Harry Connolly Bio

Name:
Harry Connolly

Location:
Belfast

Biography:
Harry Connolly is the Director of Fáilte Feirste Thiar, a local tourism development agency tasked with the responsibility of developing West Belfast’s tourism offering and building sustainable tourism infrastructure.

Previous to working in tourism development, he worked for a number of years in youth, sport and community development across the greater Belfast area.

Harry is the former vice chairperson of the West Belfast District Policing & Community Safety Partnership (DPCSP), a body established as a result of the developing political process which acknowledged the critical role of policing and justice in the North of Ireland.

He is also a board member with Visit Belfast, the public/private body tasked with marketing Belfast as a tourism destination, and develops strong relationships with key tourism stakeholders across the city and beyond.

He is the chairperson of Féile an Phobail, Ireland’s largest community arts festival which has sport, culture, arts, politics and identity as key pillars of its unique experience.

As a co–founder of Áras Uí Chonghaile, Belfast’s latest visitor attraction which opened in April 2019, Harry has led the development of the James Connolly project.

He is also a board member with Tourism Ireland, the national marketing body for the island of Ireland.

Harry has taken the opportunity provided by peace to develop the West Belfast tourism product and infrastructure, supporting tourism related business and social enterprises, promoting local social and economic regeneration via small business development and promoting tourism and sport as a model for delivering peace and reconciliation.

He has been central to the development of strategies that market the uniqueness of West Belfast as a tourist attraction, re-branding the area as the place to visit in the city.