Strong interest from overseas tourism buyers as less than a week to go for Tourism NI’s flagship event

The annual flagship business to business (b2b) networking event will host operators from over 16 global markets at ICC Belfast on Tuesday, March 29th making it the largest international tourism networking platform held in Northern Ireland.

Delivered in partnership with Tourism Ireland, Meet the Buyer attracts a wide range of international tour companies and opens up a window of opportunity for local companies to showcase their tourism business and attend one-to-one appointments with a pre-qualified group of overseas buyers.

The showcase will get underway this weekend with five educational FAM trips that will allow operators to visit a range of new and familiar tourist experiences for the first time including the Giant’s Causeway, Hinch Distillery County Down, Marble Arch Caves in Fermanagh and OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory in the Sperrins.

On Monday evening, March 28, 80 operators will be hosted at the Game of Thrones Studio Tour in Banbridge which is set for worldwide success, followed by a day of appointments at the ICC Belfast across Tuesday, March 29.

A networking event will take place that evening, also at the ICC.

Highlighting the event as a very important step in the recovery process for Northern Ireland, Eimear Callaghan, Tourism NI’s business solutions manager, said: “I am delighted that our flagship b2b event Meet the Buyer will return to a face to face format for the first time since 2019.

“It marks a very important step in the recovery process for Northern Ireland tourism businesses who are committed to international visitors,

“Whilst both our Virtual Meet the Buyers were very successful, nothing replaces that personal engagement and conversation and it provides us with an amazing opportunity to remind our international operators of the super experiences, hotels and visitor attractions that Northern Ireland has to offer.”

Tourism NI is dedicated to supporting the recovery of the tourism sector and this year’s event marks the return of international sales activity which will help businesses across Northern Ireland secure their future and drive sales after two years of uncertainty.

Urging local businesses to register for the event, Eimear added: “I would encourage any Northern Ireland tourism business that is committed to international markets to express their interest ahead of the deadline.

“We look forward to extending a giant welcome to both industry and operators on the March 29.”

For more information and resources on how Tourism NI is supporting the recovery of the tourism sector, go to www.tourismni.com.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you