Belfast's lovely downtown
Lord Mayor Máirtin Ó Miulleoir (centre) with new Belfast 'Ambassadors' Hugo Straney & John Speers
Tanya Warren & Jayne Shackleford of Tourism Ireland in Canada
Michael Barry of the Toronto Irish Film Fest with Globus family of brands' Stéphanie Bishop
There are mayors. And there are mayors. There’s crack. Then there’s craic – pronounced “crack” but meaning great fun, particularly Irish fun. So there I was with a group of Belfast fans and admirers, in the company of the city’s Lord Mayor, enjoying a great deal of craic in downtown Toronto and feeling pretty good about it.
And I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Máirtin Ó Miulleoir clearly brings great charm and compassion to his role, which continues to be a challenging one, and over the course of the Saturday brunch he was not glossing over Belfast’s troubled history. But he made it equally clear that the city is enjoying a renaissance of employment and prosperity – and tourism. “It’s wonderful to be here in a time of peace, and the news from Belfast is uniformly positive,” he said. “The city has been transformed out of recognition – and we now have the fastest-growing knowledge economy in Europe. Get to Belfast before the world hears about it!”
Jayne Shackleford, who heads up Tourism Ireland here in Canada, told us that some 40,000 Canadians visited Belfast (which is just a 2 hr. drive north of Dublin) last year, and with year-round air service being introduced next year, that number can only go up.
What draws us? Many Canadians have family roots in Northern Ireland; or they are intrigued by the hugely successful Titanic Belfast permanent exhibit; or they’ve been watching Game of Thrones and want to explore its setting.
Perhaps it’s the music scene, the history – Belfast is proud of its living history and survival of the Troubles over the last 30 years of last century, the growing farm-to-table food options, or the craic. “The Irish are known for being garrulous – good talkers – and in Belfast we want to be the best of that,” the Lord Mayor told the appreciative group.
It was hard to sit in that room in downtown Toronto and not compare mayors (all craic jokes aside). If I were in the business of promoting tourism in a city, there’s no question who I’d rather have on my side. “I bless the days we move forward,” said Máirtin Ó Miulleoir. Lucky Belfast residents indeed.
