Northern Ireland’s Department for Economy has announced a £1 million conference support scheme to help secure more business events in Belfast, Derry and the region. The scheme will provide conference organisers with £50 for each out-of-state delegate to bring their association conference to the region, with awards ranging between £5,000 and £100,000 for all eligible events.
Open to not-for-profit associations and organisations, bringing at least 100 out-of-state delegates, applications for conferences taking place from 2022-2030 are now open. The scheme is funded by Tourism Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council and Derry and Strabane District Council and delivered by Visit Belfast and Visit Derry. The Northern Ireland Executive gave the go-ahead for conferences and exhibitions to resume on 16 August.
Belfast has been building a long pipeline of business events, with more than 103 significant conferences scheduled through to 2028 which are worth over £81 million to the economy, including the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, the Association of Anaesthetics Annual Conference and the One Young World Summit in 2023. ICC Belfast Chief Executive, Julia Corkey, said: “In order to win and deliver large-scale, multi-day conferences and exhibitions, our team works as a trusted advisor to clients, inheriting their KPIs as our own. Client requirements have evolved rapidly over the past 18 months and we have made significant investment in our technological offering to become hybrid-by-design.
“Now that we can safely welcome delegates back to our COVID-Secure venue, this scheme will further enhance our compelling offering and position Belfast and Northern Ireland as a European leading destination for business events.”
