has grown significantly and I think it's a consequence of our peace process. 

It took some time following the establishment of peace for people's curiosity to rise. It also took time for people North of the border who hadn't experienced much tourism to begin to invest in the possibility of tourists coming and start to improve the tourism product by investing in hotels, restaurants, bars, and tourist experiences and events.

All of that was a gradual process over the period since 1998. We still are short in comparison to the Republic which has developed a terrific tourism product for generations, so there is a lot of catching up going on, but we have significantly improved, and also, ironically, the people from the South who had never been North because of the 'Troubles,'  started traveling North and that has sustained itself beyond the pandemic. We are still seeing a huge amount of tourism coming from South of the border, so on the island tourism is very strong, tourism coming across from Britian is very strong, and internationally tourism is growing again - particularly in the North, and a consequence of that our tourism offering is growing too.

Cliff: What are you doing to encourage more travelers to visit in the shoulder months?

Mr. Murphy: We are trying to encourage more events. For instance, the Halloween Festival in Derry has become huge. The way to extend the season as much as we can is to improve the offer, so we have established a partnership board in the department and we have brought people in the tourism industry in with us so we can establish where and how to do promotions, and what are some of the hurdles and obstacles needed to be overcome, how can we promote them more and how can we work with Tourism Northern Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Failte Ireland who are all very good at promotions. We want to insure that the agencies for tourism in both the North and South and the tourism industry itself, all work together collaboratively to get the best possible promotions.

 
Cliff: Northern Ireland has been successful in attracting major sporting events such as the return of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 2025. How are you coping with the increased demand given the pressure on the signature links courses? 

Mr. Murphy: What people don't realize is that we have a good number of signature courses - Royal County Down, Port Rush, Port Stewart is a great golf course as well. We are getting golf tourism in general from the major tourism events which in encouraging people here to increase the infrastructure around golf tourism: hotels, accommodations, transport arrangements etc., so golfers who come here and want to tour around golf courses. More and more people here are now providing for that market.

The large events are huge, not just in terms of the spectacle of it, but the exposure it gives you around the world. We have an abundance of great links courses, not just in the North but all over Ireland.

We need people to understand that there are more than just the big signature courses. There are many great links courses around Ireland.

We have been gearing up for some time for the Major tournament next year at Port Rush. The people at Port Rush want to make their golf tournament the first carbon-neutral Major in the history of golf. 
We learn from past tournaments, and there is a real drive in the whole North of Ireland to make this event the best one possible.
 
Cliff: What is the best time to visit and what some of your top 5 things to do and see in Northern Ireland?

Mr. Murphy: The Titanic is huge, the Giants Causeway, the Derry Walls, and we are trying to expand into more small bespoke unique areas such as Fermanagh, Armagh, and Tyrone, where you play Ulster/American football, people are offering smaller, more unique experiences. Cruise ships are coming in and the tourists want to see Belfast, and they might want to go to the North coast and see Giants Causeway, or where Game of Thrones is filmed, but they also want to see and have other experiences that are off the beaten track.

For more information about Ireland go to www.ireland.com