Visitor
numbers to Belfast rose by 6% to reach a record 6.8million in
2006, confirming the Lonely Planet’s endorsement of Belfast truly
being a ‘City on the Rise’.
This success comes on the back of a positive year in 2005 when the city passed the 6 million visitor mark for the first time. With ever-improving access and dedicated tourism marketing, the growth in the number of visitors from outside Northern Ireland has been particularly strong in the last year, increasing by 11% to 1.25 million.
According to the Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau (BVCB) and Belfast City Council, tourism can now be regarded as one of the City’s key economic generators, as tourists spent £324 million in the city last year, an increase of a staggering 14% on 2005. Of that, out-of-state visitors contributed 47% of revenue, filling the city’s coffers by £152.6 million.
Announcing the findings from the Belfast Tourism Monitor, commissioned by Belfast City Council, BVCB Chief Executive Gerry Lennon confirmed Belfast’s place on the tourism map for city breaks, cruise ships, conference and business tourism:
“It is wonderful to get strong endorsements from respected sources such as the Lonely Planet guide but the real proof of the pudding is in seeing the sheer numbers of visitors, hearing the different accents around the city and being able to measure the huge economic benefit tourism brings. Of the 6.8 million visitors who travelled to Belfast in 2006, 1.25 million came from outside Northern Ireland and experienced the vibrancy and cosmopolitan edge we have in Belfast. This is a far cry from a decade ago when barely 200,000 would have visited,” he said.
“In exceeding £324 million in tourism revenue, an increase of 14% on last year, tourism is now a credible economic generator, and supports 17,826 full time equivalent jobs. However, in order to ensure tourism’s long term value to Belfast, we need to commit marketing budgets accordingly. We believe that continued marketing could see further growth in this sector, and with this in mind, we have set ambitious targets of 7.4 million visitors for 2007.”
As Chair of Belfast City Council’s Tourism and Promotion of Belfast Sub-Committee, Councillor Diane Dodds, acknowledged the visitor growth and quality of the City’s tourism product:
“It is great to see more and more visitors coming to Belfast to discover the secrets of the city and bringing the benefits that a buoyant tourism industry can bring. It is particularly satisfying that we have seen such growth during 2006 as we celebrated the centenary of Belfast City Hall.
“Further development of the cultural tourism product offer, including trails celebrating musical icons such as Van Morrison, ‘hard hat’ tours of industrial sites, Belfast Art Guide and the Cathedral and Queen’s Cultural Quarters by the Council’s Tourism Development Unit, is resulting in the visitor experience of Belfast being even better than ever. In addition, the introduction of the evening economy initiative is ensuring that visitors can continue to enjoy the city in the early evening with live music, behind the scenes tours, earlybird restaurant menus and extended shopping hours”.
