"I read last week that there are nine murders a day and a thousand muggings a day in New York well I reckon we're better than that!" Robert Hall, Chief Executive of NI Tourism.

Bill Kerr Elliot reports on the people challenged with the seemingly impossible task of selling Northern Ireland as a tourist destination in the midst of the Troubles.

Interviewed are: Jack Fawcett the manager of a once popular, but now struggling Portrush hotel; Robert Hall the everoptimistic Chief Executive of NI Tourism; Betty Michie of the Tourist Board's office in Glasgow; tour operator Stanley Dornan; Lord O'Neill whose steam engine used to be a tourist attraction; Joe Mendoza who is tasked with creating a promotional film, The Quiet Land* for Northern Ireland; advertising executive Rod Moore; and Robert Hamilton the Chairman of the NI Tourist Board.

What do the few tourists who do visit Northern Ireland think about the place? Why did they choose to come here?

Originally broadcast, 10 July, 1974.


*Footage from The Quiet Land courtesy of National Museums NI, on behalf of Tourism NI.

You can watch the tourist board film, The Quiet Land, in its entirety for free as part of the Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive: https://digitalfilmarchive.net/media/...





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