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Before I began working at the Belfast Festival at Queen?s in 1998,as part of my interview I had to give a presentation, explains Margaret McKee.You know the sort of thing - how, in ten minutes, I would deliver an overseas audience to the Festival!
I did that presentation the day Northern Ireland plc opened for business - the day the new Stormont Assembly sat for the first time. I was convinced, and convinced the interview panel, that in three years time the Belfast Festival would be welcoming all kinds of eager cultural tourists and that only Edinburgh would rival our pulling power.

Three years after those brave sentiments, what is the state of cultural tourism at the Belfast Festival and what have we learned along the journey? The key question was ?who are cultural tourists and what do they want? ?Are they a sophisticated, older patron enjoying cultural feasts around the globe or are they young arts enthusiasts looking for a hedonistic mix of the alternative and the cool? It soon became clear that they are all of the above, plus many more types of people - and they need more than just arts events to attract them.

There is a clear role for the Belfast Festival in developing a series of niche markets:

1 Youth: the clubbing, single 18-30s who will fly to Ibiza and Amsterdam for the weekend can get to Belfast easily and cheaply from Manchester, Liverpool and now Newcastle, as well as London and Birmingham. The Festival?s dedicated youth programme is developing to meet the needs of that target market.

2 Family: the Festival is increasing focussing on ?family-friendly? activities for visitors who will stay longer in Northern Ireland and will be seeking things that they can do while on their visit.

3 ?Culture vultures?: as always the Festival will cater for the discerning, possibly empty nester who wishes to attend high quality, international cultural events.

The Belfast Festival continues to be a good news story for the national and international press. It has steadily increased its press coverage and received much critical acclaim for its programming and innovation. Recent research indicated that 56% of current Festival attenders feel the Belfast Festival makes them feel proud of Belfast, 72% feel it makes Belfast a better place to be in and 75% feel the Belfast Festival provides an opportunity for celebration in the City. These brand values that are locally recognised, can be developed on an international scale to attract increasing numbers to Belfast during Festival time.

In the past, the tourist industry has questioned the time of year that the Belfast Festival takes place, as well as its perceived lack of Irish or indigenous programming. These issues are now less relevant as the tourist season, particularly for City Breaks, is not confined to the summer months and Festival is developing a short summer programme for 2002. Also, we are keen to become a stronger advocate for work produced in Belfast and Northern Ireland, and will be making significant moves to highlight Northern Ireland culture internationally through our festival networks, and to bring groups of international promoters to Belfast to see the creative industries in action and experience what the City has to offer the overseas visitor.

Margaret McKee is Marketing Manager at the Belfast Festival at Queen?s t: 028 9066 7687 e: m.mckee@queens-belfast.ac.uk w: http://www.belfastfestival.com