We share highlights from Visit Belfast’s winning entry in the Best Tourism or Convention Bureau category at this year’s micebook Awards…

An award-winning city on the rise, Belfast was listed by The Times as ‘the most exciting city to visit 2023’, won the Best Convention or Tourism Bureau category at last year’s micebook Awards and was listed on TripAdvisor’s Travellers Choice Top 10 sustainable travel destinations

in the world for 2024. 2023 was a record year for business events held in Belfast, with 92 taking place worth over £42.5m in economic impact including several high-profile events such as One Young World, UK Space and Cyber UK.

In 2023/24, Visit Belfast delivered 35% year-on-year sales growth in new MICE business for the city, and secured 130 events worth £42.1m in economic impact for future years.

Not only that, but Belfast was ranked 11th in the world for sustainability amongst 100 destinations globally (Global Destination Sustainability Index 2023) and Visit Belfast was the joint second highest performing DMMO in the world due to its investment in sustainability.

Three-quarters (76%) of all Belfast Hotel rooms are now sustainability certified after Visit Belfast worked to secure funding and support for the industry to accelerate sustainability.

Visit Belfast also developed a legacy and impact guide to showcase the range of projects and initiatives that can be incorporated into event programmes to support event organisers to increase the impact of their events in the city.

In 2023, 100% of conferences said they were “likely” or “very likely” to recommend Belfast as a conference destination and this is backed up by strong case studies and client testimonials.

Judges were impressed by the feedback, which “demonstrates a consistent level of excellence in terms of support for event producers”.