Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0    Summary of main issues

1.1The purpose of this report is to update Members on the status of the Belfast Integrated Tourism Strategy (2015-20) and to present the agreed year 1 action plan in line with strategy priorities for Members’ information.

1.2The strategy and associated year one action plan were approved at the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on the 22nd May 2015.  Progress against the strategy and action plan will be presented to and considered by the City Growth and Regeneration Committee throughout the duration of the strategy.

2.0Recommendations

2.1Members are asked to:

-       Note the strategy outline and priority actions for year one

-       Note and agree the proposed monitoring and reporting arrangements through the City Growth and Regeneration Committee.

3.0Key Issues

3.1The Integrated Tourism Strategy was approved by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee in May 2015 following a 12 week consultation process.

3.2The strategy was developed in tandem with the City Centre Regeneration Strategy and Investment Plan and the proposals are aligned to support the future economic growth of the city.  The key driver is the commitment to double the value of tourism by 2020 to a total of £870million annually.

3.3In order to plan delivery of the priority activities identified in the strategy, there has been some preliminary development work undertaken by officers from Belfast City Council, in conjunction with partners from Tourism NI, Tourism Ireland and Visit Belfast.  A summary of the Tourism Strategy and Year One Action have been circulated for Members’ information.  Some of the activities in which the Council will play a lead role include:

·        Developing the City Narrative and Place Positioning Strategy

·        Working with Visit Belfast and Tourism NI to develop a new city visitor pass for 2016/17

·        Development of conference subvention scheme with Visit Belfast and Tourism NI to support the development of business tourism in the city, in advance of the opening of the Belfast Waterfront Convention and Exhibition Centre

·        Collaboration with DEL and other partners to develop and deliver a leadership programme for key hospitality representatives – to encourage excellence within the sector

·        Work with private developers and the hotel sector to bring forward new hotel developments in the city, in line with projected demand

·        Further work to develop products around the ‘Beyond Peace’ narrative, in line with the tourism strategy ambitions.

3.4All partners will continue to meet regularly as a working group, which will be chaired by Belfast City Council.  This group will have collective responsibility to oversee delivery of the strategy and the individual actions as set out in the current action plan.  The working group will also be responsible for establishing appropriate targets and milestones for each work stream and for ensuring that progress is achieved.  Progress against targets will be reported back through the City Growth and Regeneration Committee and the Committee will be responsible for endorsing future programmes of work.

3.5Financial and Resource Implications

      Activities identified will be resourced from the agreed Departmental budget allocations for the current financial year.  Activities for future years will need to be considered as part of medium term financial plans.

3.6Equality or Good Relations Implications

      The Integrated Tourism Strategy has been screened out. Actions and initiatives that are developed to take forward the Strategy will be equality screened in line with Belfast City Council policy.”

            In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Development highlighted that there were a number of proposals currently being developed by different parties with regard to the visual arts and a possible municipal art gallery and undertook to submit a report to the Committee on 12th August detailing the various discussions which were ongoing.

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.