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The Orange Order is working with tourism chiefs north and
south of the border to maximise the potential of cultural
tourism.
The Order believes it is on the verge of a major breakthrough
which will bring tens of thousands of visitors to the island.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, consisting of 1200 lodges
in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, has made
a submission to the consultation process of Tourism Ireland,
based on their marketing plan for North America.
The Orange Order Director of Services, David Hume, said the
potential of cultural tourism was huge.
"The North America market is wide open to us,"
he said.
"We attended the Smithsonian Festival in Washington
earlier this year and there was tremendous interest in Northern
Ireland. Everyone knows about the Irish-American population
but in fact the Ulster-Scots population is much bigger. It
is largely untapped from a tourism point of view.
"We were amazed by the number of people who said they
were from here or had very strong family connections.
"We feel that the Twelfth celebrations are a positive
and highly attractive potential marketing tool for visitors
to Northern Ireland and County Donegal,"
"We know that visits to Northern Ireland have been growing
and that one of the primary appeals for Americans visiting
the island of Ireland is culture and history.
"We have many contacts with Americans seeking genealogical
information from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland and we
believe there is a terrific opportunity to build up a tourist
package which would include the Twelfth and other aspects
of the Orange tradition.
"This could include visits to architecturally important
or historic Orange Halls, visits to locations relating to
the Orange tradition and visits to our archives and museum
at Schomberg House in Belfast.
"We want to expand the unique artefact and archive collection
we hold and turn it into a major world interpretative centre
for the Orange tradition. We believe this would be of considerable
interest to tourists, particularly from North America and
British Commonwealth countries, but not by any means exclusively
so."
The Grand Lodge has been working closely with Tourism Ireland
and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board to help develop the
Twelfth.
"There is tremendous potential in distinct geographical
areas of North America where the Scots Irish or Ulster Scots
tradition is strong. This includes key cities such as Philadelphia,
Atlanta and Houston.
"We would be very keen to work closely with Tourism
Ireland in developing a tourism product for visitors to the
island.
"International travel by Canadians is also at an all
time high. There is a very considerable population base which
originated in Ulster in places such as Ontario and Alberta.
"We believe the aim of attracting up to 125,000 Canadian
visitors to the island of Ireland by 2009 could be assisted
through important subsets which would include not only Scots
Irish group travel but also Orange based groups.
"We believe there will a major window of opportunity
for Northern Ireland cultural tourism over the next few years.
The entire economy will benefit and we are ready to play our
part in working with the tourist authorities and the other
agencies to ensure that Northern Ireland enjoys a major boost."
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