Minutes:
The Committee considered the undernoted report, together with the associated 2012/2013 Business Plan for the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau:
“1 Relevant Background Information
1.1Members received a performance update from Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau in September 2011 and agreed to receive a presentation on their 2012/2013 Business Plan on 24 January 2012.
1.2The Development Committee receive a presentation on BVCB’s Business Plan every year before agreeing Council’s financial contribution. The request for financial support from Council for 2012/2013 is £1,842,465, approximately 9% of the Development Department’s budget. This is the same level of support agreed in 2011/2012.
1.3The Business Plan has been prepared by Dr John Heeley, Director of Best City Marketing and Chair of European Cities Marketing. It represents the second year instalment of the Belfast City Region Marketing and Visitor Servicing Plan 2011–2014, presented and agreed by Council in February 2011.
2 Key Issues
2.1The Belfast City Region and Visitor Servicing Plan 2011- 2014 provided a fresh look at BVCB and established new performance measurements linked to campaigns, business tourism, generating bed nights and income generation to name a few. It highlighted a number of areas that needed to be addressed including the need for BVCB to influence the marketing activity of NITB and Tourism Ireland; the importance of digital marketing, the need for better and more regular research and better defined roles and responsibilities around the Belfast Brand implementation.
2.2The Business Plan for Year 2, now focuses on:
- realignment of resources to support implementation of key priority areas of work;
- a more sales orientated approach;
- further refinement of key performance indicators;
- empowerment of the Board to oversee BVCB’s performance;
- Change of name, website domain for BVCB;
- A new core purpose statement – “To create and service visitors for Belfast in order to generate economic benefit for the city region”;
- Introduction of a dedicated monitoring and evaluation framework and BVCB’s initiatives to calculate the organisations contribution to tourism growth.
2.3The attached plan also highlights the emerging role for BVCB to become an integrated city marketing agency and custodian of the Belfast B Brand. Members will be aware that this is an area that the Development Committee has discussed previously in relation to an integrated approach to not only marketing Belfast as a tourist destination but also a place to invest in, work in and study in and indeed has invited Andrew Stokes, Chief Executive of Marketing Manchester to speak at the next State of the City Breakfast seminar on 24 January 2012. This agency is responsible for the national and international promotion of the Manchester city-region. Officers would recommend that Members if available attend this session.
2.4Members are also aware of previous discussions on the role of Belfast City Centre Management and the need to ensure that there are clear roles and responsibilities defined between BVCB and BCCM. BCCM’s Business Plan and request for funding for 2012/2013 were presented to the Development Committee on 13 December 2011 and it was agreed that a report would be brought back to the Committee, outlining a number of options for future Council support of the organisation.
2.5It is recommended that Members receive a presentation from Gerry Lennon, Chief Executive of BVCB on the 24 January 2012. This will provide an opportunity for Members to review BVCB’s plans for 2012/2013.
2.6Before agreeing the plans however, officers recommend that a special meeting to discuss both BVCB and BCCM plans for 2012/13 and how an integrated approach to marketing Belfast as presented by Marketing Manchester might be achieved for the city. As both BVCB and BCCM will have had the opportunity to present to Committee, it is anticipated that this session will be for Members and officers only.
3 Resource Implications
3.1The request from BVCB is for £1,842,465 and is included in the Departmental estimates.
4 Recommendations
4.1The Committee is requested to:-
i. receive a presentation from BVCB; and
ii. agree to hold a special meeting to discuss in detail both BVCB and BCCM plans for 2012/2013.
It was reported that Mr. G. Lennon and Mr. S. Magorrian, representing the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau, were in attendance and they were admitted to the meeting and welcomed by the Chairman.
Mr. Lennon reviewed the work which the Bureau had undertaken during 2011 and provided information on the number of visitors which the City had attracted during that period. He outlined the economic challenges which the Bureau would face during the forthcoming years and provided examples of how it aimed to strengthen Belfast’s status as a major European city break destination. He then referred to the themes and performance indicators which would oversee the work of the Bureau and outlined the ongoing plans for it to review its objectives with a view, at a future date, to concentrating solely on marketing the City on an international basis.
A prolonged discussion ensued in respect of the Business Plan and a range of views were expressed by Members regarding its contents. The point was made that the issue of the permanent re-location of the Belfast Welcome Centre needed to be addressed and resolved at the earliest opportunity. Other Members suggested that the overall governance arrangements for the Bureau were somewhat cumbersome and welcomed the fact that this aspect, together with a potential name change for the Bureau, were under review. Further issues were raised by Members regarding the Bureau’s promotion of the annual ‘Orangefest’ event; the potential for enhancing the City’s tourism product insofar as it related to political tourism; and the requirement for the City to establish additional conference and exhibition facilities.
After further discussion, it was
Moved by Alderman Stoker,
Seconded by Alderman Ekin and
Resolved – That the Committee agrees to provide the sum of £1,842,465 to the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau for the 2012/2013 financial year.
It was agreed further that a special meeting to discuss issues pertinent to the promotion of the City, to which representatives of Tourism Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board be invited to attend, be held on a date to be determined in conjunction with the Chairman.