Minutes:
The Committee was informed that Mr. J. McGrillen, Chief Executive, Tourism NI, was in attendance in order to provide an overview of the work of Tourism NI and he was welcomed to the meeting.
Mr. McGrillen reviewed the roles of Tourism Ireland, Tourism NI and Visit Belfast and explained that Tourism NI was responsible for promoting Northern Ireland as a destination to tourists from within Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was responsible also for the statutory certification of all tourism accommodation provision in Northern Ireland, the funding of major events and supporting investment in the development of visitor attractions and experiences.
He reported that, between 1998 and 2018, the number of out-of-state visitors to Northern Ireland had increased by 90% and, significantly, tourism spend had risen by 208%. He highlighted the importance of Belfast to the local tourism sector and drew the Members’ attention to the fact that, in 2018, it had accounted for 41% of all tourism spend in Northern Ireland. He compared tourism figures for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and pointed out that, based upon current performance, Tourism NI was optimistic that the previously agreed target of delivering £1bn of tourism spend in Northern Ireland by 2020 could be achieved within the current calendar year and that there was the potential to double that spend by 2030. The Department for the Economy was in the process of finalising a strategic document to be issued for consultation early in 2020, which it was anticipated would endorse that target. He outlined the work which would be required to achieve that objective and stressed that it had the potential to create 25,000 new jobs within the tourism sector over the next decade, including 12,000 in Belfast.
Mr. McGrillen then outlined the extent of Tourism NI’s work in promoting Belfast to the travel trade and highlighted, in particular, the hosting in 2018 of the Hosts Global Forum and in 2020 of Visit Britain’s Explore GB and Northern Ireland travel trade event, as well as a number of ‘Meet the Buyer’ tourism networking events. He provided details of Tourism NI’s capital funding expenditure in recent years and pointed to the fact that it provided £1.6 million annually to support events across Northern Ireland, as well as allocating £200k to a subvention fund to attract conferences to Belfast and £300k to Visit Belfast to assist in promoting the City overseas.
He informed the Committee that 2019 had seen the launch of the innovative “Embrace a Giant Spirit” branding initiative and outlined how it would be utilised by Tourism NI and Tourism Ireland to promote Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland and internationally, with the aim of increasing visitor numbers and ensuring economic impact across all regions. He then drew the Committee’s attention to the outcome of a detailed survey which had been undertaken in 2018 of approximately 3,000 visitors to Northern Ireland, which for Belfast had been largely positive, in terms of strengths and areas for improvement. He concluded by highlighting both the challenges being faced currently by the tourism sector around Brexit, funding, skills availability and international connectivity and the opportunities to work collaboratively on events programming, the Belfast Region City Deal/Belfast Story and neighbourhood tourism.
Mr. McGrillen then addressed a number of issues which had been raised by the Members and was thanked by the Chairperson for his presentation.
The Committee noted the information which had been provided.