Summer might be over but it’s still full steam ahead for tourism season in the North West

This week we saw Foyle Port welcome its largest ever cruise liner to Lough Foyle, in the form of the Norwegian Star.

The arrival of the colossal liner on Wednesday marked the last of the 2023 cruise season for Foyle Port. There were 3,200 guests on board ship – that’s 3200 new visitors to our shores who will go home and spread the good word about the North West all over the world.

This news follows hot on the heels of the news that the Maritime Festival is set to welcome 100,000 visitors next year and even though the Clipper Race will not return this festival has become a treasured part of our tourism calendar and benefits so many of our member businesses. We are thrilled to see that it will return bigger and better than ever in 2024.

Although many external factors at the moment can make it difficult to be in business, North West businesses prove they are hardy and they continue to pivot, adapt and go from strength to strength.

Visit Derry have been working relentlessly over the last number of years to turn the city into one of the hottest visitor destinations in Western Europe and of course, we don’t need to wait until 2024 to welcome a new influx of visitors to our city and region. Europe’s biggest and spookiest Halloween Festival is just around the corner when Derry will draw thousands of visitors to our city for Derry Halloween. This festival is a landmark in our calendar year and will inject millions into our local economy with a four day ghostly extravaganza. We are busy working on our Halloween costumes as we speak…