Does Anybody Really Care About The Titanic? Really Like? Really?

[Maguire01]

Is the visitor centre at Eamhain Macha still open? Would the injection of a few hundred million not have made the historic home of Irelands kings a world beating tourist attraction, which has more than tenuous (and not embarrassing) links to something tangible??

A few hundred million? The Titanic thing was only around £80m!
Also, whilst your proposal might be nice, I can't see the demand.

[Maguire01]

The cameraman got a good angle on the sign!

[haranguerer]

Theres certainly going to be many interesting stories, but to pump millions in to attempt to create a tourist industry around it is stupid and ridiculous. The Beatrix Potter thing doesnt surprise me either - anything that may seperate Norn Irn from its actual heritage is grabbed at.

Is the visitor centre at Eamhain Macha still open? Would the injection of a few hundred million not have made the historic home of Irelands kings a world beating tourist attraction, which has more than tenuous (and not embarrassing) links to something tangible??

What do you have in mind?

Interactive galleries, 3d holograms, banqueting halls, that kind of thing, y'know?

Maguire - I dont believe the demand for the titanic is sustainable. Theres nothing wrong with trying to capitalise on something that has captured the public imagination, and if theres money to be made by someone, then fair play. However, to put well over £100million (check it), of public money into one very fragile, tenuous, and somewhat tasteless basket, seems downright stupid, and I think if they were willing to show this level of support to some tourist project, they could have picked a much better theme to champion.

[Maguire01]

Maguire - I dont believe the demand for the titanic is sustainable. Theres nothing wrong with trying to capitalise on something that has captured the public imagination, and if theres money to be made by someone, then fair play. However, to put well over £100million (check it), of public money into one very fragile, tenuous, and somewhat tasteless basket, seems downright stupid, and I think if they were willing to show this level of support to some tourist project, they could have picked a much better theme to champion.

I don't know whether it's sustainable in the long term as a visitor centre either. But it was built, as you say, to capitalise on an existing interest. I'm not sure you can manufacture a significant interest from nothing just as easily. Have you anything else in mind that could become an attraction for 300,000 visitors a year?

Not sure it's a waste of money even if it isn't sustainable as a visitor centre either - the Millenium Dome in London was labelled as such and has managed to reinvent itself as a very busy concert venue. If over 10 years or so the visitor numbers plummet, it doesn't necessarily mean that £Xm was wasted on what is a great piece of architecture.

And when I checked, the building cost £77m - £60m public and £17m private.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17552802

[ziggysego]

There was one of these at a commemoration event in Antrim's Loughshore Park paid for by the Council...I think we can close the thread now.

You think that's bad? Wait to you see this....

[ONeill]

[ziggysego]

A money box

[Eamonnca1]

Vegas does it best, boys.  The hot dawgs go on!

[haranguerer]

Maguire - I dont believe the demand for the titanic is sustainable. Theres nothing wrong with trying to capitalise on something that has captured the public imagination, and if theres money to be made by someone, then fair play. However, to put well over £100million (check it), of public money into one very fragile, tenuous, and somewhat tasteless basket, seems downright stupid, and I think if they were willing to show this level of support to some tourist project, they could have picked a much better theme to champion.

I don't know whether it's sustainable in the long term as a visitor centre either. But it was built, as you say, to capitalise on an existing interest. I'm not sure you can manufacture a significant interest from nothing just as easily. Have you anything else in mind that could become an attraction for 300,000 visitors a year?

Not sure it's a waste of money even if it isn't sustainable as a visitor centre either - the Millenium Dome in London was labelled as such and has managed to reinvent itself as a very busy concert venue. If over 10 years or so the visitor numbers plummet, it doesn't necessarily mean that £Xm was wasted on what is a great piece of architecture.

And when I checked, the building cost £77m - £60m public and £17m private.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17552802

More bullshit from the local media then'. This is from here www.titanic-foundation.org - FAQs (cant link as its a downloaded file)

'How much will Titanic Belfast cost?
The cost of the building is £97 million (including VAT and in kind contributions from Belfast
Harbour Commission).'
'
Add in the other work on the titanic project and its well above £100m.

