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Tourism (Northern Ireland)

We could give the Minister an insight into tourism at first hand. I will be brief; I just want to raise a number of points—more bullet points than anything else—on tourism. Because Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, I believe that we should emphasise the British link more. The British tourism market is worth £74 billion annually, and that is rising, whereas the tourism market in the Irish Republic is worth a mere €4.5 billion. While it is certainly worth getting a slice of that, there is more to be gained by promoting in tourism the Britishness of this part of the island, to get a slice of the £74 billion. I also wish to emphasise a couple of points to do with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, relating to the constituency of my hon. Friend the Memberfor East Londonderry. In 2005 London attracted27 million visitors with a spending power of more than £9 billion—far more than the value of the entire Irish Republic tourism industry. It is time that the Northern Ireland Tourist Board started promoting the London link and heritage of the city, to tap into that lucrative and growing market. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board has on its website a map of Northern Ireland which depicts the city of ““Derry”” and refers to the ““Walled City of Derry””. Astonishingly, it also states that the city of Derry is also known as Londonderry, when it should in fact address the city by its proper title of Londonderry, and state that some locals refer to the city by the nickname of Derry. It is wrong that the Northern Ireland Tourist Board does not give Londonderry its proper name, and that should be rectified immediately. There is also no mention on its site of St. Columb’s cathedral, which is a massive tourist attraction. That is another thing that the Northern Ireland Tourist Board should examine and rectify. We should redirect money from politically driven north-southery to invest in the Northern Ireland infrastructure. I believe that between 2005 and 2008 the Government plan to spend some £30 million each and every year on seven separate north-south bodies such as Waterways Ireland, the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission and the Food Safety Promotion Board. I ask the Social Democratic and Labour party to join the Democratic Unionist party—not literally, but in calling for savings and efficiencies—