Visit Belfast marketing campaign highlights the best of city
Visit Belfast is encouraging locals and visitors to ‘Find Your Belfast’ this autumn, in an exciting new marketing campaign, funded by Belfast City Council with support from Belfast One (the city centre collective).
The campaign promotes Belfast as a vibrant city with an abundance of things to discover, experience and enjoy, providing compelling reasons to visit for the day or for an overnight trip.
A casting call on social media discovered the local cast for the campaign, and they are featured sharing the things they love most about the city, shining a light on some of the world-class events and festivals, fantastic shopping and great food on offer in Belfast this autumn.
The campaign will run until the end of October across a range of channels including outdoor advertising on billboards, buses and bus stops; radio advertising, digital display advertising and social media in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Additionally, 100,000 leaflets will be distributed door-to-door across both markets, listing key events happening across the city this autumn.
Belfast Lord Mayor Brian Kingston said, “This campaign shows Belfast as a vibrant international city with a busy festival and events calendar; an evolving evening economy; unique shopping; and award-winning dining. It will generate awareness and stimulate new and existing audiences to choose Belfast as a day trip and overnight destination, offering something truly unique, authentic and contemporary.”
Gerry Lennon, Chief Executive of Visit Belfast added, “Belfast has enjoyed an incredibly successful summer season, with more visitors than ever before. In July and August, hotel demand was at a record high, and we are confident that the autumn season will be just as successful. With so much happening in Belfast – the Ulster Bank Belfast International Arts Festival, David Hockney’s latest exhibition at The MAC, BBC Good Food Show and Belfast Restaurant Week to name a few – this campaign will show that the city is the place to visit this autumn, for both day trips and city breaks.”
The campaign aims to generate 50,000 trips to Belfast, which will equate to £4 million in economic benefit for the local economy.
Photo: Brian Kingston, Lord Mayor of Belfast, Gerry Lennon, Chief Executive of Visit Belfast and Julie McCullagh, Marketing Manager for Belfast One, launch the new ‘Find Your Belfast’ campaign, which aims to attract visitors to Belfast from across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland this autumn.
Notes
- For more information on what’s happening in Belfast this autumn, go to visitbelfast.com/autumn
- Ulster Bank Belfast International Arts Festival takes place from 11 – 30 October; ‘David Hockeny: I draw, I do’ is at the MAC until 16 October; BBC Good Food Show will be at the Belfast Waterfront from 14 – 16 October; Belfast Restaurant Week runs from 8 – 16 October.
- Visit Belfast is a public/private sector partnership funded and supported by Belfast City Council, Tourism NI, strategic partners Diageo NI, Translink and Value Cabs, corporate partners Hastings Hotels, Titanic Belfast and Victoria Square, as well as the private sector. It is the city’s official destination marketing and management organisation (DMMO), dedicated to promoting Belfast as a city break, conference and cruise ship destination. It is also responsible for the operation of three gateway tourist information centres. Visit Belfast represents around 500 tourism businesses and services across the industry including accommodation providers, attractions, conference venues and services, tour operators, transport providers, event organisers, entertainment venues, restaurants and cafes, and pubs and clubs.It provides an extensive range of marketing platforms for tourism businesses to promote their products and services to travel trade and consumers. For more information about Visit Belfast, go to www.visitbelfast.com
- Belfast One is a Business Improvement District (BID), an organisation that focuses on delivering specific improvements needed by local businesses in a defined area. BIDs invest in and deliver projects to improve the local trading environment, drive down business costs and raise the area’s profile. BIDs are led and controlled by businesses; they are independent, not-for-profit organisations with ring-fenced resources and finances. The projects are funded by raising finance, principally, through a levy. This levy is an investment by businesses. In October 2015 businesses in Belfast City Centre voted in favour of establishing a BID, aiming to drive footfall into the city; improve the environment, making it cleaner, more accessible and safer; and helping to drive down costs for businesses.