[caption id="attachment_67977" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Garvan O'Doherty."]
Hotelier and Derry entrepreneur Garvan O'Doherty told the Golden Bridges gathering in Boston that sustainable tourism represented a key economic driver for Northwest Ireland.
But O'Doherty warned more resources were needed from Tourism Ireland if the area was to realize its potential as a tourism destination.
"After decades in which holidaymakers avoided Northern Ireland like the disaster zone it was, today the story is very different," O'Doherty said.
"The latest figures report an 11 percent increase in overseas visitor numbers to Northern Ireland in the first half of 2011. We particularly benefited from the influx of visitors from North America."
However, O'Doherty added that while tourism across Ireland was growing, the country was still "only midway in the international league table of tourism growth."
"I believe that both the Republic and Northern Ireland have the potential to greatly increase their rate of growth in tourism," he said.
"Sustainability is becoming an ever-more central concern of the tourism industry. There will be a much greater focus in tourism on healthy lifestyles, the natural environment, and exercise-based holiday activities. There will be higher demand for walking holidays, boating activities, fishing holidays, golfing holidays, cycling holidays.
"However, to achieve our potential in these activities, we have to invest. We need an infrastructure, much of which is low-cost. And we also need the tourism promotion bodies to recognize the opportunities these activities offer.
"A coherent strategy for tourism promotion in this region must have at its heart our natural environment which is unrivalled. Our beaches, mountains and rivers are beautiful and few, if any regions, anywhere in the world can compete with our natural environment. This should enable us to market walking holidays, boating holidays, cycling holidays, fishing holidays. And while there are some niche operators offering a small number of these holidays, we need this sector focus to be expanded."
Doherty, who owns the Da Vinci and Waterfront hotels in Derry, was pivotal in brokering a deal between the Orange Order and Derry residents to ensure the marching season passed off peacefully in Derry.
