Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Minutes of Proceedings - 8 December 2020

Northern Ireland Assembly Branch - Executive Committee

Present: 

Mr William Humphrey MLA, Chair 
Ms Michelle McIlveen MLA
Mr Jonathan Buckley MLA
Mr Stewart Dickson MLA
Mr Mervyn Storey MLA
Dr Steve Aiken MLA
Mr Robin Newton MLA

Apologies:

Mr Mervyn Storey MLA

Also In attendance:

Ms Joanne Stuart, CEO of the NI Tourism Alliance
Mr Simon Burrowes, CPA Branch Secretary
Ms Louise Close, Engagement Manager
Ms Nicola Crawford, Parliamentary Engagement Co-ordinator (Minutes)
Ms Pauline Carlisle, Engagement Officer

1. WELCOME

The Chair welcomed Members of the CPA NI Executive Branch to the meeting.

2. APOLOGIES

Mr Mervyn Storey MLA was unable to attend.

3. VIRTUAL MEETING WITH MS JOANNE STUART, CEO OF THE NI TOURISM ALLIANCE

The Chair introduced Ms Stuart to the members and thanked her for attending the meeting. The Chair gave Ms Stuart some background on the Branch and the planned programme of work, including hosting the BIMR Conference.

Ms Stuart thanked members for the invitation to the meeting and for their support for tourism in Northern Ireland. She discussed the tourism industry, stating that 2019 had been an extremely successful year for tourism in NI with 5 million tourists and £1billion in visitor spend. She then went on to discuss the heavy impact of the pandemic on the tourism industry and how they were working to help businesses get through to 2021 and help them get rebookings.

She stated that she would be very keen to be involved in the BIMR Conference to help showcase Northern Ireland and its tourism potential. She advised that she could put together tours for the delegates, which could focus on certain areas such as culture and food and drink. The tours could focus on either Belfast or other parts of the country such as the North Coast.

Mr Newton asked Ms Stuart if she could outline the type of itinerary she could provide for both Belfast and the North Coast.

Ms Stuart stated a Belfast tour could include the following:

• Titanic Belfast.
• SS Nomadic.
• Walking tour around Belfast.
• Food tour to sample local produce and dishes.

For the North Coast, the tour could include the following:

• Start in Carrickfergus, see the Castle.
• The Gobbins.
• Giant Causeway.
• Londonderry/Derry.

Ms Stuart agreed to put together draft written itineraries to share with the Members.

Mr Dickson advised that following a briefing from local airports he stated that they are extremely safe and that it is essential to promote Northern Ireland as a safe place to visit.

ACTIONS:

• Tour itineraries from Joanna Stuart.
• To incorporate how Northern Ireland is a COVID safe destination into all elements of the programme.

4. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes were agreed with an amendment from Mr Newton.

5. CHRISTMAS BRANCH MEETING

The Chair gave Members an update on the plans for Christmas meeting on Tuesday 15th December.

6. MARKETING STRATEGY

The Chair asked Members how they want to market the Branch. Members agreed to the following:

• Their main aim is to raise the profile of the Branch and people's awareness of the CPA and its work.
• They want a social media presence – a website and Facebook page.
• They want a pop-up stand for use at events.

ACTIONS:

• A marketing strategy to be drafted with Communications.
• A pop-up stand to be ordered.

7. PARTNER COUNTRIES

The Chair advised that Anguilla, Ghana and Namibia are being considered as partnership countries.

The Chair asked for a decision to be made on which country to partner with for the next meeting.

ACTION: Partner country to be chosen.

6. BIMR CONFERENCE

Members agreed that the conference survey should be issued to all BIMR Secretaries.

ACTION: Survey to be issued.

7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

CWP Activities

Ms McIlveen advised that she had spoken to Helen Haywood, CWP co-ordinator, about her CWP role and their activities.

NI Connections

Moira Loughran to be invited to the February meeting.

8. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will take place in January, date dependent on the Economy Minister's availability.

WILLIAM HUMPHREY MLA
CHAIR