AQW 2088/17-22


Mr David Hilditch
Democratic Unionist Party
East Antrim


Tabled Date: 14/02/2020
Answered On Date: 02/03/2020
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail (i) what her Department and relevant arm's-length bodies are (a) currently doing; (b) planning to do to promote Carrickfergus Castle as a heritage/tourism attraction; and (ii) a breakdown of visitor numbers for Carrickfergus Castle in each of the last five years.


Answer:
Tourism Northern Ireland’s remit is to promote Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland markets.
It achieves this through fully integrated marketing campaigns targeted at specific market segments, which are based on extensive market research. These campaigns include TV, radio, press, outdoor promotions and digital marketing. In addition, all activity is under-pinned by extensive PR and media relations activity.
Tourism Northern Ireland promoted the Mid & East Antrim area including Carrickfergus Castle, in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland markets during 2019.
As part of the 2019 campaign activity, Tourism Northern Ireland featured Carrickfergus Castle and the wider Mid & East Antrim area, including The Gobbins, Glenarm Castle and Whitehead Railway Museum.
Over the course of 2019, Tourism Northern Ireland’s International Media Visits Team hosted over 600 international media, and Carrickfergus Castle has been included within these itineraries.
Tourism businesses within the Mid & East Antrim Council area, including Carrickfergus Castle, were also invited to apply for funding support for the Tourism Northern Ireland Co-operative Marketing fund, to support their own promotional activity in the Republic of Ireland market.
Tourism Northern Ireland will continue to promote Carrickfergus Castle in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland markets in its Spring 2020 Campaign, and throughout the year in its PR and digital marketing.
Tourism Northern Ireland will also continue to work closely with the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) network, who collaborate with their tourism industry to upload information on the local area to Tourism Northern Ireland’s consumer website, discovernorthernireland.com.
Tourism Ireland
Tourism Ireland highlights Northern Ireland (including Carrickfergus Castle)
through its global marketing activity.
As part of Mid & East Antrim Borough Council, Carrickfergus Castle benefits from representation at Tourism Ireland’s many international trade and consumer platforms. For example, in early February, Mid & East Antrim Borough Council took part in Tourism Ireland’s four-city sales blitz to Canada, meeting more than 250 travel agents and group tour operators in the cities of Vancouver, Langley, Edmonton and Calgary.
Tourism Ireland includes information on Carrickfergus Castle across its suite of international websites, in numerous different languages.
Finally, please see below a breakdown of visitor numbers to Carrickfergus Castle in each of the last 5 years as published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA):
Year
Visitor Numbers – Carrickfergus Castle
2014
70,905
2015
63,237
2016
64,837
2017
71,989
2018
68,714
                Source: NISRA, Visitor Attraction Survey
NISRA advise that the statistics are on the basis of information provided by the attractions.