Tourism in Northern Ireland: before violence, during and post violence

This chapter was commissioned by the editors. The chapter presents a narrative of tourism development over three distinct time periods; first, pre violence up to the outbreak of violence where a strong domestic industry and visitor flow exists; second; a period of overt violence (1969-1994) that discusses the absence of tourism development and decline of visitor numbers, only to increase over the late 1980s and early 1990s; and third, developments post violence (1995 to the present day). This last period is discussed in terms of the significant tourism infrastructure projects that have happened, the rise of dark tourism as a niche opportunity and the role of hosting mega and medium sized events has played in overall tourism industry strategy.