The Belfast agreement and crossborder economic cooperation in the tourism industry

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the Belfast Agreement on north-south economic cooperation in Ireland, using the tourism industry as a case study. The first part of the paper sets out the suggested benefits that may arise from greater economic and business connections between both parts of the island. It also develops a policy framework which the authors believe is established by the Agreement to achieve these benefits. A number of propositions are developed to assess under what conditions the potential benefits from greater cooperation will actually materialise. The second part of the paper explores the case-study evidence. The paper concludes by arguing that although advances have been made towards greater cooperation, these new initiatives, for the most part, have not been of a deep or strategic kind. The “minimalist” character of strand two of the agreement suggests that no big “institutional push” is likely to emerge to change this situation.