The Executive Decision: Northern Ireland’s disconnected approach towards circular economy and tourism policy

Introduction (Background, context and research question):
Currently, Northern Ireland’s (NI) economy is only 7.9% circular (DfE, 2022). This means that NI is using substantially more natural resources than it can regenerate each year. The continual disregard for the environment suggests that the current linear economic system is outdated, with interest peaked towards a circular economic system which promotes resource minimisation (Andersen, 2007; Zhong et al., 2011). In 2022, the NI Department for Economy (DfE) commissioned the – “Circularity Gap Report”. This report identified the tourism industry as one of the main sectors contributing to the circularity gap, however, remains vague on specific actions to reduce the gap. As part of a wider PhD project, objective 1 of the study is to gain an understanding of Northern Ireland’s approach towards tourism circularity through conducting an in-depth content analysis of Northern Ireland policy documentation relevant to the circular economy and the tourism industry.

Methodology
To complete the above objective, an abductive, qualitative content analysis was undertaken on 25 NI policy documents. Each of the policy documents were published within the last 10 years (2015-2025), have relevance to the circular economy and/or tourism industry, and derive from both a NI Executive department level and local council level. The policy documents were initially coded against themes which emerged within a prior thematic analysis on circular tourism academic articles. These codes were then merged and refined to produce a series of final themes.

Key Findings and Analysis
Mutual themes within the 25 policy documents include value creation, stakeholder collaboration and governmental support. However, this policy analysis also highlights a disconnect at all policy levels regarding the implementation of a circular economy and the tourism industry’s development within NI. Of the NI-wide policy documents, the term “circular economy” is referenced 501 times, with the majority of references contained within the DfE funded – “Circularity Gap Report”- and the “Draft Circular Economy Strategy” (DfE, 2022; DfE, 2023).
However, these two documents specifically identify the tourism industry as a key sector for improvement, yet there contain only 4 references to the term “circular economy” within NI tourism policy documents. This includes the 2024 – “Draft Tourism Strategy”- a strategy developed for the entire NI tourism industry (DfE, 2024). Also, amongst the local council documents included in this policy analysis, only 1 contained reference to the term “circular economy”, highlighting an almost total lack of circular economy inclusion.


Conclusion
The policy analysis concludes a need for a more joined-up approach towards policy development for the implementation of a circular economy within the NI tourism industry.

References:
Andersen, M.S. (2007) An introductory note on the environmental economics of the circular economy. Sustainability Science, 2 (1), 133–140.
Department for the Economy (2024) Tourism Strategy for Northern Ireland - 10 Year Plan. Northern Ireland: Department for the Economy.
Department for the Economy (2023) Draft Circular Economy Strategy for Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland: Department for the Economy.
Department for the Economy (2022) The Circularity Gap Report Northern Ireland | Department for the Economy.
Zhong, L., Deng, J., Song, Z. and Ding, P. (2011) Research on environmental impacts of tourism in China: Progress and prospect. Journal of Environmental Management, 92 (11), 2972–2983.