Enterprise Minister Sir Reg Empey has praised the "creativity and imagination" of people working in tourism as the key elements in putting the attraction back into Northern Ireland’s appeal as a place to visit.

Sir Reg made his remarks during a visit to the North West Festival where he welcomed riders and their supporters, including bikers from all over Ireland, the UK and countries throughout the world, to the week-long event.

The Minister said: "The local tourist industry has shown just how resilient it is and how capable it has been in overcoming years of negativity when Northern Ireland simply was not on the tourist map. Last year, just as tourism was beginning to make a comeback, the Foot and Mouth outbreak struck with devastating consequences, including travel restrictions on those from outside the Province."

Commending the organisers of the North West Fest, the Minister said: "The organisers of this event could have buried their heads in the sand as they stared disaster in the face, but instead they used their collective imagination to think their way round salvaging the income lost to the area because of the cancellation of the road races.

"To help mitigate disaster, they came up with the idea of a local festival, and as a result, this year, the North West Fest is bigger and better than ever, with a new festival and the traditional North West 200 races together, providing a whole range of activities for everyone to enjoy.

"The high level of attendance this year is a testament to the organisers’ vision and confidence in the future. I believe we can all learn from this ‘can do’ and ‘will do’ attitude, and take pride in what Northern Ireland has to offer."

Referring to visitor figures recently released by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, the Minister said: "Despite the cancellation of last year’s races and other events which might have attracted visitors from the UK, we saw growth in visitor numbers of 11% from Great Britain and 16% from Scotland. We should therefore see further significant increases this year, now the handicap of travel restrictions has been removed.

"The very positive feedback from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s Marketing Workshop last week, which was attended by over 170 international tour operators, leads me to believe that we are being successful in our efforts to sell Northern Ireland as a new and different holiday experience, to many new regions of Europe and further afield.

"This year there are clear signs of optimism within the tourism industry itself, and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board is more confident that their tireless efforts to promote the tourist industry will pay off and that we will enjoy a year of recovery and building for the future."

(CL)