Booming Belfast

Until about two decades ago Belfast seldom featured highly on peoples’ holiday plans. Like many UK cities dependent on traditional heavy industry, it had suffered serious decline since the 1960s. This was made much worse in the 1970s and 1980s by the civil unrest known as The Troubles, between Unionists (or loyalists), mainly Protestants, wanting Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, and Irish nationalists (or republicans), mostly Catholics, wanting Northern Ireland to leave the UK and join a united Ireland. 

During those difficult times the sight of armoured vehicles and armed forces on the streets were a common sight, there were regular clashes, many deaths, and permanent steel gates placed around the city centre. Many areas became deserted in the evenings, with very few pubs and cinemas staying open. 

The IRA Ceasefire in 1994, the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, and the St Andrews Agreement in 2006 changed all that. Investors started to pour money into Belfast, leading to sustained economic growth and large-scale redevelopment of the city centre. New developments sprung up, including Victoria Square, the Cultural, Cathedral and Titanic Quarters, the Laganside with the new Odyssey complex, and the Waterfront Hall. The city has been transformed, and tourism has helped drive more than £1bn (1.26 bn CHF) worth of infrastructure investment across Belfast over the last 15 years. Over the past 10 years property prices have soared and employment has grown by 16.4%, compared with 9.2% for the UK as a whole. 

One of the top UK destinations both in tourism and economically

Belfast was the top economically performing UK city in 2015, outpacing cities such as London, Cardiff and Edinburgh, and continues to grow faster than most urban centres. Last year readers of national UK newspaper The Guardian voted it their favourite UK city and it has been in TripAdvisor’s list of Top 20 UK destinations for some years, sometimes making the top 10.

The city now boasts attractive parks filled with families enjoying a picnic or a stroll, glistening art galleries and modern museums including the impressive Titanic Museum, opened in 2012. The waterfront is alive with festivals and food stalls, the St George Market is bustling, and the mix of heritage and contemporary buildings is invigorating. The city's two airports have helped make Belfast one of the most visited weekend destinations in Europe, and the Government’s goal is to create for Northern Ireland, of which Belfast is the centrepiece, a £1 billion tourism industry by 2020. 

Visitors are now spending over four million nights in the city each year and hotel room sales have grown by a third over the last five years. A whole host of new hotels, to accommodate the increasing surge in visitors, are appearing. In March commercial property firm CBRE identified 3,747 new rooms currently being planned or implemented. This more than doubles the current 3,400 capacity, although there’s a possibility not all will be built. 

Current projects include the Grand Central at Bedford Street, the Marriott AC at City Quays, Hampton by Hilton at Hope Street, the Titanic Hotel and the Maldron Hotel. 

Planning has been granted for hotels that include a 60-room Holiday Inn Express, an 80-bed Jury’s Inn extension, a 173-room Novotel, Odyssey Plaza (420 bedrooms), two hotels at Plater’s Yard (275 beds), and the 122-bed Queen Street.

Projects at a pre-planning stage include McAleer and Rushe's 150-room development at a former Bank of Ireland building and an extension at the Bullitt Hotel, a 160-bedroom hotel at the King's Hall.

Visit Belfast, Belfast Waterfront and Tourism Northern Ireland have also been working together to increase the conference sector, and currently there are more than 130 confirmed conferences from now until 2022, which will generate nearly 250,000 bed nights and more than £100m (126m CHF) for the city.