Ireland , and of course Belfast City Hall . There has been a quarter of a billion pounds worth of investment in new hotel stock , mainly four- and five-star rating .
Then there ’ s the tie-in with the popular HBO show Game of Thrones , which was filmed here in large part . The studios have been turned into a visitor attraction , and it ’ s a popular spot for gala dinners and more quirky , fun conferences .
There are several less conventional venues popping up now around the city , such as Banana Block and Common Market . Many of them are repurposed from derelict warehouses and similar buildings .
Business events are so important to us a city , and I ’ m so pleased that we have such a strong venue scene to support the sector . We go the extra mile . We make it easier for conference venues , we make it better for conference delegates .
MF : What is the Visit Belfast strategy to bring in more business events and investment ; are there particular markets around the world that you want to reach out to ? GL : Let me step back a bit there and say that what the pandemic has done is to make every destination pause and rethink their plans . And one of the key things for us , and we ’ re not unique here , is that the realisation is that the world has changed , and that ’ s ok . We felt we had to bring balance back to it . We had to be clear about what tourism was going to do not just as a contributor to the economy , but how tourism can act as a catalyst for social benefit , for wellbeing , and for protecting our environment .
Visit Belfast is evolving from a Destination Marketing Organisation to becoming a Destination Marketing Management Organisation . As part of that we have launched our 10-year business tourism strategy , which will grow business tourism by 2032 , and see a 30 % increase in the international association conference market .
This has the potential to be worth half a billion pounds of economic impact .
Our role will be to lead the tactical sales marketing for the whole region , and in 2022 we ’ re targeting £ 40m . There are several key elements . Starting with our ambassador programme , which has been hugely successful . More than 1,100 leaders in academia , medical and business are accountable for 80 % of our conferences , so it is a clear sales channel . Our job is to utilise the strengths of this channel and make it more strategic .
The clever thing about this concept is if we ’ re bringing 40 conferences for 40,000 delegates , why not bring 40 conferences that will go beyond pure economic impact , but also yield a positive legacy for our society ?
We will do this with investment from Invest Northern Ireland , and with a framework of their vision for the
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