The Open's £213 Million Opportunity (and Test) For Post-Brexit Northern Ireland
As The Open returns to Royal Portrush, record crowds are putting Northern Ireland's ecosystem to the test amid ongoing, and seemingly endless, post-Brexit challenges.
In this article:
The Open’s Return to Royal Portrush
Early Brexit Hopes for Northern Ireland as the “Singapore of the West”
The Reality of Brexit Bites for Businesses
Broader Economic and Political Challenges
Expected Long-Term Economic Benefits
Ireland's Broader Golf Tourism Success
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Introduction
Despite the constant challenges of the Brexit-toned backdrop and broader economic headwinds, there is still an air of unprecedented optimism in Northern Ireland this week as the Open Championship takes place at Royal Portrush for just the second time in 75 years.
The optimistic mood is characterized by the fact that approximately 280,000 golf fans are descending on Portrush for the largest ever sporting event in Northern Ireland’s history.
The total attendance will be 40,000 more than the number that attended the 2019 Open at Portrush, and the second most in Open history, behind only the 150th Open at St Andrews in 2022.
All told, this week presents a massive opportunity for Northern Ireland, and Ireland as a whole, but it will also be a massive test.
“Singapore of the West”
After the Brexit vote in 2016, when a UK referendum voted by 52% to 48% for Britain to leave the European Union, some business leaders in Northern Ireland dreamed of a future in which the region might become the "Singapore of the Western Hemisphere".
That was before reality bit.
In the years that followed, everyone had to face up to the realities of a new regulatory landscape, with constant bickering over the finer details and endless political maneuvering from various sides of the aisle.
Just the latest in a succession of seemingly endless challenges for businesses in Northern Ireland arrived just two weeks ago, when new "Not for EU" food labeling requirements added yet another layer of bureaucratic burden to businesses there, many of which were already struggling with the complex post-Brexit realities.
On the course, the main questions will be whether World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler can take another big step to his career Grand Slam, or can Rory McIlroy's dream of marking his return to his homeland with another Major win come true.
Off the course, there are other big questions this week.
Chief among them might be, can Northern Ireland deliver a world-class experience for those quarter of a million attendees while businesses and institutions there continue to navigate a challenging business environment?
The Post-Brexit Reality Check
Latest research paints a picture of life under the so-called Windsor Framework.
For the uninitiated:
The "Windsor Framework", which came into effect in October 2023, is a legally binding arrangement between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
As part of Brexit [officially "the EU-UK withdrawal agreement"] a "Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland" was introduced to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Following what have been described as "unforeseen practical challenges" relating to the implementation of the Protocol in the years after the implementation of Brexit began in 2020, the EU and UK agreed on a set of solutions – the "Windsor Framework" – that respond to the difficulties people and businesses in Northern Ireland have experienced because of Brexit.
Those practical challenges included everything from customs to VAT and excise duties, food and agriculture to medicines, state aid and pet travel.So, after years of negotiations, the Windsor Framework should have allowed everything to go more smoothly for businesses in Northern Ireland, right?
Not so fast.
A brand new and comprehensive 2025 survey conducted by the Northern Irish arm of Federation of Small Businesses — nearly 800 firms participated — reported that the Framework, which was “intended to unlock opportunities for Northern Ireland, is instead creating severe disruption for small businesses and fracturing the UK Internal Market”.
Its attention-grabbing findings included:
58% of businesses report "moderate to significant challenges" under the current arrangements.
More than a third (34%) have completely ceased trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to avoid compliance burdens.
More than half (56%) of businesses say they lack confidence to plan even 12 months ahead due to uncertainty.
Just 14% of businesses understand and benefit from access to both UK and EU markets.
SMEs say Government support services are failing SMEs, with 78% rating support as poor or very poor, and four in five saying it’s been difficult to access help
One business owner told FSB researchers: “Some suppliers with a 30-year trading history have just stopped supplying to us.” Another said: “The labelling, paperwork and rules are consuming time and money I just don't have.”
This is all a far cry from the cautious optimism of 2018, when FSB focus groups revealed business owners describing Northern Ireland's potential dual status as “a foot in both camps” and “Nirvana for Northern Ireland”.
The ongoing challenges are exemplified by the latest batch of mandatory "Not for EU" labeling on thousands of food products, which came into effect on July 1st. That requirement, affecting fruit, vegetables, fish and composite products moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, was called “bureaucratic madness” by Stuart Machin, the CEO of giant food and clothing retailer M&S.
Headaches and Headlines: Broader Economic and Political Challenges
While Brexit bureaucracy is a constant thorn in the side of ordinary citizens and business owners alike, it’s unlikely to affect the running of the event itself.
Royal Portrush will host, but the R&A — golf’s global governing body outside North America — controls the sporting machinery and will oversee the logistical running of the championship, bringing its own systems, processes, broadcast equipment and operational expertise.
What Northern Ireland must deliver is everything else – primarily the spectator experience, catering for the almost 300,000 supporters to come to the Causeway Coast this week.
They will bring high expectations, and patience for the broader political or economic climate is unlikely to run deep.
Apart from Brexit, the complexity of political life in Northern Ireland will also be seen this week — both through global media coverage and the on-the-ground fan experience — by the refusal of the local Portrush Sons of Ulster to reschedule a parade that will disrupt traffic on Saturday night. Taking place at the same time as tens of thousands of visitors will be trying to make their way home after the third round of The Open, the parade is certain to cause some headaches on top of the headlines. [Golf Digest described the parade as “a politically divisive, historically combustible, and arguably provocative march that will have a lot of people feeling a lot of very strong emotions along the Catholic-Protestant split in Northern Ireland”.]
Despite all this economic and political backdrop, one thing is 100% certain: the event itself will be a massive success.
Nobody involved will countenance anything else. The R&A is delivering an event it has long been a master at delivering, while Irish resourcefulness and the pride in its hospitality runs deep, so Northern Ireland will rise to the occasion again, just as it did in 2019.
A bigger question could be whether a successful sporting event in NI can transform into genuine and sustained economic impact.
Expected Long-Term Economic Benefits
Research from Sheffield Hallam University estimates the economic benefit to Northern Ireland will amount to £213 million, more than double the positive impact experienced following 2019.
For that to happen, it will require a combination of seamless hospitality, reliable transport, quality accommodation and the thousands of small details that create lifelong memories for the people who visit the area this week, many of them for the first time.
And it’s here — in the experiences around the event, not the event itself — where there will be a fear that all those supply chain disruptions and compliance burdens will bite.
As the FSB found, businesses all over Northern Ireland are fighting a bitter fight amid regulatory challenges, lack of official support and broader economic and cost-of-living headwinds. More granularly, hotels and restaurants will have lost reliable suppliers, and many other businesses that directly or indirectly cater for tourists will be struggling with increased costs, lower revenues and all sorts of economic and bureaucratic challenges.
How that affects the visitor experience this week is anyone’s guess, but if Northern Ireland is to capitalize on the exposure — and media valuation experts suggest that it will be worth more than £100m in earned coverage — addressing those challenges will be essential.
Fortunately, an integrated Irish approach ensures that while official support from London might be seen as insufficient, the North — in golf terms at least — could be part of a rising tide benefiting all 32 Irish counties.
Ireland's Broader Golf Tourism Success
The oldest of the Majors is still regarded as a very British institution — the official name designation is “The Open”, but even many ardent golf fans around the world have always called it “The British Open” — but Ireland as an island (and not just the six-county Northern Ireland jurisdiction) will be aiming to make hay from this week’s event.
Tourism Ireland is a cross-border institution founded by the Irish Government in Dublin and the Northern Irish Executive in Belfast following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, with a mission to promote inward tourism to the whole island of Ireland.
