New taskforce aims tobring in £4.2m touristpounds in two years

Visit Derry have launched a new ‘Business Tourism Taskforce’ aligning with an ambitious new strategy to drive the growth of the Conference and Meetings sector and generate £4.2m to the city over the next two years.
By Staff Reporter
Published 22nd May 2014, 10:56 BST
A new Business Tourism Taskforce has been launched aligning with an ambitious new strategy to drive the growth of the Conference and Meetings sector and generate £4.2m to the city over the next 2 years.A new Business Tourism Taskforce has been launched aligning with an ambitious new strategy to drive the growth of the Conference and Meetings sector and generate £4.2m to the city over the next 2 years.
A new Business Tourism Taskforce has been launched aligning with an ambitious new strategy to drive the growth of the Conference and Meetings sector and generate £4.2m to the city over the next 2 years.

Following the phenomenal success of City of Culture 2013 which attracted a record £5m in conference bookings and over 10,000 conference delegates, Visit Derry have identified a number of new initiatives to capitalise upon these successes and continue this positive momentum into 2014 and beyond.

The Taskforce brings together key industry stakeholders, government agencies and venues who will work collaboratively with key local academic, medical, corporate, cultural and sporting sectors to capitalize upon the city’s expertise and excellence within these sectors and attract National and International conferences and events to the region.

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Aoife Thomas, Business & Leisure Tourism Officer at Visit Derry commented ‘The majority of our conferences are secured as a result of working in partnership with dynamic local representatives who act as ‘Ambassadors’ to promote the city as a conference destination throughout their extensive network of industry contacts, colleagues, clients and suppliers. Hosting a conference is a fantastic way to raise the profile of your organisation, research or product and we encourage anyone who is a member of a Professional body, Association, Institute or Society or may be able to bring an event to the city to get in touch with us at Visit Derry. We are fully equipped to support our Ambassadors through every stage of organising an event to ensure all delegates enjoy a ‘LegenDerry’ experience in the city.”

Odhran Dunne, General Manager at Visit Derry also commented: “The Taskforce and Ambassador Network will support the destinations growth as a unique meetings location. We are delighted that NORIBICs European Business & Innovation Centre Network Annual Congress has been shortlisted as a finalist for ‘Best Large Scale Congress’ at the forthcoming Conference Awards in London.

“This will increase the profile of the city for hosting conferences in the GB market. Our Business Tourism Ambassador Programme has also recently been shortlisted as a finalist in the Derry~Londonderry Business Awards for ‘Best Tourism Initiative’ and this highlights the importance of the role that Ambassadors play in securing conferences that generate increased economic expenditure in the city and region.”

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