Tourism in Northern Ireland: Horrible histories IN BELFAST they say, hopefully, that Titanic Belfast will be "our Guggenheim" - a landmark building to transform the city as the Spanish city of Bilbao was revived by its museum. The "visitor experience," which will open on March 31st, is certainly spectacular to look at, with a Bilbao-like metallic sheen. But the building's real significance is political. The Belfast shipyard from which the Titanic sailed a century ago was a Protestant stronghold. So it continued through much of the 20th century: few Catholics were employed there, and those who did were periodically purged. To rub salt into wounded Catholic feelings, the shipyard received generous subsidies from the state. Its eventual collapse - the result of Asian competition - is mourned by Protestants, who lost a source of well-paying manual work. Catholics are less tearful. Yet Titanic Belfast has been enthusiastically promoted by nationalist politicians as well as unionists. All hope that the public investment in the £97m ($154m) building will pay off in increased tourism. Northern Ireland gets few visitors at present - just 2.6m in 2010, compared with 12.4m for Scotland and 8.7m for Wales. A province that is trying to wean itself off the state needs more. As well as the Titanic, it now has sport as a selling-point: the world's most exciting golfer, Rory McIlroy, is a local man. In a sense, Titanic Belfast is a mere sea trial. This year Northern Ireland embarks on a "decade of centenaries" - a series of anniversaries of the violent events that led to the establishment of a largely Catholic Ireland and a largely Protestant Northern Ireland. First up is the centenary of the formation in 1912 of the Ulster Volunteers, a citizen militia set against Irish home rule. The potential for sectarian tension is considerable. To cope with the decade of centenaries, Northern Ireland's devolved government has set up a working party headed by ministers Arlene Foster of the Democratic Unionist Party and Caral Ni Chuilin of Sinn Fein. Significantly, the former is the daughter of a policeman shot by the Irish Republican Army, whereas the latter is a former IRA prisoner. The executive has decreed that the centenaries will be organised under the principles of "educational focus, reflection, inclusivity, tolerance, respect, responsibility and interdependence." That would be meaningless blather anywhere else in the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland it is new, and welcome.