Written question asked by Lord Laird (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Monday, 5 June 2006.

Ulster-Scots

Question: Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Rooker on 3 May (WA 91) concerning the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, what plans the board has to promote Ulster-Scots culture as a selling point for the province of Ulster.

Answer: The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) views cultural tourism as a key driver for tourism growth. It works closely with Tourism Ireland Ltd (TIL) to ensure that Northern Ireland’s cultural tourism product receives maximum exposure in all overseas markets. NITB has recently published The American Connection which tells the story of the links between Northern Ireland and North America. This is being used as a marketing tool to promote Northern Ireland, particularly in the US and GB markets. NITB has also supported the ““On Eagle’s Wing”” project. TIL has undertaken Scots-Irish specific marketing activities through the EU programme for tourism support and undertaken an extensive range of activities to promote the island of Ireland to the Ulster-Scots segment in the United States. Both NITB and Tourism Ireland will ensure that culture, including Scots-Irish culture, will continue to form part of the marketing strategy in the USA and part of the forthcoming Smithsonian Folklife Festival in July 2007. NITB activity includes work on the main Smithsonian event itself, an associate programme of lectures and workshops and an ancillary programme designed to grow the economic benefits of the Smithsonian festival for Northern Ireland.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 5570; 682 c170-1WA
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Tourism: Northern Ireland
Wednesday, 3 May 2006
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Culture Northern Ireland Marketing Tourism Ulster Scots language Northern Ireland Tourist Board
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk