Fáilte Feirste Thiar
Welcome to West Belfast
Below are extracts from the West Belfast Tourism Strategy:
Introduction
Contrary to its image, and despite years of neglect and lack of investment, West Belfast is a vibrant and lively place, rich in tradition, heritage and culture, and boasting strong community networks and a self-help ethos. Its two communities, Catholic and Protestant, have enormous pride in their area and are now determined to develop the potential which has lain dormant and unexploited through the past three decades of political and social turmoil. The current political negotiations are creating opportunities for these communities to take a lead in regenerating the economies of their areas and in facilitating action to make a real difference to their people and their lives.
Notwithstanding all its problems, the area already attracts a large number of visitors. Tourism is, therefore, perceived as one of the most viable components of the overall programme of regeneration needed for this part of Belfast. At the instigation of the local Member of Parliament, Gerry Adams, a group of local, community-based organisations, with support from Making Belfast Work and Belfast City Council, and with funding from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, has developed a Tourism Strategy for West Belfast.
A new broadly based umbrella group "Fáilte Feirste Thiar/Welcome to West Belfast" will be established to implement the strategy.
The people of West Belfast have tremendous confidence in the potential of their area for attracting visitors. They have many advantages not available to others. Their murals reflect the area's political divisions, but they also encapsulate the wit and humour of the people of this unique place. Their two cultures and the growing use of Irish, reflect their peoples' perceptions of, and pride in, their identity, but they also act as potential magnets for attracting visitors. Their festivals and their social events reflect not only their exuberance for life, but also their understanding of the role of tradition and heritage in making them what they are. These are resilient people who want to share their experiences with the rest of the world, and who want others to share with them.
This is the first tourism strategy to be developed specifically for an urban, working-class area in this region, and it is designed to benefit both of West Belfast's communities. It has been developed so that it can be integrated into the broader promotion of Belfast as a tourist destination; for example, it allows for events such as the St. Patrick's Day Parade to be expanded into city-wide celebrations with great economic potential and with the capacity to provide a valuable, positive profile for the city.
The Need to Remove The Impediments
Until now, West Belfast's development as a tourist destination has been impeded not only by the area's political problems, but more so by a serious shortage of facilities and amenities. There is now a major need for investment in:
- accommodation, ranging from hostels to hotels;
- quality restaurants and other dining facilities;
- signage both to, and within, West Belfast;
- marketing and promotion; and
- development of its attractions and its tourism products.
That historic lack of investment reflects a wider problem, in which West Belfast has been ignored by those with the capacity to improve its economy. Its infrastructures demonstrate the effects of decades of inaction and prolonged financial starvation.
To offset the effects of that neglect, a flagship project would help enormously in raising West Belfast's profile in an increasingly competitive tourism market. With pump-priming for a major project and investment to remove its other disadvantages, West Belfast can become a major contributor to Belfast's tourism performance.
The Proposed Strategy
With the back-drop of a mountain which could be developed as a tourism attraction, and a range of other physical attractions from the Bog Meadows to Colin Glen, West Belfast has plenty of options for supporting a tourism strategy. The strategy selected for the area by the promoting organisations is based on three core product areas:
Political Tourism
West Belfast's reputation creates a curiosity factor which can be harnessed by providing organised tours of its murals, and explanations of its political ideologies. As a potential tourist destination, it has a unique social context to complement its more overtly political background. Its places of interest, when set against their historical perspectives, produce an unusual picture of a people from two distinct communities, with differing aspirations, surviving under great pressure, in close proximity to each other. Already part of the Loyalist perspective on Belfast's political development is provided by the military exhibition at the award-winning Fernhill House Museum in Glencairn, but there is ample scope for other interpretations of West Belfast.
Cultural Tourism
The now well-established Féile an Phobail (Community Festival) and a plethora of other events and activities have already raised West Belfast's profile as an area rich in culture and in forms of cultural expression. Loyalist and Nationalist, the cultures of West Belfast provide a tourism product of rare potential; the bands, the pageantry, the music, the songs, of West Belfast, can compete successfully with any cultural attractions anywhere in the world. In the Shankill area, there is already a vibrant Community Arts sector, with a strong "working class" ethos and with a focus on the more disadvantaged in society, as exemplified by the involvement of the local PHAB group.
In the Nationalist part of West Belfast, Community Arts is also recognised as a sector with enormous potential for development. The continuing growth of Irish as a live, spoken medium gives an extra dimension to the area's cultural base. It creates opportunities for links with other places where lesser-heard languages are used, and those links too have considerable tourism potential.
The growth, internationally, of Genealogy and Heritage as elements of the overall Cultural Tourism product, creates other options which can be made available as part of West Belfast's visitor experience. Furthermore, West Belfast has some very attractive sporting venues, such as Casement Park and Paisley Park, which already host some great sporting events and with the potential to host more and to provide visitors with more to do and more to see.
An Arts and Cultural Centre
An amenity focusing on Children and Young People with a major Performing Arts and Arts Training programme, could be developed as a complement to the cultural tourism product and would then act as a flagship attraction in West Belfast. If the area is to use its political and cultural base as the focus for its initial attempt to establish itself as a tourist destination, this complementary facility would multiply its attractiveness.
Conclusion
The past neglect of West Belfast will not be allowed to continue. Protestants and Catholics in the area have all suffered from the economic disadvantage inflicted on them. West Belfast has virtually no tourism sector. Now the two communities and their representatives are determined to ensure that changes occur and that their people will benefit from the developing opportunities. The strengths are there already; they have to be harnessed. This is what the West Belfast Tourism Strategy aims to achieve. If it receives the support to which it is entitled, it will make a difference to the economy of these parts of the city and to the people of Belfast as a whole.
