Where have all the tourists gone?

I sat for an hour or so in Derry’s Guildhall Square, watching the people coming and going, drunks, locals, buskers, children, parents, tour guides and even the odd tourist…  All manner of life passes through it.

It’s not the first time I’ve done this, but usually in August the square is heaving with people, and the water fountains are proving fun for the kids running through them avoiding the jets.  Today the numbers were much less, and I suspect that’s a reflection of the fear caused by the Covid-19 measures, and the resultant decrease in foreign tourism.  There were some English accents, but none of the usually-heard American accents, or buses of Japanese tourists with their ubiquitous cameras.  Things are much quieter this year!

 

There were a handful of tourists though, even though the numbers must be well down on previous years…