Belfast City Council, in partnership with Visit Belfast, has launched a competition to find new tourist products to sell at the Visit Belfast Welcome Centre.
Successful candidates will be offered one-to-one mentoring to help design and develop their product and then quote for it to go on sale in Visit Belfast’s city centre premises – one of the most visited buildings in Belfast.
Councillor Mairead O’Donnell, Chair of the City Growth and Regeneration Committee, said: “This is a very exciting competition being launched today. It offers anyone who has ever thought to themselves I can do better than that, or why don’t they offer this, the chance to do exactly that.
“We want people to put their ideas into practice and we are offering one-to-one mentoring by experienced professionals to help them develop their idea and get it to production stage.
“The Visit Belfast Welcome Centre is an ideal showcase for tourist products – now it is up to everyone interested to grab the opportunity and register their interest by visiting www.belfastcity.gov.uk/businessregistration” added Councillor O’Donnell.
Mary Jo McCanny, Director of Visitor Servicing at Visit Belfast, said: “Visitors to Belfast love to take home a piece of the city, and that’s exactly what the gift shop in the Visit Belfast Welcome Centre provides – an opportunity to purchase unique Belfast products from local artists and producers.
“From April to September this year, more than 200,000 people came through the doors of the Welcome Centre so we are pleased to support this competition which will give the winner a platform to showcase and sell their products to the thousands of visitors who often make the Visit Belfast Welcome Centre their first port of call on a trip to the city.”
You can register your interest by visiting www.belfastcity.gov.uk/businessregistration or by calling a member of the council’s Economic Development Unit on 028 9027 0482.
This competition will be open for expressions of interest until Thursday 30 November 2017.