Published: Thursday, 25th June, 2009 9:00am

Belleek Pottery"s record of 2.5m visitors

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Belleek Pottery celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Visitor Centre this week, marking the milestone achievement of 2.5 million visitors in those two decades.

Belleek now welcomes as many as 200,000 visitors a year to the landmark building on the shores of the Erne.

Operations Director, Mr. Arthur Goan, commented: 'Certainly the numbers are more than we expected. The first year we opened in 1989, we had 40,000 visitors. We did not think that 20 years later, we would be welcoming 180,000 to 200,000 visitors a year. They are big numbers.

'We have a fantastic centre. We have a lot of space and can easily accommodate four to five coach loads and we have staff to deal with that'.

'I am happy to say we are supported very well by the local community and the wider community of Northern Ireland. We have a lot of visitors coming from America, Australia, Canada and South Africa and the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain as well. Right now we are seeing more visitors from the Republic of Ireland market, probably because of the euro exchange rate. On the GB side, it looks as if we are going to have more people coming into Northern Ireland to holiday here as they are staying in the sterling zone, where it is probably too expensive to go abroad. We are hoping to benefit from that,' he said.

'The main part of the visitor experience is the tour. This year we are making the "Prisoner of Love", a very very old piece made in 1872. We found the old moulds and went into production for the special year of 20 years in tourism. The visitors are taken to where the "Prisoner of Love" is being made and see the way the 46 moulds are being put together.

'The tour is very important for us. It raises brand awareness and raises the company profile,' he added.

July and August are 'very busy' months, especially for the home and GB markets. 'But we are busy right until October/November time, the shoulder season. It is very important for us. It is part of the tourism season for Americans who may get special deals with flights and hotels at that time of year,' said Mr. Goan.

As many as 100 people work at the Belleek Pottery site, including those who work directly with the visitors to the landmark building.

Mr. Goan is in no doubt that the high visitor numbers have a spin-off for the rest of the county. 'We have 180,000 visitors coming in here. Many of those go on into Fermanagh and visit Enniskillen and other fantastic attractions such as the Marble Arch caves and the big houses as well. So, yes, there is a spin-off for everyone,' he said.

The day of celebration on Monday, marking the centre"s contribution to Fermanagh and Northern Ireland tourism, was catered by chef Neven Maguire, who is an ambassador for Belleek Living tableware.