GAME OF LASTING LEGACY
Editorial director Martin Fullard sits down with Gerry Lennon , CEO of Visit Belfast , to learn more about the city ’ s aspirations in legacy and social benefit
he world changes at pace , but some places change quicker than others , if one were to draw up a list , it ’ s a safe bet that Belfast would be top of the list .
The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 will be remembered as one of the most important peace brokerages in history , ending 40 years of Troubles in Northern Ireland , much covered by the media across the world .
Since that time , Belfast has evolved into a thriving city , rich in culture , sport , business and , of course , events .
The city is now one of the UK ’ s most popular conference destinations , and its reputation on the international stage gets stronger by the year .
Gerry Lennon was the man who helped launch Visit Belfast in
2000 , as Northern Ireland entered a new chapter in its history . Now , 22 years later , Lennon is still at the helm and ready to take Belfast into yet another era , one centred on social benefit and legacy . Conferences , he says , are the best way forward .
Martin Fullard : Is Belfast fully open for business ? Gerry Lennon : We have gone from zero to a million miles per hour in such a short space of time . 2021 was probably a bit of a false start for us , as was the case for so many destinations . But now , in 2022 , we have just completed a series of community-based marketing workshops for tourism initiatives .
One of our big messages is that 2022 signals the start of the city ’ s tourism recovery and we ’ re really confident that within a few years
Belfast is one of the most popular locations for events
Gerry Lennon
tourism will return to the record levels we saw in 2019 . So far , 2022 is already a record year for our business events and cruise tourism , with more than 80 conferences and 32,000 delegates expected , which is 25 % more than 2019 and 300,000 cruise visitors , that ’ s about 15 % growth from 2019 .
There ’ s definitely a trend towards people wanting to explore their own neighborhoods , and combining business and leisure . Our core growth markets in Belfast are overnight stays from Great Britain , the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere from Northern Ireland .
We ’ re sitting at around 80 % occupancy in the hotels since April , with 85 % year-to-date on room sales compared to 2019 .
MF : Tell us about venues and attractions ; is there anything new on the horizon ? www . conference-news . co . uk