Re-Imaging the Post-Conflict Quarter: Tourism in Westbelfast since the Good Friday Agreement

Abstract

This article highlights the development of tourism in West Belfast since the Good Friday Agreement. The quarter used to be a touristic spot for the niche segment of Troubles Tourism and has expanded its strategy in the last decade or so to appeal to politically conscious heritage tourists (Wiedenhopft Murphy 2010, 552). With regards to the tourism strategy of the city as a whole, West Belfast plays a special and somewhat contradictory role: At first glance West Belfast seems to be one of the few places where the history of the conflict is told at all. At the same time, the tourism-enhancing measures in West Belfast - focus on heritage tourism, quarterisation / theming of city space and physical renewal - mirror the approach to tourism in the rest of the city so that West Belfast also fits in seamlessly. I raise the question whether heritage tourism may be suited to overcome some of the societal tension regarding the remembrance of long-term intrastate conflict in post-conflict contexts.