Belfast lines up nine international conferences worth £10m to city

Belfast Waterfront, the Northern Ireland capital’s 7,000sqm purpose-built convention centre, will welcome nine major international conferences over the next 12 months, generating 29,000 delegate nights and over £10m (US$13m) for the city. Belfast is proud of its recent £1bn investment programme in the city’s tourism offer and the Lonely Planet naming Belfast and the Causeway Coast the Number One Region in the world to visit in 2018. The Waterfront’s international conference pipeline includes: Routes Europe 2017, the 15^th International Pragmatics Conference and the 44^thEuropean Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics. The programme also includes ‘heavy hitters’ from a multitude of industries including the International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit; the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine Congress and the 16^th Euro Fed Lipid Congress. Dr Frank Amoneit, MD of Euro Fed Lipid, says the Belfast Waterfront’s new expansion put the city on the table as a potential host for the 16^th Euro Fed Lipid Congress in 2018. “The city’s overall package of facilities, a good spread of hotels nearby the venue and an extensive network of flights made Belfast an attractive destination for our annual conference. In addition, we have received great support from both Belfast City Council and Visit Belfast.” Dr Mike Johnston MBE, joint chair of the Local Organising Committee for the IDF World Dairy Summit 2017, adds that if it had not been for the new state-of-the-art facilities at Belfast Waterfront and the city’s new hotel infrastructure, his organisation wouldn’t have considered hosting its event in Belfast. Catherine Toolan, MD of Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Hall (BWUH), says: “There’s no doubt being the birthplace of the Titanic and a key film location for ‘Game of Thrones’ has made Belfast a truly intriguing city for business visitors. In fact, the ‘curiosity factor’ has seen many of our clients’ conferences attract more delegates to Belfast than expected. Thanks to increased connectivity, a rise in the number of hotels and the extended Waterfront Convention Centre, we can now accommodate the ever-growing demand to host high profile international conferences and business events in our fascinating city.”