Milestone for Belfast as 1,000th cruise ship arrives since 1996

It comes 25 years after the celebrated arrival of the ‘Berlin’ – the first cruise ship to arrive into Belfast in 1996.

It was to be start of what has been a huge success story for tourism in Northern Ireland, with cruise calls growing year on year, welcoming an incredible 1.7m visitors in a quarter of a century.

Michael Robinson, port director of Belfast Harbour, said: “The development of Belfast and the wider region as a cruise destination has been a major success story for Northern Ireland’s tourism sector and has involved a number of key partners working together. As the economy recovers from the pandemic we have been delighted to start welcoming cruise ships back to the city and we look forward to the number of calls increasing again next year.

“Celebrating the arrival of our 1000th cruise call to Belfast Harbour is a milestone event, not least for all of the partners who work in closely together to sustain and grow local cruise tourism. As hospitality and tourism rebuild after an exceptionally challenging period, I have no doubt that those cruise visitors arriving on today’s 1000th vessel will have received Belfast’s customary warm welcome.”