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A City Exploring: Growing Belfast’s sustainable tourism product
Consultation has concluded
Help us co-design the Visitor Experience of the future.
Belfast’s new cultural strategy A City Imagining sets out four strategic themes for Belfast:
- A City Belonging
- A City Challenging
- A City Creating and
- A City Exploring
As part of the 'A City Exploring' theme, we have commissioned CHL Consultancy to help develop a Visitor Experience Plan for the city. To help bring this alive, CHL designed a brief creative exercise that involves looking at a number of Belfast visitor profiles on a portal, selecting one and imagining the perfect holiday for them here in 2031.
Working in partnership with CHL, we would now like to encourage all tourism, leisure, cultural, hospitality and retail sectors to engage in this creative exercise digitally.
To complete the exercise, you can access the portal through the following page: Belfast VEP Portal
This link will take you to the CHL portal. The portal is open until Sunday 11th April and you can edit and change your submission as many times as you wish until the closing date.
All engagement will contribute to the development of a ten-year Visitor Experience Plan for Belfast which will also form part of the city’s wider recovery plans.
- How to get involved
Belfast Visitor Experience Portal
Visit the portal by clicking on the logo or title above and help imagine what a perfect holiday in Belfast would look like for visitors in 2031.
Who's Listening
Belfast's Visitor Experience Plan
Important Links
- Belfast Culture Strategy
Signup Banner
Belfast, United Kingdom
Contact: Jac Callan
The GDS-Index is a destination-level programme that measures, benchmarks, and improves the sustainability strategy and performance of tourism and events destinations.
The GDS-Index is aligned with international standards; UN SDGs, GSTC Destination Criteria, UNWTO.
Click here to read more about the benchmarking methodology including data collection and verification, the four benchmarking categories, governance and criteria development and performance scoring methods.
This page highlights each destinations sustainability journey and will showcase their journey.
Performance Overview
The 2023 GDS-Index comprises 69 indicators across four categories. Here is the total score and the score for the four categories for this destination.
Environmental
Destination Management Organisation
Includes a city's performance pertaining to its policies and infrastructure, such as climate change commitment, carbon emissions, renewable energies, resource and water management, public transport, and air pollution levels.
Indicates the performance of the city against indicators of SDG integration, Corruption, Personal Safety, Access to Information and Communications, Health and Wellness, and Inclusivity, using external sources such as the Social Progress Imperative Index, and Corruption Perceptions Index.
Addresses the sustainability commitment and performance of the local meetings' industry supply chain, including airports, events agencies, hotels, venues, and restaurants.
Indicates the sustainability commitment, including questions pertaining to maturity of a destination's sustainability and regeneration strategy, leadership, communication of sustainability initiatives (to support client planners), and the accuracy of their reporting on sustainability operations.
Sustainability Journey
Belfast launched its Resilience Strategy, the city’s first climate plan in December 2020. It sets out 30 transformational programmes to transition Belfast to an inclusive, zero-emissions, climate-resilient economy within a generation. As the city’s Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO), Visit Belfast is playing a key role supporting Belfast’s ambition. In partnership with Belfast City Council, we have committed to the development of a sustainable tourism strategy as one of the resilience strategy transformational programmes. It is within this context that Visit Belfast has launched its sustainability strategy, policy and action plan.
Does Visit Belfast and Belfast City Council have a Sustainability Strategy?
Does Belfast have a sustainable destination certificate?
Does Visit Belfast and Belfast City Council report on its sustainability performance?
In October 2019 Belfast City Council's elected members declared a climate emergency and launched commitments that: - Council becomes a carbon neutral organisation as soon as possible - Belfast's carbon emissions are reduced by 80% against 2005 levels - Work would commence towards a climate adaption and mitigation plan. Co-Chaired by BCC and Queen's University, Belfast's Climate Commission was established in December 2019. This Commission is one of 3 city-based commissions across the UK (with Leeds and Edinburgh) to translate climate policy into action on the ground.
OF ELECTRICITY FROM RENEWABLES
OF WASTE RECYCLED
HECTARES OF GREEN AREA PER 100 000 POPULATION
Visit Belfast in its three year strategy will transform its approach to meetings and events. Its programme includes: - 30% of all 2022 business events will have a legacy plan - increasing to 80% by 2025 - 30% of all 2022 business events will have a sustainability plan - increasing to 80% by 2025 - Launch of a sustainable events framework - Appointment of a new sustainability and impact manager within the business events team to support clients and industry - A fully funded certification scheme by BCC and Green Tourism to increase sustainability credentials of its tourism and hospitality industry across the city - the largest Green Tourism partnership with a city - Launch of Sustainable Choices toolkit and resources to help clients deliver more sustainable and impactful events in Belfast
OF HOTEL ROOMS SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFIED
OF VENUES SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFIED
OF PCOS/DMCS SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFIED
Belfast's Resilience Strategy is aligned with the 17 UN sustainability goals. Belfast performs largely within the expected range for social sustainability on the Social Progress Index.
