{"id":7923,"date":"2014-08-29T10:49:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T09:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=7923"},"modified":"2014-08-29T10:49:28","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T09:49:28","slug":"curtain-up-for-cultural-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2014\/08\/curtain-up-for-cultural-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"CURTAIN UP FOR CULTURAL TOURISM"},"content":{"rendered":"

ULSTER BANK BELFAST FESTIVAL AT QUEEN\u2019S HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE OF ARTS AND CULTURE AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND TOURISM<\/h1>\n
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Curtains up for cultural tourism: Susan McCleary, Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s and Susie McCullough, Northern Ireland Tourist Board launch the Festival\u2019s 2014 Postcard Campaign and shine a light on the vital role of the arts for tourism in Northern Ireland. The 2012 Festival generated \u00a3577,180 in tourism revenue including \u00a3112,637 on tourism accommodation and \u00a3464,543 on food and drink, transport and shopping. The Festival also provides an important role in business development creating an annual equivalent of 311 full-time jobs and a total benefit to Northern Ireland businesses of \u00a32 million. The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s starts on 16 October to 1 November with first shows now on sale. For details check-in at www.belfastfestival.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Susan McCleary, Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s and Susie McCullough, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, today launched the Festival\u2019s 2014 \u2018Postcard Campaign\u2019 shining a spotlight on the vital role of the arts for tourism in Northern Ireland. \u00a0The Festival \u201cPostcards\u201d will target tourists from all over Ireland and GB providing a snapshot of what is on offer at Ireland\u2019s leading international contemporary arts festival.<\/p>\n

A recent NITB Visitors Survey found an 11% increase on the previous year in visitors reporting \u2018opportunities to attend local events and festivals\u2019 as a reason to visit Northern Ireland. \u00a0In addition an independent economic assessment showed that the 2012 Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s generated \u00a3577,180 in tourism revenue including \u00a3112,637 on tourism accommodation and \u00a3464,543 on food and drink, transport and shopping. The Festival also provides an important role in business development creating an annual equivalent of 311 full-time jobs and a total benefit to Northern Ireland businesses of \u00a32 million.<\/p>\n

Susie McCullough, Director of Business Support and Events, NITB, said: \u201cNITB is delighted to be supporting the 2014 Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s, showcasing a variety of world class arts performances across the city of Belfast. \u00a0The research carried out on the 2012 festival indicated that 92% of spectators felt that the festival improved Northern Ireland\u2019s reputation as a tourism destination, and 72% of spectators that attended stated that the festival made them feel more proud of Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Wakely, Director, Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s, said, \u201cThese report findings demonstrate that the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s provides significant economic benefits for Northern Ireland, creating employment and reinforcing the message to visitors and potential visitors that we have an outstanding cultural tourism product to offer. \u00a0The festival not only offers high-quality international acts but we also place a huge emphasis on showcasing and celebrating the exceptional talent we are fortunate to have in the region. \u00a0The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s connects Belfast to the world and the world to Belfast and this year we have 17 days of world-class arts featuring performers from 18 countries with 110 events and 26 premieres.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s presents great and diverse works of art from home and abroad, bringing audiences something very special that they cannot see elsewhere, all combining to deliver one unique festival which runs throughout the city from 16 October \u2013 1 November.\u00a0 The 2014\u00a0festival features performers from 18 different countries covering classical and contemporary music, film, dance, theatre, talks and visual arts, many of which are EU, UK and Ireland premieres.<\/p>\n

The festival would not be possible without the support of our sponsors and public sector funders including Title Sponsor, Ulster Bank, Principal Funder, Arts Council\u00a0of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Queen\u2019s University, Belfast City Council, British Council, O2 International Sim, Belfast Harbour, Arts & Business NI and Department for Social Development, plus, the many venues, performers and partner organisations whose commitment and passion bring the arts to life for all to enjoy.<\/p>\n

The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s box office officially opens on 4th<\/sup> September but some shows are currently on sale check-in at www.belfastfestival.com<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ULSTER BANK BELFAST FESTIVAL AT QUEEN\u2019S HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE OF ARTS AND CULTURE AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND TOURISM Susan McCleary, Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s and Susie McCullough, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, today launched the Festival\u2019s 2014 \u2018Postcard Campaign\u2019 shining a spotlight on the vital role of the arts for tourism … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7925,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923\/revisions\/7925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}