This 300,000 visitors a year figure is never going to happen with this project. And its probably easier to manufacture significant interest out of 'nothing' than it is to latch onto something. Any visitors centre is gonna struggle, becuase no matter how good they rely on an exisiting interest, which already limits your market, (or exisiting trade, as in an already high volume of tourists, which we dont have). Noone is going to go on holiday to the titanic centre - many people go on holiday to eurodisney. They should have looked for something that was an attraction in itself, be it a theme park or similar.

We've got the odyssey, which is already one white elephant being made less so by its suitability as a concert venue, and there are a few more dotted round the city - these concerts will have to be spread very thinly.

If it wasnt such a great piece of architecture, I dont think there would be half the desire to defend the project. And it certainly is a great piece of architecture. But I dont think using public money chasing a tourism project that seems certain to be doomed to failure from the outset, is that sensible.

[sheamy]

http://www.thai-tanic.com/

[Applesisapples]

Alex Attwood has just announced a £300m visitor centre is to be built in Derry to celebrate the sinking of a German U-Boat in Lough Foyle in 1945. Mr Attwood claims this will give the North West a greater share of the lucrative German All inclusive Market  and help sustain Derry's Hotels when the City of Culture ends.

[armaghniac]

The Goebbels take on things http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=accqYs7CLYE

The film was not released in Germany as the scenes of disaster were a bit close to the bone in 1943.

The boat used in filming this was filled with concentration camp prisoners in 1945 and sailed into the Baltic, where the RAF bombed it and 3 times as many people died as on the Titanic.

[Maguire01]

http://www.thai-tanic.com/

That has been there for years.

[nifan]

The Goebbels take on things http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=accqYs7CLYE

The film was not released in Germany as the scenes of disaster were a bit close to the bone in 1943.

The boat used in filming this was filled with concentration camp prisoners in 1945 and sailed into the Baltic, where the RAF bombed it and 3 times as many people died as on the Titanic.

Fascinating story that, missed the documentary they showed on it recently.

Another film made about the titanic was  Saved From the Titanic, starring an actual survivor - Dorothy Gibson - and made less than a month after the disaster - she even wore the same clothes she was wearing! Her life after the titanic was pretty insane as well.

[Maguire01]

Maguire - I dont believe the demand for the titanic is sustainable. Theres nothing wrong with trying to capitalise on something that has captured the public imagination, and if theres money to be made by someone, then fair play. However, to put well over £100million (check it), of public money into one very fragile, tenuous, and somewhat tasteless basket, seems downright stupid, and I think if they were willing to show this level of support to some tourist project, they could have picked a much better theme to champion.

I don't know whether it's sustainable in the long term as a visitor centre either. But it was built, as you say, to capitalise on an existing interest. I'm not sure you can manufacture a significant interest from nothing just as easily. Have you anything else in mind that could become an attraction for 300,000 visitors a year?

Not sure it's a waste of money even if it isn't sustainable as a visitor centre either - the Millenium Dome in London was labelled as such and has managed to reinvent itself as a very busy concert venue. If over 10 years or so the visitor numbers plummet, it doesn't necessarily mean that £Xm was wasted on what is a great piece of architecture.

And when I checked, the building cost £77m - £60m public and £17m private.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17552802

More bullshit from the local media then'. This is from here www.titanic-foundation.org - FAQs (cant link as its a downloaded file)

'How much will Titanic Belfast cost?
The cost of the building is £97 million (including VAT and in kind contributions from Belfast
Harbour Commission).'
'

From your source - Titanic Belfast is being funded through a public/private partnership, made up of:
• DETI (£36.95m)
• Titanic Quarter Ltd (£16.35m)
• Belfast Harbour Commissioners (£13.6m)
• Belfast City Council (£10m)

It's £77m in actual money - as I understand it, the 'in kind contribution' would be the transfer of land that was already in public ownership, so that's really an academic number - it's not a cost to the public purse unless there was a private sector buyer ready and willing to pay £20m for that particular plot of land.