Business

Tourism body chief appointed to national industry council

Dr Joanne Stuart
Dr Joanne Stuart Dr Joanne Stuart

ONE of the north's leading figures in tourism has been appointed to a UK-wide board which advises government policy on the industry.

Dr Joanne Stuart, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance (NITA), will represent the industry here on the UK Tourism Industry Council, which was set up two years ago to act as a sounding board and point of dialogue between Westminster and the industry.

NITA was founded two years ago as a private sector led ‘voice’ of the tourism industry, which generates a visitor spend of £1 billion and supports more than 65,000 jobs in the north, which attracted three million tourist visits last year.

She says she will use the post to represent local economic needs to influence national tourism policy.

“Our priority as the NI Tourism Alliance is to ensure UK policy makers understand the complexities of the tourism economy in Northern Ireland, particularly in regard to regional connectivity, air passenger duty and the impact of the UK immigration policy which has just been published.”

The UK Tourism Industry Council worked with the UK government to develop the Tourism Sector Deal framework, a government led initiative launched last June which is set to be a game-changer for tourism making it one of the UK’s major industries for future economic planning.

Joanne, who is also a member of the Brexit Task Force and Central Marketing Group which are operated by Tourism Ireland, said: “Being on the council provides the ideal opportunity to see how this framework can be utilised to develop a tourism sector deal for Northern Ireland.

“Of particular interest are the development of tourism zones to support the growth of tourism in rural and coastal communities, being recognised as accessible destinations and having a data hub to provide better information on visitor trends.”

Joanne will be Northern Ireland’s sole voice on the board, which is made up of leading figureheads drawn from across the tourism industry throughout the UK.