We are delighted to see the streets of Belfast beginning to flourish again in the past few weeks, with brighter skies and longer evenings Belfast is well and truly buzzing!
Looking ahead to Summer 2023 the proposed figures of tourists visiting Belfast are continuing to rise and we are on our way to taking over the pre Covid tourism figures from 2019. The tourism industry here in Northern Ireland is ambitious that by 2025 it will have a revenue of £1.3 billion - super exciting!
We have been thrilled to see the steady flow of cruise ships back in Belfast since March. Belfast will see 170 cruise ships dock here in 2023 from March until October. This means there will be 250,000 tourists visiting Belfast this summer through Belfast Dock. These are record numbers of cruise visitors to Belfast, with a 20% increase on 2019 records. In Born and Bred we love to see cruise ship season as tour groups always stop by our store. We love talking about our products, who makes them and what all the different colloquialisms mean - 'awk hiya love' is always a favourite.
This weekend we have three Taste & Tour groups booked into the shop to test some of the local food products we stock from producers across Northern Ireland, this is a great opportunity to invite new faces into the shop and allows them to look around our two floors after they have tasted some local products. Taste & Tour regularly book into the shop for a unique experience for tourists. Groups can be anything from 12 - 40 people.
And on another tourism note - At the beginning of May we had the pleasure of working with Aer Lingus on a short video which will be showcased on all their USA flights coming to Ireland this year starting in July. Our video will be a part of the Top 10 places to visit in Belfast segment. We are really excited to welcome Aer Lingus passengers to our shop this Summer, to show them a little bit of Belfast and our Born and Bred hospitality.
We are already buzzing with the atmosphere around Belfast in the past few weeks, so we feel this is going to be a busy few months for us here in Born & Bred. The Summer is going to be awesome!
We can't wait to see you all,
Catherine x
