I’d like tourists to see the light and shade of NI, says TV travel presenter Reeve
ADVENTURER and BBC travel presenter Simon Reeve believes visitors to Northern Ireland should ask questions about the darker side of our country and history and not just settle for the standard tourist sights.
The 46-year-old, who lives in Devon with his wife Anya and son Jake (7), is currently sharing stories from every forgotten corner of the planet on a sell-out tour.
And he is bringing his programme An Audience With Simon Reeve to Belfast’s Ulster Hall in April next year.
He said: “I hope that it will inspire [people] a little bit to learn a bit more about the world and get out there and travel and take a few more chances in life.
“I talk about my journeys and the adventures I’ve had and, really crucially, the people that I’ve met on my journeys who are often very charismatic and inspiring.
“Those stories certainly move people on this side of the water and I can’t imagine why a crowd in Northern Ireland will be any different.”
In 2015 Reeve spent some time filming in Belfast over The Twelfth. He said: “I was upset that I didn’t know more about the situation. That was a surprise. I think it’s very dangerous for people from outside to step in and say, ‘Come on everybody, come all together and sing Kumbaya and hold hands and it’ll be all right.’
“You can’t put aside generations of problems that are rooted in genuine grievances on all sides, and you can’t expect people to fix that with a hug.
“I think my realisation was, this is much more complicated than even I had realised. I had studied it before and I’d been