NORTHERN IRELAND: BUSINESS & TOURISM AFFECTED BY RECENT TROUBLES

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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English/Nat This week's riots in Northern Ireland have already cost the province tens of (m) millions of dollars, and its feared the bill will rise sharply by July 12 when the marching season reaches its climax. APTV visited the province to see how business and tourism have been affected by the recent troubles. The view over Newry may be peaceful, but that's deceptive. Approaching the town along the main road between Belfast and Dublin motorists edge their way past roadblocks of burnt out lorries. Inside Newry itself workmen remove wreckage from a government building which was set on fire. Local people say the violence affects their lives in many ways. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well it's hard to get about, depends where you're going to. You can't take taxis, taxis are all off the road, in case they get hijacked, so literally you're in your own estate." SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop SOUNDBITE: (English) "The people, as far as we know, who are causing all this damage belong to Newry. They're the people that would cry for employment and yet they're putting businesses out of business and creating unemployment." SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop SOUNDBITE: (English) "I don't like the violence, you're sort of paying for it at night, but at the same time you have to sort of do something." SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop Back on the road overlooking the town an American tourist is getting his first real taste of the troubles. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I've seen a lot of graffiti on the road, aside from that I really haven't seen a lot until I just came to this site here. This is my first sight I've seen of destruction and an actual terrorist act." SUPER CAPTION: Jon Hazell, American tourist This is the usual face of tourism in Northern Ireland, an open air swimming pool in the seaside town of Newcastle, south of Belfast. The town rarely sees any violence itself. But there's concern T-V pictures of rioting, beamed worldwide, will drive away the desperately needed holiday makers. This tourist office was firebombed earlier this year. The tourist officer admits the current wave of violence has affected the number of visitors to the town. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well I suppose up until the last few days we were actually very positive about what tourism was going to be like here for the summer. We had considerable bookings but over these past few days I have to say we've had some cancellations. Obviously the pictures going out about Northern Ireland are not helping us here in Newcastle." SUPER CAPTION: Angela Gilchrist, local tourist officer Newcastle, with just 7-thousand permanent residents sees its population rise to 60-thousand during the peak holiday season. This Dutch tourist hasn't been put off by the violence. SOUNDBITE: (English) "It doesn't make for much peace of mind. Reading the newspaper yesterday and knowing what was going on but still we're not looking for any, we don't want to get involved in any of the troubles. We're sort of picking the route a bit, still it doesn't worry us that much. I've never heard of any tourist being molested in any way." SUPER CAPTION: Ed Van Estrik, Dutch tourist Despite this vote of confidence from a foreign tourist shopkeepers in the town say they're worried about losing business. SOUNDBITE: (English) "There's big concern this particular week. After the Drumcree incident last week people are very worried. There's a terrible fear around the country at the present moment. People are scared to move from town to town. There's a general deadness in Newcastle at the present moment. Hopefully after the 12th day demonstrations are over things will improve." SUPER CAPTION: Michael Nugent, shopkeeper You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/73195beffb1ecf826a14eea4394117b0 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork