Visit Belfast, the city’s dedicated destination marketing and management organisation (DMMO), has officially marked the 25th anniversary since its foundation, celebrating a quarter of a century of Belfast’s development as a leading international tourist destination.
Once lumped with Beirut, Baghdad and Bosnia as one of the four ‘B’s international travellers should avoid by global travel bible Lonely Planet, Belfast has enjoyed unprecedented, record tourism growth following a major shift in global perceptions and billions of pounds of investment.
Embarking on a new tourism journey of growth, Visit Belfast was first established by Belfast City Council as the Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau (BVCB) in 1999.
At the time, Belfast had just 600 hotel bedrooms, 400,000 staying visitors, £80m spent in the local economy and the first cruise ship arrival, contributing around 17 percent to Northern Ireland’s tourism economy.
By 2023, Belfast had around 5,000 hotel bedrooms, 1.7m overnight visitors, a record 159 cruise ships and 100 conference business events. Tourism in Belfast contributed £539m to the local economy, almost 45% of Northern Ireland’s total tourism impact.
Belfast Lord mayor, councillor Micky Murray, said: “In a quarter of a century, Belfast’s international reputation has been transformed and thanks to the foresight of Belfast City Council in establishing a dedicated tourism authority for the city and region, we are proud that we can compete successfully in an international marketplace for visitors and to global industry recognition that underline the city’s reputation as a great place in which to visit, live, study and invest.”
In its new strategy for the Belfast City Region, New Horizons, Visit Belfast plans to accelerate this growth further and aims to generate £424m for the city economy as part of its tourism growth blueprint for 2024-2027.
Visit Belfast chair, Marie-Therese McGivern, said: “Our ambitious strategy for the three years ahead, New Horizons, will strengthen and elevate the appeal of the city’s vibrant neighbourhoods to drive new growth and fresh exploration while we will continue to lead and champion sustainability across the industry, driving impact socially and economically.”