SDG IMPLEMENTATION SCORE
SCORE ON SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX
SCORE ON CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX
The GDS-Movement is a pioneering , international c hange a gency that acts to catalyse socio-economic and environmental transformation in cities and regions . Ou r mission is to empower tourism and events professionals with the mindsets, skill sets, and toolsets to co- create more regenerative and resilient destinations to visit, meet, and live in.
Copyright GDS-Movement 2024. All rights reserved.
Let’s Make Things Happen
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403-904-3623
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Visit Belfast expects city tourism growth to exceed pre-pandemic
Visit Belfast expects city tourism growth to exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2024
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Tourism Ireland Marketing Launch in Belfast, 11th January 2024
- January 15, 2024
Tourism Ireland launched details of its marketing strategy and plans to promote Northern Ireland overseas in 2024, at an event attended by hundreds of tourism industry leaders from around Northern Ireland. The target is to increase overseas tourism revenue for Northern Ireland by an average of 6.5% year on year to 2030.
Karen Patterson i ntroduced the event with the opening speaker being Ian Snowden, acting Permanent Secretary from the Department for the Economy. He talked about the increased importance of tourism to the economy, especially while it is recovering from the pandemic, and how the Department is currently engaging with the Home Office to mitigate the impacts of the ETA on visitors crossing the land border. He also emphasised the additional £6m that had been allocated to Tourism Ireland (£4.6m) and Tourism Northern Ireland (£1.4m) from the December monitoring round which will be used to boost marketing campaigns during Q1.
Alice Mansergh, Chief Executive Designate, Tourism Ireland then provided highlights of the 2023 Campaign which was the first full year of trading for tourism since the pandemic, and was aimed at recovery. 2023 highlights included awareness, year on year recovery, hotel occupancy, air access and award winning destination. Challenges included cost of living, competitiveness, global uncertainties, hotel room capacity and ease of travel. The aim of the 2024 campaign is to increase the value of overseas tourism to the island of Ireland, sustainably supporting economies, communities and the environment and spread the benefit of overseas tourism across Northern Ireland by inspiring visitors and strengthening strategic partnerships always with a values-led approach. This will be done through growing non-peak seasonal spend by expanding people’s bucket lists, cross sell nearby hidden gems, Northern Ireland access and festivals.
Shane Clarke, Director of Corporate Services, Policy and Northern Ireland, Tourism Ireland discussed the All Ireland Sustainable Tourism Assurance Scheme which aims to promote sustainable ways to enjoy the island of Ireland. This includes an agile approach to global partnerships based on revenue per carbon footprint, promote lower carbon access routes and inspire with sustainable itineraries on the island. The scheme is a collaboration between Tourism Ireland, Tourism NI and Failte Ireland.
Elmagh Killen, Head of Brand and Marketing Communications within Tourism Ireland presented on inspiring visitors with the focus being value added tourism traits including stay longer, enjoy a spread of regions and seasons and memorable experiences vs low cost. This means concentrating on:
- Awareness – publicity focusing on regional and seasonal messaging (1.5bn opportunities to see), advertising (1bn opportunities to see) and maximising opportunities with visiting journalists, press releases and influencers. The aim is to expand on the Fill your Heart with Ireland campaign through video-on-demand, social media, outdoor and in print media and will be reflected across Tourism Ireland’s international website, Ireland.com.
- Consideration – by driving the brand uplift by 5%.
- Research – increase deep research visits to Ireland.com by 9%.
- Purchase – industry wide.
- Advocacy – increase followers by 7% year on year with over 2 billion connections.
Siobhan McManamy, Director of Markets, Tourism Ireland, concentrated on strengthening partnerships:
- Air and sea access sets the stage with new routes and an increase in air seats.
- Putting Northern Ireland tourism businesses on the global stage – 25,000 meetings.
- Growing business events/business tourism – 6,000 business events/meetings.
- Golf and activities – including The Open at Royal Portrush in 2025 and the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in 2027.
- A video highlighting Rory Best, participating in different sports such as golf and mountain biking, highlighted some of the different activities available in Northern Ireland.
