Northern Ireland Tourism Minister Arlene Foster promoted Belfast as a leading business destination for meetings and conferences at a high profile tourism event onboard HMS Belfast in London last week. The event onboard the historic naval ship was organised by the Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau in partnership with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Tourism Ireland.

A select number of influential association representatives were invited to join the Minister, local conference providers and Belfast Ambassadors for the destination showcase event, the aim to raise the profile of the Northern Ireland within the British association conference market and provide compelling reasons to choose Belfast as their next conference destination.

The Belfast Ambassadors, from fields as diverse as medicine, academia and business, provided the link to these key conference decision makers through their membership of British and International associations including the Society of Editors, the British Association of Urological Surgeons, and the International Federation of Environmental Health.

In her address, Minister Foster described the significant investment that has taken place in the city in recent years, particularly in hotels and purpose-built meetings and conference facilities; and she encouraged the influential decision-makers present to consider Belfast and Northern Ireland for their future conference or meeting.

Speaking at the event, Arlene Foster said: “Conference business, in particular the Great Britain market, is very important to us not only in its contribution to the economy but also through the ability to welcome a range of visitors to our country of which we are very proud.  In 2010-11 Conference business generated £27.4m for the city, exceeding BVCB’s target of £17m and securing nearly twenty thousand delegates over sixty thousand bed nights.

“The superb meetings, incentive and transport infrastructure on offer in Northern Ireland, coupled with the distinctive cultural experience, means Northern Ireland is now an even more viable and attractive destination for the overseas business tourism market than ever before. 

“With so many significant events lying ahead for Northern Ireland from plans to celebrate the Titanic Centenary, the opening of the new Visitor Centre at the Giants Causeway and the build up to the UK City of Culture title for Londonderry in 2013, we are now entering an unprecedented time of opportunity for tourism in Northern Ireland making it the must-see destination for visitors and business travellers.”

BVCB’s Chief Executive, Gerry Lennon said:  “We selected HMS Belfast as the venue for this event given Belfast’s strong maritime heritage and the fact that this historic naval ship was built in Belfast. It’s never been more appropriate to reflect on the Belfast’s historic reputation as a major ship-building port, on the eve of  2012. The events marking the centenary of the completion of the World’s most famous ship, RMS Titanic, provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain global attention and position Belfast as an exciting forward thinking and innovative city.  In particular, the opening of the £97m iconic Titanic Belfast building in April 2012 will offer additional large scale facilities for events and conference organisers.

Gerry also thanked the Belfast Ambassadors in attendance as they seek to bring their association conference to their home city: “Many of the conferences held in Belfast can be attributed to the efforts of our Ambassadors.  BVCB’s Conference Ambassador programme offers a comprehensive package of support to these professionals who can influence bids for their association conference to be held in Belfast. As a city, we have a wealth of expertise and knowledge that allows us to target association conferences relating to disciplines such as medicine, engineering, research, business and academia.  Only this morning, Mr Peter Ramsay-Baggs, Consultant in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery submitted a bid to host the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery conference in Belfast in 2017.

Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said: "An event such as this on HMS Belfast presents us with an excellent opportunity to promote Belfast, and Northern Ireland, as a premier conference and business tourism destination to leading GB association conference buyers.  Belfast has now gained recognition as an important business tourism destination with world-class conference space and accommodation on offer.

“Business tourism is an extremely important, high-yield sector delivering significant economic benefits and Tourism Ireland has a busy promotional programme under way in Great Britain to support events like these in order to continue to grow business and conference tourism for Northern Ireland.”