Halloween funds cut a blow to Derry

Viewpoint

Halloween celebrations in Londonderry

June 18 2022 07:00 AM

Double, double toil and trouble, the cauldron is simmering rather than bubbling.Disappointingly, when the price of everything goes up, the spending on everything must come down.

Like households around Northern Ireland, Tourism NI is starting to watch the pennies — and there’s a bit of ghostbusting going on.

Maybe tourism chiefs think we’re all scared enough already at the way the world is shaping up.

The vampire teeth have been sunk into the budget for one of the most colourful, spectacular highlights in the cultural calendar — and now Londonderry might not be quite as frightening on Halloween this year.

There’s still a fair chunk — £118,000 — being allocated by Tourism NI to the monster mash that’s been an annual graveyard smash, but that’s down on the maximum allocation for an international event.

In a year when ‘Awakening the Walled City’ is set to be the theme, the fear is that some of the fun will be slipped back into the coffin as the coffers will be a little bit lighter.

It would be a shame if this massive crowd-pleaser has to be scaled back through lack of funds.

But despite being faced with producing a lower budget horror than before, the organisers have always done a fabulous job of promoting and hosting the event. What’s lacking in finance will have to be made up for in invention.

Sadly, this is just the latest sign of the times, coming as businesses could be doing with the influx of visitors that provide the lifeblood for the economy.

And it’s also come at a time when the success of TV’s Derry Girls, in which the Halloween festival featured in the final series, may have added a few more visitors to the city to catch the action.

The hope remains that the event can still return to pre-pandemic levels.

In 2019, Derry Halloween attracted over 145,000 visitors with over £3 million in a boost to the economy.

If only we could do the Time Warp and go back a few years...