Belfast Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson backs marketing campaign

BELFAST has unveiled a major new £250,000 festive marketing campaign to boost the profile of the city.

And it will also help promote its unique and distinctive retail, hospitality and entertainment scenes to visitors across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the run-up to Christmas.

The new `Famously Festive` campaign, which will be rolled out across TV, radio, press, digital and PR channels for the next six weeks, was developed in partnership with Belfast`s key agencies – Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau, which markets the city locally and internationally, and Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce, responsible for promoting local business interests.

The partnership is now in its fifth year.

The target-driven campaign is backed by the Department for Social Development.

And for the first time Translink, which will be promoting a wide range of special offers to encourage millions of potential visitors – from Cork to Coleraine – to travel by bus, coach or rail.

Victoria Square and CastleCourt shopping centres, together with Belfast`s newest visitor attraction and the world`s largest Titanic experience, Titanic Belfast, have weighed in to support this year`s Christmas campaign, which is designed to generate additional overnight visitors, and to maximise day trips and spend.

Car drivers are also being encouraged to visit Belfast ahead of Christmas and over the New Year following the announcement of new road improvements and the suspension of key road work activity with special parking offers and a greater promotion of the established `park and ride` facilities located around the city access has never been better.

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Gavin Robinson, said he was confident that the campaign would bring increased numbers of visitors to enjoy all that was on offer in a city ‘on the rise’ and ‘on the move’.

“Christmas is an important time of year for Belfast and for all those retailers, restaurants, hotels and visitor attractions which make us unique,” the Lord Mayor said.

“These businesses contribute greatly to the city`s distinctiveness and vitality and this is why Belfast`s marketing campaign, developed by BVCB in collaboration with industry partners is designed to harness that distinctiveness and provide potential visitors with compelling reasons to come to Belfast to visit, shop and stay.”

Joe Jordan, President of Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said:

“Belfast is our biggest city and the second-largest on this island, so it goes without saying that what we offer to our visitors across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has the depth, quality and scale you would expect from a major city.

“As one of the most popular places to shop, Belfast is the natural destination of choice. This new campaign showcases the competitive strength of the Belfast product at this festive time of year and is designed to drive business to the city`s core retail areas and boost the local economy during the important Christmas period.”

Anne McMullan, Marketing and Communications Director at BVCB, said:

“2012 has been a fantastic year for tourism and we want to ensure the city`s `Titanic` effect continues and that everyone – from all our visitors to those working in the trade – enjoys a bumper Christmas.

“The aim of our integrated marketing campaign is to provide visitors with plenty of reasons to come to Belfast, highlight the unique mix of shops, culture, entertainment, nightlife and great-value accommodation which is available all in our compact, walkable city. It is a multi-layered campaign which utilises a mix of traditional platforms together with new digital media channels to engage directly with our key audiences.

“The campaign aims to showcase the city`s strengths as a visitor destination – not only during the festive period, but all year-round – and build on the city`s record visitor numbers which have quadrupled in the last 10 years. Belfast has pulled out all the stops to create a truly magical experience and millions of reasons for the influx of visitors, shoppers and party goers, to come and enjoy it now!”

For further information on how to spend Christmas in Belfast this year, visit gotobelfast.com or call in to the Belfast Welcome Centre at Donegall Place and pick up your free copy of About Belfast.