- A target of 250 industry businesses in the year ahead.
- Opportunities along with sharing offers, stories and content and joining Tourism Ireland on overseas platforms can all be found on the Tourism Ireland.com website.
John McGrillen, Chief Executive, Tourism NI reminded us of the Tourism Strategy submissions and also collaborative activity:
- B2B promotional platforms – Meet the Buyer 2024
- Wild Atlantic Way-Causeway Coastal Route connections
- City and Growth Deals
- New Programmes – My Tourism NI (e-Learning platform), Make it Here in Tourism and Hospitality, Innovate Tourism and Tourism Data Hub
Karen Patterson finished the plenary session by providing a short summary of the 2024 marketing plans:
- Increase value of overseas tourism to the island of Ireland
- Supporting economies and community
- Sustaining environment
- Inspiring visitors
- Strengthening partnerships
- World class team and culture
Following the plenary session, there was a short break and then one to one meetings with members of Tourism Ireland (pre-arranged) and three break out sessions (pre-booked) on marketing plans in Great Britain, United States of America and France and Germany. Please see below for a summary of the marketing plans for Great Britain.
Great Britain
Julie Wakley, Head of Great Britain
Value of Overseas Tourism: State of the Season
GB visitors:
- Align well with Valued Adding Tourism Traits
- Visit all year round
- Visit our regions
- Lifetime value of the ‘repeat visitor’
- Sustainable travel
Value of Overseas Tourism: Great Britain 2024 Outlook
Opportunities:
- Desire to travel is strong
- Good air and sea access
- Close to home / CTA
- VFR and repeat visitors
Challenges:
- Competitive market
- Cost of living
- Booking windows are short
- Hotel rates and availability
Key Moments 2024
- January – March: Kickstart and Fill Your Heart Campaign Burst 1 (NI co-op campaign, Celtic Connections, Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Week)
- April – May: Fill Your Heart with Ireland Campaign ( Belfast 2024, Season of Green, BTTS)
- June – August: Fill Your Heart with Ireland Always On – digital and social activity
- September – December: Fill your Heart with Ireland Campaign Burst 2 (Home of Halloween, BMW PGA, World Travel Market, Ireland Meets the West End)
Inspiring Visitors: Fill Your Heart with Ireland Campaign
- Kickstart: TV, broadcast video on demand, cinema, digital, social
- Feb and Mar: TV, broadcast video on demand, digital, social
- Sep and Oct: Driving season extension
Inspiring Visitors: Organic Social Channels
- A snapshot of Northern Ireland in 60 seconds
- Discover Ireland snapshots
Inspiring Visitors: Partnerships with Access Partners
- Easyjet, Ryanair, Stenaline, British Airways, P&O Ferries, Loganair
Inspiring Visitors: Partnerships with Metasearch Platforms
- Trip Advisor, Viator, Skyscanner
Inspiring Visitors: Publicity
- The Sun, The Mirror, Exploring, The Great Outdoors, Coast, Culture Trip, Travel Weekly, The Telegraph
Inspiring Visitors: Influencers and Podcasts
- National Geographic Traveller, BBC Countryfile, National Trust
Supporting Economies and Communities
- NI Eags: The Telegraph Partnership – featuring Rory Best
- NI Eags: The Telegraph Partnership – The Times and The Sunday Times Scotland
Supporting Economies and Communities: Partnerships with Sea Carriers
- P&O Ferries, Stenaline
Supporting Economies and Communities: Golf
- Sky Sports, Golf Monthly, National Club Golfer, The Scottish Sun, Golf Magic, Bet Fred British Masters, BMW PGA Championship, YourGolfTravel, Golfbreaks.com, Golf Today
Strengthening Partnerships: Trade and Industry Platforms
- Ireland meets the West End, Celtic Connections, World Travel Market
Strengthening Partnerships: How you can work with us
- Discover our overseas opportunities and how you can get involved – www.tourismireland.com/opportunities
To access the full marketing presentations for Great Britain, United States and France and Germany, please click HERE .
Related posts.
British Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA) Plenary 15th April 2024 – Tourism: A Force for Good
NI Assembly Questions relating to Tourism, April 2024
Home office update – eta information events.
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January 15, 2024. Tourism Ireland launched details of its marketing strategy and plans to promote Northern Ireland overseas in 2024, at an event attended by hundreds of tourism industry leaders from around Northern Ireland. The target is to increase overseas tourism revenue for Northern Ireland by an average of 6.5% year on year to 2030.