BUSINESS FIRST NORTHERN IRELAND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2017
Belfast is ready to welcome more business events
T
he upsurge in hotels, attractions and flight routes has undeniably boosted Belfast’ s appeal as the perfect destination for business travellers.
However it’ s the opening of the region’ s new 7,000m 2 conference facility at Belfast Waterfront in April 2016 that has enabled the city to welcome a wider range of events, as well as compete at the highest level for international conferences.
In its opening year, Belfast Waterfront secured 24 major conferences, generating £ 19.6m for the local economy and with an evergrowing business tourism offering, Northern Ireland’ s capital city can expect to welcome many more events in 2017.
Access and location
When it comes to choosing a destination for any event, access, location and capacity of conference facilities are key to shaping the decisionmaking.
There’ s no denying more direct flights into the city facilitate more events, however the existing network of UK and international flight routes and fundamentally Belfast Waterfront’ s proximity to the regions airports have been key to creating a positive experience for business travellers. Dr Thomas Kauffels, the chair of European Association of Zoos and Aquariums( EAZA) explains:“ Belfast Waterfront’ s city centre location and convenience to the region’ s two airports have proven extremely beneficial to our international delegates – members can fly in and go straight to a meeting, hassle free.”
The city’ s offering continues to grow and appeal to many delegates. In 2016 Northern Ireland’ s Year of Food and Drink showcased the city ' s rich culinary scene, which was fully appreciated by visiting conferences. Mike Kimmons, Chief Executive of British Orthopaedic Association congratulated the city on its first class cuisine:“ In the evenings they( members) naturally took full advantage of Belfast ' s high quality hospitality offering and its remarkable diversity of culinary excellence.”
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And of course Belfast’ s legendary hospitality hasn’ t gone unnoticed. Bhavnita Patel, General Manager at the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland comments:“ The city has been extremely helpful and welcoming. I have been organising events for 13 years, and I found Belfast to be the friendliest host city.”
Capacity
Doubling the event space at Belfast Waterfront has been a real game changer for the local business tourism market. Prior to the expansion, limited clear span space and breakout areas meant many organisations could no longer consider Belfast as a host destination. Brian McCrory, President of the Irish League of Credit Unions and host of the 2016 World Credit Union Conference commented:“… I have lobbied for 7 years to bring our annual conference to Belfast, subject to the opening of the new extension at Belfast Waterfront. The opening of a 7,000m 2 conference facility, made Belfast a serious contender as a host destination.”
Global status
Thanks to Northern Ireland’ s leading position in many industry sectors, along with the venue’ s recent investment in its own technology infrastructure, Belfast Waterfront will continue to welcome a wider array of events from across many industries.
As Europe’ s leading destination city for new software development projects, earlier this year, Kainos, one of Northern Ireland ' s largest hightech companies, held its first annual meeting in the new conference facility. Jimmy Hiles, Strategic Planning Manager at Kainos explains why Belfast Waterfront was the perfect choice for the biggest event in their calendar:“… The large scale and quality on offer is easily big enough to accommodate our continued growth, with versatile conference spaces that can be configured as needed.
As a leading software company, technology is obviously very important to us, so we were delighted with the top spec AV equipment available to us at the venue. Above all the staff at the Waterfront are extremely professional, proactive and great to work with. We’ ll definitely be returning to Belfast Waterfront in the future.”
Also with the Financial Times declaring Northern Ireland as the number one destination for international cyber security investment in 2016, Belfast Waterfront will stage the OWASP AppSec EU conference in May 2017 one of the largest software security conferences in Europe.
Local ambassadors
As a prominent university city and home to world leading research centres, the influence of local ambassadors will continue to play a role in securing future events. Dr Sinclair Mayne, the local Visit Belfast Ambassador and Chair of British Society of Animal Science Organising Committee( BSAS), was the mastermind behind bringing the 67th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science( EAAP) to the city. Over 1,500 delegates from almost 60 countries attended the event generating around £ 2.7m for the local economy.
With all the key elements in place and a citywide commitment to making sure each business visitor experiences everything that makes the city legendary Belfast is ready to welcome more business events.
MOREINFORMATION
We’ re ready to welcome you If you’ re thinking about bringing an event to the city, contact the Belfast Waterfront team today to find out how they can help you:
T: + 44( 0) 28 9033 4400 E: conference @ waterfront. co. uk W: waterfront. co. uk @ BelWaterfront / # BelfastWaterfront.