Therefore, while Portrush is situated in Northern Ireland and administratively within the UK, the entire island stands to benefit — and Tourism Ireland will be making sure it does.
Broadly, the golf tourism numbers in Ireland tell a very encouraging story. New figures from Tourism Northern Ireland, published in May, show that golf tourism reached a record £86.2 million in 2024 — up almost 66% from the 2019 Open year.
This success north of the border sits within the context of an even broader Irish golf tourism boom. That research by the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University mentioned earlier shows that golf contributed €717 million in direct economic value across Ireland in 2023, more than double the economic return as it delivered in 2014. The sport directly supports approximately 15,600 jobs across the island while generating €277.6 million annually in taxes.
In 2023, Ireland welcomed almost 250,000 golf tourists, generating approximately €500 million in revenue. American golfers and golf tourists make up approximately three-quarters of the market and spend three times more than the average leisure tourist.
While travelers from the USA are the lifeblood, cross-border tourism between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland also more than tripled over that decade, showing the rapid increase in appetite for Irish people to travel to and from either side of the border — which for many would have been unthinkable in the terrible decades of the Troubles.
For these travelers, unforgettable golf experiences are everywhere to be found around Ireland’s coast. Just down the road from Royal Portrush is Portstewart, an iconic venue in its own right and the host of the Irish Open in 2021, while an hour and a half further south, Royal County Down regularly tops lists of the world’s top golf courses.
Across the border in any direction and golden experiences are never more than a short drive away. From County Donegal in the north-west, where you’ll find Ballyliffin, Portsalon and Rosapenna’s famous triplet of courses, to County Kerry in the south-west (the home of Waterville, Ballybunion and Tralee) to Dublin’s The Island and Portmarnock — strongly mooted to become the first venue outside Britain and Northern Ireland to host the Open in the coming years — Ireland has a wealth of courses to compare with the very best that the “Home of Golf”, Scotland, has to offer.
Tourism Ireland’s strategy reflects the size of this opportunity.
Alongside industry partners, it has had a presence at a long list of DP World Tour events in recent years — everywhere from Dubai to Denmark and Abu Dhabi to Paris — and also regularly attends many of the world’s biggest golf business events, including the International Golf Travel Market in Rome, the IAGTO North American Golf Tourism Convention and the PGA Show in Orlando.
Following the Royal Portrush experience, golf in Ireland will receive another shot in the arm in 2027 when the Ryder Cup takes place at Adare Manor in County Limerick, the first time Ireland will host the event since the successful 2006 edition at The K Club.
One big pity with this, however, is that while Adare Manor and The K Club are two phenomenal venues in their own right, they are parkland courses. The Ryder Cup organizing committees have decided, in their wisdom, not to return to a links course in Britain or Ireland since the 1969 edition at Royal Birkdale.
With all this in mind, as the golf world's attention settles on County Antrim’s Causeway Coast this week, the storyline with the biggest long-term impact may not be who lifts the Claret Jug on Sunday evening.
A bigger narrative could be whether Northern Ireland can demonstrate that it can thrive in the complex and challenging post-Brexit environment.
If it succeeds, it will be by leveraging its unique advantages — not necessarily as an increasingly remote and overlooked part of an embattled United Kingdom, but as a jewel in a different sort of crown.
An Irish one.
Thanks for reading.
Till next time.
Shane
Does your business have a story worth telling? Does your brand messaging need the type of clarity that drives real results? The Wedge is a publication by Shane Breslin, content marketing and brand writing expert. I help ambitious leaders and brands find their genuine voice and then bring it to the world. I offer comprehensive brand messaging audits, CEO / executive ghostwriting that positions you as the authority in your space and new brand writing, everything from the heading on your homepage to the 25,000-word book you want to write. I deliver exceptional written storytelling that creates exceptional outcomes for your business. Find out more about my work and services here.