Routes Europe will return to the United Kingdom in 2017 when the 12th Routes Europe takes place from 23-25 April 2017 in Belfast at the Waterfront Conference Centre which will complete its state of the art GBP 30 million extension in the summer of 2016. The event will be hosted by Invest Northern Ireland and Visit Belfast and supported by a wide range of stakeholders including Tourism Northern Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Belfast City Council, Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport.
This will be the second time that Routes Europe has taken place in the UK, following this year’s successful event in Aberdeen earlier this month. Over 1,200 delegates are expected to attend the event in 2017, including representatives from the region’s leading airlines, airports, tourism authorities and other industry stakeholders.
“Hosting Routes Europe in Belfast in 2017 provides us with a rare opportunity to bring influential decision makers into the region and showcase Northern Ireland’s tourism and business potential. This conference has the potential to accelerate route development for Belfast and Northern Ireland with previous hosts of Routes Europe confirming up to six new routes after hosting the event. This will benefit business, tourism and the aerospace sectors. The three-day conference will attract more than 1,200 European and international delegates bringing an economic benefit to Belfast worth over £1.3 million. Longer term benefits will come from the extensive international PR coverage for Belfast and Northern Ireland that it will generate, which will enhance our profile as a tourism destination and as a location for hosting large-scale international events,” said Arlene Foster, Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister.
“We are delighted to announce that Belfast will be our host city for the 12th Routes Europe in 2017. Delegates will be exposed to the business and tourism opportunities that exist in Northern Ireland and our hosts will have the opportunity to showcase the unprecedented GBP 300 million tourism infrastructure investment of recent years to the Routes community. To have our audience of over 1,200 of the European aviation industry’s most senior decision makers attend Routes Europe 2017 in Belfast, will help to deliver on the ambitious air service targets within Northern Ireland’s economic growth strategy. Belfast has shown that it can deliver on world-class events and the Belfast partners demonstrated a highly unified and aligned approach in their bid to host the event. We look forward to working with them towards Routes Europe 2017 and are confident that our delegates will enjoy the unique and genuinely warm hospitality for which the city is renowned,” said Gerard Brown, Head of Future Hosting, Routes, UBM EMEA.
