10 TITANIC BIRTHDAY IN BELFAST
MOST FAMOUS SHIP T
itanic Belfast has quickly become the stand out image for Belfast, Northern Ireland and the Island of Ireland as a whole. The boisterous grey building stands out over the harbour and has now done so for the past 10 years. In April 2012, Titanic Belfast opened its doors for the very first time upon the famous slipways of the Titanic; showcasing a host of real life stories, souvenirs, facts and the locality of both the building of the ship and now the building of the building, Titanic Belfast is a stable of tourism within the province. Now, 10 years on, Titanic Belfast celebrates its 10th birthday in collation with the 110th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
Titanic Belfast kick started their birthday celebrations with a birthday breakfast which saw the attendance of personnel ranging from politicians to tourist bodies. Attendees were informed of the great success Titanic Belfast has experienced over the past 10 years with the latest report from Deloitte Northern Ireland. The report revealed that in its eight to tenth years of operation, the combined economic impact of Titanic Belfast has been £79 million, highlighting the vital role the iconic building continues to play a decade on.
And to mark its milestone birthday, the world- leading visitor attraction, which to date has welcomed
April/May 2022 Travel News TITANIC CELEBRATIONS FOR THE WORLD’S
The Titanic celebrations are set to last throughout the year
2022 not only marks the 110th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, but also the 10th Anniversary of the opening of Ttianic Belfast. With birthday celebrations underway, and the calm after a Royal visit, NI Travel News’ Sarah Pickering caught up with Titanic Belfast CEO Judith Owens MBE to hear all about it...
almost 6.5 million visitors from over 145 countries, has embarked on its most ambitious project, and largest single investment to date, a multi-million pound gallery refreshment programme. The investment will come from the Titanic Belfast Gallery Refreshment Fund, established when the building opened as part of the commercial operator agreement and held by the charity owner, Maritime Belfast Trust.
Following an international tender competition, Titanic Belfast has appointed OPERA Amsterdam and Studio Louter to design and deliver the significant project.
Alongside the exciting news of a brand new project set to grace the famous slipway, Titanic Belfast have also unveiled the latest photo gallery, depicting images from the days of building the famous building- A perfect nod to it’s 10th Anniversary.
Opened daily, the free exhibition is located in The Andrews Gallery and includes 123 photographs and illustrations and tells the story of Titanic Belfast from its inception and design to the structure being fitted and built into the iconic building that is instantly known today by millions of people around the world. The human element of Titanic Belfast has also been brought to life in the exhibition with pictures of the people who created it, including the Architect, the
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TITANIC BELFAST CEO JUDITH OWENS MBE
Question 1: Why is the Titanic Exhibition so important to Northern Ireland and it’s inbound tourism?
I feel very privileged to have been here from the very beginning, I wasn’t in the role of chief executive, but I was the operations director, so my role before I joined and before we opened Titanic Belfast was to get business up and running so it has been a great highlight of my career to date. Keeping it in Northern Ireland- I
Judith Owens MBE with NI Travel News’ Sarah Pickering
think it was always going to be in Northern Ireland, so I don’t think we had any real challenges there. The idea for Titanic Belfast actually came out of the Good Friday Agreement, when there was a vision to kickstart international tourism and we were one of the signature projects. They look at it as a huge opportunity; An opportunity to bring what was a global brand, so Titanic was a global brand before we opened, what it wasn’t was that
it wasn’t really anything related to
Belfast and we think, like even the James Cameron film, it started in Southampton. So our job was to bring this amazing story, to to bring it back to where it belonged, on the slipways of Harland and Wolff and we built Titanic Belfast there. So I don’t think the challenge was in keeping it in Northern Ireland because I think it really belongs to Northern Ireland and hopefully that is what we did and by doing that we really did push international tourism from our first year. Titanic Belfast has welcomed over 6 million visitors in its 10 years- probably getting close to it’s 7 million and then coming from 145 countries across the globe; that just would not have happened before we existed. Question 2: You’ve been there from the very beginning - what challenges, if any, did you experience in keeping this attraction in Northern Ireland?
I think there are a number of things. Firstly, as I talked about, it is that global story that we brought back into the ownership of the Northern Ireland people and we very much put it back in the place where it belonged. But also, I think, coming out of our 30 year history, tourism and Titanic Belfast 10 years ago gave us something to talk about on the world stage that was really positive and I actually think there was a real sense of civic pride when they saw Titanic Belfast win the best visitor attraction in the world in 2016, we really have come so far. The people are so proud of our country and we love welcoming international guests and guests from anywhere, so I think Titanic Belfast really gives people the opportunity to do that. I think another thing is the amazing architecture of the building
itself.It is that big shiny building that sits on our waters edge, and it has become synonymous and iconic to Belfast. I go to lots of different markets promoting Northern Ireland and Titanic Belfast, and you see our building being used time and time again to represent Belfast- so I think that is also very important.
