Originally Posted by
owenc
Ok then..Americans and so on are flocking to Northern Ireland. Where are our Transatlantic flights?
And why does Dublin airport have over 31 million passengers per annum compared with BFS's measly 6.5 million? Explain that.
The reality is that foreigners want the authentic Irish experience, so they go south. They don't want to see Belfast or look at 'Peace Wall's'.
You're 100% correct. Tourists bar the odd one don't want to visit Belfast (no more than they want to visit Derry, Limerick or Cork city), as it's a kip, and there's nout to do other than look at poorly drawn murals, flegs, and an overpriced Titanic museum. Not that Dublin has loads more to offer, but it's got a party atmosphere and the pubs are busy every night. Those that do venture north, are either brave Southerners (the vast majority I have met living in Dublin for four years are terrified of what will happen to them in the north and afraid to speak when they do come up, even in "Nationalist" areas), Northerners that live in the South and drag people up kicking and scream (like myself), foreigners living in the South that have already exhausted the Bray Cliff Walk, Howth Head Walk, Glendalough, the Cliffs of Moher, and Galway, or gung-ho French and Germanīs. I think you were also kind about Southern Englander's too, they're on the whole terrified of the North too. But to be honest, with the carry on the way it is, it's not going to change anytime soon.