Titanic centenary puts Belfast on tourist map
Baku, December 20 (AZERTAC). Once blacklisted next to Baghdad and Beirut as a tourism no-go zone, Belfast has become one of the world`s must-see destinations thanks to its troubled past, great golfing present and impending anniversary of the tragedy of the Titanic.
During decades of sectarian violence few foreigners visited Northern Ireland, but a ceasefire and a peace agreement between Catholic and Protestant military groups have transformed the province, prompting a boom in tourists from 400,000 in 1998 to 1.6 million this year. Next year, as the city marks the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, which was built in Belfast`s Harland and Wolff shipyard, the tourism authorities are looking for a bumper 20 percent rise.
Urging tourists to give Belfast a try in its "Best of the World 2012" the National Geographic Traveller this month described the city as having "an incredible atmosphere". "I felt that this place was a treasure that had sort of been preserved," said editor-in-chief Keith Bellows. Belfast`s inclusion came three years after Lonely Planet sparked international interest in the city by putting it in its top 10 places to visit.
The city plans to capitalise on the Titanic anniversary with a host of attractions -- from Titanic tours to Titanic ale -- 100 years after the liner sank with the loss of 1,5176 lives on its maiden crossing to New York on April 15, 1912. The finishing touches are being put to the centrepiece, a 97 million pound ($152 million) visitor attraction, Titanic Belfast, overlooking a shipyard slipway where the liner and her sister ships the Olympic and the Britannic were launched.
Elsewhere in Northern Ireland, the city of Londonderry is gearing up to be UK City of Culture in 2013. A new multi-million pound visitor centre is to open next year at the Giant`s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Golf is booming on the back to back wins of the US Open by Northern Ireland pin-up golfer Rory McIlroy in 2011 and fellow Ulstermen Graeme McDowell the year before.
A New Yorker trying his hand at the Royal Portrush course on the blustery Co Antrim coast - home club for both McDowell and Clarke - said he was starting to understand why the province had created so many world beating golfers. The decision by Chinese athletic bosses to set up their pre-Olympic training camp for their crack Gymnastic team in Lisburn, Co Antrim has been followed by a flood of interest in Northern Ireland by travel agents organising holidays for China`s burgeoning middle classes.
Other news in this section
