Based on site visits, archival research, participant observation and structured interviews of public and private sector organizations, this chapter investigates the role that tourism and, in particular, political tourism plays in fostering peace in Northern Ireland. It is argued that, despite the controversy it generates, political tourism contributes to internal peace through projects in which ex-prisoner organizations from opposite sides of the political divide collaborate to deliver tours that provide visitors with a comprehensive picture of the conflict. The chapter also explores the educational value of political tourism especially for visitors from politically unstable destinations, and the potential for international cooperation.

In dark tourism research there is a scarcity of literature that discusses Northern Ireland as a dark tourism destination. This research study was undertaken to investigate the difference in the level of support for dark tourism in Northern Ireland between the generations who lived through the Troubles and those who heard about them. This study employed a qualitative research method based on the completion of focus groups consisting of Protestants and Catholics from different generations. This allowed the authors to gather the views of different Northern Ireland residents' groups. The research found that the views of the younger generation (aged 18-35) and the middle-aged generation (36-55) are similar. These generations believe that the Troubles should be utilised for the purpose of dark tourism as this will benefit Northern Ireland financially and socially. In contrast, the older generation (aged 56-75+) believes that the Troubles are too recent to be exploited for dark tourism development. This is in line with the literature on the topic that was consulted as part of this research.

Recent years have seen cultural heritage tourism mature as a distinct body of academic inquiry. Culture, however, is a broad concept. As a consequence, cultural heritage tourism can be segmented into more specific subcategories. Among these are religious and political tourism. A review of the literature on political tourism and religious tourism reveals that tourists who have interest in things political and religious share similar motivations and often make use of similar attractions. However, the interrelation between religious and political tourism is an issue that has barely been addressed within academia. Possible connection here, it is argued by the authors, to be particularly evident in Northern Ireland. This study presents the views of public and private tourism sector organizations across Northern Ireland on the potential to link political and religious tourism as a definable niche product, what the authors have labeled as politico-religious tourism and investigates their willingness to collaborate to develop this new niche product.

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