MAKING A MARK ON HILTON

Mark Walker is a recent arrival to Northern Ireland, having taken up the position of Area General Manager for Hilton in Northern Ireland in October past, but he is a man with a clear vision for Hilton, for Belfast and for tourism.

Although he is new to Northern Ireland, Mark Walker is no stranger to Hilton hotels, where he has worked for over fifteen years, nor to Ireland, since he hails originally from Dublin.He has spent his entire career in the hotel business, having been bitten by the hospitality bug as a teenager working in a Dublin hotel his father had invested in.

Mark has worked throughout Great Britain, from Edinburgh to London and has spent the last six-and-a-half years at the five-star Hilton Cardiff. Apart from a couple of family trips, he had never been to Northern Ireland before, so why now?

“So part of the decision was that Northern Ireland was a good place to live for the family and then I do always enjoy what I think of as the Celtic nations – I find the staff and the people in Wales, Scotland and Ireland are warmer and more engaging. Belfast is similar to Cardiff in many ways; it’s got lots going for it and a lot of people haven’t discovered that yet, so there’s a great opportunity to promote both the Hilton name and Northern Ireland tourism.”

NEW CHAIRMAN FOR NITB

Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has announced the appointment of Mr Howard Hastings as Chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB),from 1 March 2009 until 31 December 2011.

Commenting on the appointment, the Minister said: “Despite the current economic downturn, I am confident that Mr Hastings will make a significant contribution to NITB’s endeavours in contributing to the achievement of stretching tourism targets in the Executive’s Programme for Government.The wide range of skills and experiences that Mr Hastings will bring to the board can assist the NITB in its pursuit to grow and develop Northern Ireland tourism.”

Howard Hastings is currently the Managing Director of Hastings Hotels. He is also a Director of Merrion Hotel Ltd (ROI) and is on the Board of Governors at Rockport School Ltd. He is currently the Chair of DEL’s Future Skills Action Group (Tourism and Hospitality Sector). He was originally appointed as a member of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board on 1 January 2009.

GO WHERE IRELAND TAKES YOU

Emma Cowan talked to Director of Brand Development and Markets for Tourism Ireland, Simon Gregory, about the challenge of delivering tourism growth in difficult economic conditions.

Simon Gregory came to Tourism Ireland, the body responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas, with a fine pedigree. As Sales and Marketing Director with Travelodge Hotels he was responsible for re-positioning the Travelodge brand and as Marketing Director with British Midland Airways, he relaunched the airline as bmi, led the company’s introduction of transatlantic services and also led the marketing team which created bmibaby, the airline’s low-cost subsidiary.

In the last few years Northern Ireland has had a taste of the potential tourism offers. Now, however, Ireland’s two most important markets – Great Britain and the United States – are the most badly hit by the economic downturn, with no signs yet of a turnaround.

“The difficulty we have is twofold,” commented Gregory. “One is operating in that environment and still being effective in what we do and the second is being able to judge where it’s all heading and when is it going to stop getting worse.”

“The whole idea of Go where Ireland takes you is that Ireland is the place where you don’t really want to plan every day, you want to go and see what you come across and the people that you meet and that’s what makes it special.”