Welcoming the launch of the new integrated strategy for business events for Northern Ireland, Gerry Lennon, Chief Executive of Visit Belfast said:
“The launch of a new integrated business events strategy, that aims to double the number of international conferences hosted in Northern Ireland and treble the number of delegates arriving here, heralds a new era of collaboration across not only the tourism and hospitality sectors but one that extends to our colleagues and partners in academia and economic development, many of whom have provided the essential introductions and networks that have seen scores of successful and memorable domestic, national and international conferences hosted here.
“The Northern Ireland Business Events Strategy provides important recommendations and direction at a critical time in rebuilding our industry following the negative impact of the pandemic. Additionally it sets out an integrated approach designed to achieve significant increase in our share of this lucrative business tourism market and with appropriate investment Visit Belfast looks forward to scaling up its sales and marketing operations to attract, convert and win business events that maximise the economic benefits across Northern Ireland.
“The success of our business events sector in recent years delivered tens of thousands of delegates annually to Belfast and Northern Ireland, generating vital midweek and year round spend to our visitor economy. It is therefore crucial that we have a cohesive and ambitious plan that provides a strong and clear framework to rebuild and grow the business events sector. Visit Belfast as the destination marketing management organisation (DMMO) for the Belfast City Region, is set to take on a lead role, in partnership with Tourism NI, Visit Derry, Invest NI, Queens and Ulster Universities and it’s conference partners, in delivering these ambitious plans aimed at increasing the economic impact of the business events sector by 170% by 2030.
“Conference and business events are a crucial part of Belfast’s visitor economy that supports over 20,000 jobs and many more thousands of livelihoods. By strengthening our sales and marketing presence in our key markets of Great Britain, Ireland and raising our profile further in Europe and North America through these plans, this collaborative effort can deliver significant benefits not only for tourism, but across economic development, education and research and create many more jobs for Northern Ireland.
“Partnership is at the core of everything Visit Belfast does in promoting the Belfast city region as an exciting and attractive leisure, conference and cruise destination.”
To view the Business Events Strategy in full visit: ni-business-events-integrated-strategy-2030.pdf (tourismni.com)