NI tourism sector split on impact of new travel permit

Despite warnings, the expansion of a UK travel permit scheme to EU visitors is not impacting tourism to Northern Ireland according to some businesses in the sector.

As of Tuesday, visitors from the EU will join those from the rest of the word in needing an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to enter the UK.

The head of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance has said this amounts to a barrier for tourists who have come to the Republic of Ireland and may wish to visit Northern Ireland.

However, a hotel group and a tour company have both told the BBC they have not seen an impact to their business.

Colin Johnston managing director of the Galgorm Collection said that while the sector had campaigned against the ETA, once it was explained to visitors "it lands fine and they understand it".

Speaking on the BBC's Talkback programme he said some guests had been spooked by the "substantial negativity in our media" about the ETA, adding that "we're maybe doing more damage to ourselves by continuing to talk about it".

Heather Rennie McGill from the tour company Rabbie's said it is an issue of "communication and how we make it easy for customers to do the legal stuff they need to to enter the country".

She said that when the ETA was first introduced in 2023 for visitors travelling to the UK from outside the EU there was an impact "on the level of service or customer care that we had to do but I didn't see it impact our bookings."

However, she said that the system was causing anxiety for some customers and was an unwelcome extra cost.

The UK Government has said that the ETA will help prevent abuse of the immigration system.

Joanne Stuart, the head of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance has said that Northern Ireland is being removed from the itineraries of tourism trips for a number of companies to the island of Ireland due to the expansion of the scheme.

"We are promoted as part of the island of Ireland and that's always been based very much on seamless travel."

She told the BBC that 69% of holidaymakers spending time in Northern Ireland come through the Republic.

"We've put this barrier in the way... and we're starting to see the impact of that."

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday, Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said she was "deeply concerned about the impact of the introduction of the ETA scheme and what it will mean for our tourism sector".

Archibald said she had engaged with the UK Government as recently as last week on the issue and repeated calls for Northern Ireland to be exempt from the scheme.

Previous calls for an exemption for Northern Ireland were rejected by the last UK Government, who said said it would result in "an unacceptable gap" in UK border security.

The ETA is a permit which non-British and non-Irish citizens, who do not require a visa, will generally need to enter the UK.

That will include international visitors who arrive in Dublin and then plan to travel to Northern Ireland.

It currently costs £10 to apply using the UK ETA app or online through GOV.UK, however, this fee will go up to £16 on 9 April.

According to the government website, those who apply for an ETA will usually get a decision within 3 working days, although they claim many could "get a much quicker decision".

The travel journalist Lisa Minot told BBC News NI that for most people it "should be a matter of minutes".

An ETA lasts for 2 years or until your passport expires and you can travel to the UK as many times as you want while you have an ETA.