‘Ambitious’ plan to double NI’s tourism industry by 2035

The economy minister has launched a plan to almost double the size of the tourism industry sector in Northern Ireland over the next 10 years.

One of the 17 objectives in the plan is to press for a solution to the introduction of the UK government’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme.

The “ambitious but achievable” plan from Conor Murphy includes a target to generate more than £2bn from overnight visitors by 2035.

Tourism expenditure for 2023 was a record £1.2bn, according to official figures. There are no specific costings for the goals in the plan.

In order to hit the target, the minister said he would restore funding…