Travel News June 2018


Book Festival


BELFAST Book Festival Comes to The Crescent


Make a date in your diary for the Eighth Belfast Book Festival, supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council, June 6 to 16.


Over 11 days the world of books will open up via unique and diverse events featuring high profile authors as well as events exploring a range of interests and themes. With The Crescent as its home, the festival will take place in various venues across the city.


Belfast is buzzing! Tourist body pledges to ramp up its efforts


tourism sector. V


Unveiling brand new targets as part of its Business and Marketing Plans launch for the year ahead, and up to 2022, the city’s official tourism marketing agency pledged its sales and marketing-focused activities would help to deliver a combined economic return of more than half a billion pounds. For 2018-19 alone, Visit Belfast is pledging to return £130m to the city as part of a ramp up in its efforts to push the sector. Its combined target for the four years to 2022 is £546 million. Visit Belfast said its planned activities to drive higher numbers of inbound business leisure tourists in the year ahead – including an 18 percent swell in numbers arriving on cruise ships to 235,000 – would help deliver the newly-set target as it pointed its sails towards 2022 and the final year of its four-year growth strategy.


It also said its aim to help double the economic value of the city’s tourism industry from out-of-state visitors by 2021 as part of Belfast City Council’s Belfast Agenda commitment remained intact as it outlined a new targeted approach to ensure delivery success. Speaking at the launch of Visit Belfast’s, Councillor Nuala McAllister welcomed the organisation’s commitment to deliver on its new and


ISIT Belfast has set a new round of ambitious targets to harness the value of the city’s flourishing


ambitious goals as she nears the end of a successful term as Belfast’s Lord Mayor: “After a decade of investment and a focused marketing drive to promote the city as a compelling, unique and exciting destination, Belfast’s potential is fast being realised, with record visitor numbers and occupancy rates, new hotels open and planned, a year-round calendar of festivals and events and a vibrant hospitality scene that rivals some of the most popular cities in Europe. “Belfast is buzzing. You can see it and feel it and I’m delighted as First Citizen to share in the city’s excitement as we look forward to marking new progress and achieving new milestones in the years ahead.” Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Nuala McAllister, added. Visit Belfast said an additional focus to support the development of indigenous conferences, accelerating and expanding its sales marketing activities – including the implementation of the new Belfast brand – would help to propel the city’s tourism potential further in the year ahead.


Last year, Visit Belfast booked in a combined 475,000 leisure and conference bed nights, won 95 new conference events and secured a record- beating 117 cruise ship as part of its Cruise Belfast marketing partnership with Belfast Harbour.


With further growth in sight,


including a respective 29 percent and 18 percent uplift in business and leisure tourism spend, Visit Belfast said it was confident in its ability to deliver after a year in which it handled 837,000 visitor enquiries.


Visit Belfast Chair, Dr Howard Hastings OBE, looked forward to a further year of tourism growth and commended the Visit Belfast team and the city’s tourism industry partners for their role in delivering collective success.


“We’re committed to doubling the economic value of tourism from out-out- state visitors and to ensuring Belfast and its citizens realise the benefits from a vibrant tourism sector which drives opportunity and ensures this city continues to grow its reputation as a truly great place in which to do business, to invest in, live in and to visit,” Dr Hastings said.


“However, the real cornerstones of success remain in the hands of many others – those who meet and greet, serve and transport our visitors to those who are developing businesses, hotels, restaurants, cafés, bars and new products to support this growth. As we look forward to the year ahead, they remain critical to our success.” Visit Belfast confirmed that for every £1 invested in its tourism, sales and marketing activities, it returned £34 to the city’s economy. By 2022, it wants this to go up to £37 from every £1 spent.


John McGrillen, Tourism NI Chief Executive with Caitriona Lavery and Howard Hastings of Hastings Hotels and Stephen Meldrum, General Manager of the Grand Central Hotel


New Grand Central opening soon


HASTINGS Hotels has announced that the Grand Central Hotel will open during the week commencing June 18 and the first guests to check-in will be a group of international delegates attending the prestigious Hosts Global Forum


The forum, which was secured in a combined effort by Hastings Hotels, Tourism NI, and Moloney & Kelly, is an influential global Meetings and Incentive Travel trade event being held in Europe for the first time having previously been hosted in Boston, New Orleans, Miami and Mexico.


Caitriona Lavery, Group Sales Manager of Hastings Hotels said: “We are delighted that the Grand Central Hotel will be opened to host our first guests who are some of the world’s major meetings and incentive travel buyers. We have been working intensely to secure this international event since 2014 and have invested heavily to win it for Belfast &


Northern Ireland. It will be attended by over 100 of the world’s leading destination management companies and 100 of the world’s leading meeting and incentives buyers and planners who book approximately $2bn (£1.5bn) in business revenue annually all over the globe. The potential economic generator to Northern Ireland is massive, in fact it has already led to a number of confirmed incentive programmes which will have further economic benefits by generating millions of pounds to the local economy.


“The Hosts Global Forum is a fantastic one- off opportunity to showcase Belfast and Northern Ireland on a worldwide level and we are looking forward to welcoming the delegates to the new Grand Central Hotel which, given its capacity of 300 bedrooms and central location, is the ideal base for business travellers wanting to experience and explore our city,” she said.


Pictured are Galgorm’s Executive Chef Israel Robb with General Manager Colin Johnston and Managing Director Gary Henry


NORTHERN IRELAND 25


‘Exciting’ new expansion at Galgorm Resort & Spa


GALGORM Galgorm Resort & Spa, the leading luxury hotel and wellness destination, has acquired the bar and restaurant at Galgorm Castle Golf Club.


Representing an investment of £600,000, the company has begun an extensive redevelopment and refurbishment exercise which will see the existing dining facilities expanded and upgraded to include a 150-seat restaurant as well as a 60-seat open air balcony terrace providing unrivalled views across the Castle grounds and golf course. The all-new restaurant is expected to open in early July and will see the creation of 50 new jobs across the food, beverage and front- of-house departments.


Home to the NI Open 2018, Galgorm Castle Golf Club will attract some of the biggest names in golf this August and with the restaurant due to be open well ahead of the tournament, spectators will be treated to a


food and beverage offering on par with some of the world’s leading courses.


Colin Johnston, Galgorm General Manager, said: “We are delighted to announce this acquisition as the latest addition to our portfolio. It is an exciting step in our expansion strategy and further strengthens the relationship we have with the team behind Galgorm Castle Golf Club. “Galgorm is already recognised the world over as a luxury leisure destination – in 2017 we won the title of Global Spa of the Year which is an incredible endorsement. With championship grade golfing facilities on offer and home to the NI Open, the acquisition of the bar and restaurant further consolidates that reputation.”


Further major announcements regarding the acquisition, including the new name for the restaurant and the appointment of the Head Chef, will be revealed in due course.


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