Question 3: Of those NI Travel News readers
that are yet to visit the attraction, what can they expect when visiting? Why must they
late Eric Kuhne, who can be seen sketching and hand- drawing ideas for the design in his office to the builders who laid the foundations and built it from the ground up.
The People Who Built Titanic Belfast is dedicated to the working men and women of Belfast, past and present, who helped to create both RMS Titanic and Titanic Belfast, the permanent home for her memory. As mentioned, Ttianic Belfast has welcomed a host of famous names and faces through its doors over the past 10 years including Adele, Sir Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, and the Queen to name but a few. Most recently, the iconic building hosted the
future King and Queen Consort ahead of its birthday celebrations. The Duchess of Cornwall enjoyed a tour of the iconic building and found out more about the
visit?
We would say that Titanic is one of the biggest stories in the world. It is the biggest story and Titanic Belfast is right in the heart of Belfast and it is the best place to hear it told so we would really urge people to come. It is an incredible story- it is a story of human stories ,and that’s what we celebrate; of course we talk about the amazing innovation and ingenuity that went into the building of the Titanic, but actually the story of Titanic itself is a human interest story- it’s a story of people who had dreams who where leaving on what was the largest ship in the world, going in many parts to a new life in America which never happened. She was on her maiden voyage and she sank on her maiden voyage and I think that is a really strong story and if you come to Titanic Belfast, we tell it in all of its glory, we tell it with many different layers using technology, and there is something about Titanic Belfast that is going to connect with each and everyone of the people that come and visit us. The thing about Titanic Belfast is that if you’re 4 or 5 you will love it, but also if you are in your 70’s and your 80’s you will love it aswell, so it really connects right across the generations.
Question 4: Personally, what is your favourite part of the experience and why?
Of course I know our galleries very well, I could not count the number of times I have walked around the galleries both with people within them, and without them- I think each of the galleries has its own real identity, but for me, it is not about the technology, it is about those human stories and one of the stories that I love is Father Brown; When Father Brown was a priest that was onboard, he was an amateur photographer at the time. He took some of the most amazing photographs and the fact that he got off the ship in cove- So he did not go on the journey- and he survived. But actually what survived was a brilliant account of what life was like onboard. One of the galleries is completely dedicated to his photographs; He also took the very last photograph that we think exists of Titanic. As he was in the little boat going from Titanic over to the shore, he took a photograph of the ship as she sailed away and I think that is probably one of the most famous photographs, and the most poignant
photographs, in the
world and actually as I am telling the story I can feel the hairs on my neck stand up just because of the emotion that this creates.
city’s rich maritime history in the Titanic Experience viewing The Launch gallery with views of the original Slipway where RMS Titanic first entered the water, followed by a walkthrough of the Fit Out gallery to learn about life on board with recreations of the first, second and third class cabins. The Duchess also met with some of the team members who shared their experiences and memories of working in Titanic Belfast over the last ten years as well as representatives from stakeholder organisations including Harcourt Developments, Belfast City Council, Tourism NI, Belfast Harbour, Titanic Quarter Ltd and Maritime Belfast Trust. The Duchess was later joined with Prince Charles at the site where they both signed the visitor book- One for the history books!
Question 5: What is planned for Ttianic Belfast’s 10th Birthday Celebrations? We hope to extend our birthday celebrations for the year. We do not have a lot of plans in place for the year but there will be some great opportunities for your readers to come down and really celebrate with us and that is what it is about; It’s about that fact that we brought so many people on this journey with us and we want them to enjoy the celebration and the key milestone that is our 10th Birthday. The birthday weekend was very much a birthday bash with lots of activity across the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but we have also curated a very special photographic exhibition; We always talk about the men who built Titanic, well this is the people who built Titanic Belfast. It really shows the story of how Titanic Belfast came about, lots of brilliant and very poignant photographs of the people who were actually involved in bringing Titanic Belfast to what she is today. That exhibition will run throughout the summer, so there are lots of opportunities for people to come down and see that complimentary exhibition, but also just experience what is about at Titanic Quarter; We have got the Maritime mile that runs right from the big fish to the waterfronts edge and is a great place to spend time with family and friends.
BELOW (L-R)- Siobhan Lynch, Director of Operations, Judith Owens MBE, CEO and Keith Shorten Commerical Director of Titanic Belfast
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