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The Orange Order has promoted the Twelfth as a major tourist
attraction for Americans.
A delegation from the Order has just returned from a four
day trip to New York, organised in conjunction with British
and Irish authorities, the Ulster Scots Agency, the Ulster
Scots Community Network and Tourism Ireland.
The delegation consisted of Drew Nelson, Grand Secretary
of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, Mervyn Bishop, Grand
Treasurer, David Scott, Education Officer, Dr. Jonathan Mattison,
Project Officer, and Charlie McAdam, County Grand Secretary
of Cavan. They were accompanied by George Patton, Chief Executive
of the Ulster Scots Agency and William Humphrey, Chief executive
of the Ulster Scots Community Network, who are both Orangemen.
Drew Nelson said:
"A huge amount of work has been done to develop the cultural
aspects of the Twelfth and make it one of the major tourist
attractions in Northern Ireland. We believe there is massive
potential in the United States to encourage people to visit
Northern Ireland around the time of the Twelfth.
"We discovered at the Smithsonian Festival in Washington
in 2007 that there is a strong interest in the Orange Order
and literally tens of millions of Americans can trace their
roots back to Ulster Protestant emigrants.
"We have built a strong relationship with the tourist
authorities and this was an opportunity to build on that and
help bring more people into our country as tourists. They
can enjoy the Twelfth and visit many of the historical sites
in Northern Ireland as well as visiting the excellent Battle
of the Boyne site in the Irish Republic.
"Our aim was to increase the number of tourists who
visit Northern Ireland and that can only be a good thing for
the economy."
The delegation also held discussion with potential philanthropic
funders, who may consider helping the Institution develop
its plans for an interpretive and education centre at its
headquarters in Schomberg House, Belfast.
David Scott, Education Officer, said:
"We have ambitious plans for an interpretive and education
centre. Its role will be to tell the story of the Order and
promote greater understanding of the Institution throughout
the entire community.
"We have regular visitors from all sections of the community
who are really interested in our history and love to see the
artefacts and documents that we keep at Schomberg House.
We can develop that further and the archives we keep would
be of tremendous interest to genealogists tracing their family
roots.
The Orange Order delegation also visited Scots-Irish historical
sites and met tourism chiefs.
There are currently two Orange lodges meeting in New York,
one in the Bronx and the other in Manhattan and meetings were
held with members of both lodges. They reported a recent resurgence
in interest in the Orange Order in the United States. Two
new lodges have been formed in the past couple of years, in
New York and North Carolina.
Grand Secretary Drew Nelson said;
"I was delighted by the enthusiasm and ability of the
members we met in New York and hope that the Grand Orange
Lodge of Ireland will be able to offer practical support to
them as they continue to expand."
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