Visit Belfast marks 25 years of city tourism growth and transformation

Once lumped with Beirut, Baghdad and Bosnia as one of the four ‘B’s international travellers should avoid by global travel bible Lonely Planet, Belfast has enjoyed unprecedented, record tourism growth following a major shift in global perceptions and billions of pounds of investment.

Embarking on a new tourism journey of growth, Visit Belfast was first established by Belfast City Council as the Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau (BVCB) in 1999.

At the time, Belfast had just 600 hotel bedrooms, 400,000 staying visitors, £80 million spent in the local economy and the first cruise ship arrival, contributing around 17 percent to Northern Ireland’s tourism economy.

By 2023, Belfast had around 5,000 hotel bedrooms, 1.7 million overnight visitors, a record 159 cruise ships and 100 conference business events. Tourism in Belfast contributed £539m to the local economy, almost 45 percent of Northern Ireland’s total tourism impact.

Congratulating Visit Belfast on its achievements over 25 years, Belfast Lord Mayor, councillor Micky Murray, said: “Tourism powers growth and investment, enhances our outlook and drives our local economy.

"As a small, unique and compact city that’s famed for the warmth of our welcome, Belfast packs a punch – and its success can firmly be attributed to the hard work, partnership working and sheer determination of Visit Belfast’s colleagues, members, partners and stakeholders who work so closely together to seize opportunities while also navigating challenges.”

Few countries worldwide have pulled off such an unprecedented tourism transformation as Belfast became one of the world’s leading, most celebrated and award-winning city destinations which now attracts millions of leisure, business and cruise visitors every year.

Councillor Murray added: “In a quarter of a century, Belfast’s international reputation has been transformed and thanks to the foresight of Belfast City Council in establishing a dedicated tourism authority for the city and region, we are proud that we can compete successfully in an international marketplace for visitors and to global industry recognition that underline the city’s reputation as a great place in which to visit, live, study and invest.

"Congratulations to Visit Belfast – the heart of Team Belfast – for its stellar contribution to the city’s success over 25 years.”

John McGrillen, chief executive, Tourism Northern Ireland, said: “Congratulations to Visit Belfast and thank you for your support in attracting visitors to the Belfast region and beyond over the past 25 years. Promoting Belfast as an authentic and vibrant city destination has been, and will continue to be, essential to the future growth of tourism across the region.”

In its new strategy for the Belfast City Region, New Horizons, Visit Belfast plans to accelerate this growth further and aims to generate £424m for the city economy as part of its tourism growth blueprint for 2024-2027.

Visit Belfast chair, Marie-Therese McGivern, said: “Visit Belfast continues to promote Belfast as an exciting city break, conference, cruise and day trip destination. Our activity is focused on driving visitor demand and delivering a mix of customers balanced throughout the week and throughout the year.

Our ambitious strategy for the three years ahead, New Horizons, will strengthen and elevate the appeal of the city's vibrant neighbourhoods to drive new growth and fresh exploration while we will continue to lead and champion sustainability across the industry, driving impact socially and economically.”

Marking the milestone, Visit Belfast chief executive Gerry Lennon said: “Since our foundation in 1999, we’ve seen the city continue to flourish with new attractions, new experiences, new hotels and an ever-increasing list of reasons to visit.

“Visit Belfast continues to focus on promoting the city as a compelling and exciting business, leisure and cruise destination and remains focused on driving sustainable growth and visitor spend and we remain confident in our ability to deliver through our strategic growth plans and with our partners’ support.”

David Burns, chief executive, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, said: “Congratulations and thanks to everyone in Visit Belfast on 25 years of promoting tourism in the city and wider region.

"We have a number of strategic projects being developed within the LCCC Tourism Strategy, from both private and public sector, including Destination Royal Hillsborough, food and drink initiatives, and Dundonald International Ice Bowl. I look forward to continued partnership working and growing the tourism sector even further over the next 25 years”

Joe O’Neill CEO, Belfast Harbour, said: “Working in collaboration with Visit Belfast for 25 years has seen cruise tourism grow from 2 cruise calls in 1999 to 145 in 2024, bringing more than 250,000 visitors to the region. This success is an example of what partnership can do, and we look forward to what the next 25 years working together can achieve for the city and the region.”

Susie McCullough, chief executive, Ards and North Down Borough Council: “Congratulations and thanks to the team at Visit Belfast on 25 years of promoting tourism in the city and wider region. We look forward to what the next 25 years can bring.”

Timeline of key events in Belfast

1999 – Belfast set an ambitious ten-year target to grow visitor numbers by 100% to achieve one million visitors by 2009. This was achieved in 4 years, well ahead of target.

2000 – 125 travel writers visited the city to write about Belfast as a tourist destination, signalling new curiosity about Belfast as a tourism destination.

2001 – Visit Belfast opened its first city centre located Visitor Information Centre above Boots on Royal Avenue.

2007 – Belfast jumped an impressive 11 places to come in second favourite UK city in the 2007 Guardian Travel Award, beating Glasgow and London.

2008 – The opening of Victoria Square at £400 million represented the largest property development in NI, and secured international brands to the city including House of Fraser.

2010 – HBO Game of Thrones began filming the first of its eight series blockbuster, in Belfast’s Titanic Studios and at various locations across Northern Ireland, contributing an estimated £110m to the local economy.

2011 – The prestigious MTV Europe Music Awards were hosted in Belfast by Selena Gomez, with an estimated £10 million boost to the local economy.

2012 – One of five key signature projects, Belfast’s £97m Titanic Belfast opened to visitors in time for the ships centenary in March.

2013 – The World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) were held in Belfast and it was the first time the event had been held in Europe. It was the largest sporting event to take place in Northern Ireland.

2014 – Belfast hosted the opening stages of the Giro d'Italia international cycle race. 5,500 members of the public gathered at City Hall for the opening event that saw each of the 22 cycle teams introduced on stage.

2016 - £30m extension of the Waterfront Hall adding a 5,000 sq. ft, transforming Belfast’s ability and capacity to compete for international conferences and events on the global stage and rebranded as ICC Belfast.

2018 – Belfast named the best place to visit in 2018 by Lonely Planet.

2023 – The city welcomed the One Young World Summit which brought more than 2000 young delegates together.