Filte Feirste Thiar Welcome to West Belfast

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Fáilte Feirste ThiarWelcome to West
Belfast Ciara Boyle Development Officer
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West Belfast is a vibrant and lively
place, rich in culture, environmental beauty and
political and built heritage. Tourism is
perceived as one of the most viable economic
components of the overall programme for
regeneration of West Belfast.
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West Belfast

• Within the West Belfast Partnership area the
  scale, extend and concentration of economic and
  social deprivation places this community as the
  most deprived in the north of Ireland.
• The nature of local deprivation is manifold
  many parts of the community are heavily dependant
  on a range of welfare benefits.

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West Belfast Partnership Board

• The Boards aim is to become a body carrying
  out a successful strategy, widely accepted in the
  broader community, which improves the quality of
  life for west Belfast residents and which also
  contributes positively to the development of the
  city as a whole.
• The Boards mission statement is
• "The West Belfast Partnership Board is a
  partnership seeking to involve everyone who works
  and lives within west Belfast in the task of
  generating economic, social, physical and
  cultural development in an inclusive and
  accountable manner."

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Regeneration Strategy

• West Belfast Greater Shankill Task Force Report
  
• Seven Themes
• Education Initiative
• Employability
• Education Training
• Entrepreneurship, Enterprise Job Creation
• Social Economy
• Infrastructure Planning
• Unique Issues (Tourism, Gaeltacht Quarters, etc)

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Development of Fáilte Feirste Thiar

• Fáilte Feirste Thiar, tourism initiative of
  the West Belfast Partnership Board, was
  established in the late 1990s to develop a
  strategy for promoting the idea of tourism within
  the local area.
• This initiative was initially driven forward
  by MP for the area Gerry Adams along with local
  community development officers and key
  organisations such as Féile an Phobail and an
  Cúlturlann.

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• Partnership Approach
• The group further expanded developing a dynamic
  partnership approach through the establishment of
  an Executive Committee which meets on a regular
  basis and includes the commitment and expertise
  of agencies such as Belfast City Council,
  Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Belfast
  Visitor Convention Bureau.

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Executive Committee

• Fáilte Feirste Thiar Executive Committee meets
  on a monthly basis.
• Membership of the Committee includes
  representation from
• Community Voluntary sector
• Statutory Bodies
• Tourism Industry
• Funding Bodies

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Tourism in Belfast

• Belfast City Tourism growing steadily over the
  past 7 to 8 years
• In 2002 the city attracted 3.6 million visitors,
  spending over 355million to the local economy,
  sustaining 17,750 jobs
• Tourism image-led marketing of the city is
  pivotal to the regeneration of Belfast and is
  critical to the successful achievement of inward
  investment, visitors, business, industry and
  conference sectors.
• New direct airline access with Europe through
  Easyjet Jet2

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• Role of Fáilte Feirste Thiar
• Fáilte Feirste Thiar to be used as a lobbying
  tool for the development of a sustainable tourism
  infrastructure and product, which will offer
  employment and help in the economic regeneration
  of the area.
• To encourage, motivate, facilitate and assist
  local groups with regards to tourism product
  development co-ordination
• To strengthen and consolidate links with
  community tourism projects one voice
  cohesion within West Belfast

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• To examine other tourism bodies and their roles
  to identify gaps and assess where Fáilte Feirste
  Thiar fit into the overall tourism product in
  West Belfast, Belfast as a whole and the North of
  Ireland.
• To promote and market the tourism industry within
  West Belfast, locally, nationally and
  internationally
• Develop social enterprises, entrepreneurship and
  innovation within tourism.
• As part of product development assist, advise and
  promote the establishment of more Bed Breakfast
  establishments and other forms of accommodation
  in West Belfast.

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Familiarisation Trips
Fáilte Feirste Thiar in association with Coiste
have hosted familiarisation trips with travel
writers from the Lonely Planet, Fodors Guide,
local and international media.
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• I was really impressed with what is going on
• in West Belfast regarding tourism, Ill try to
  
• make sure this is reflected in our new
  Ireland
• book
• Anthony Howard, Fodors Guide

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E-Bulletin

• In November 2003 compiled the first tourism
  e-bulletin for West Belfast.
• Currently being distributed on a monthly basis
  with local, national and international
  readership.
• Provides regular updates on tourist information,
  events, contacts, latest news, and projects in
  the area

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Projects

• Product Market Development
• West Shankill Arts Heritage Trail
• Implementation of Eurozone
• Marketing PR
• Tourism Training
• Information Services
• Liaison / Co-ordination
• Lobbying

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Tourism Training

• Train 175 Beneficiaries within tourism training
  courses
• Wide variety of courses
• Progression
• Mentoring Support
• Liaison with Job Assist Centres

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Welcome to Excellence

• Fáilte Feirste Thiar staff trained to deliver
  the Welcome to Excellence suite of courses
  including
• Welcome Host
• Welcome Host Plus
• Welcome All
• By November 2004 over 120 people from West
  Belfast will have received training in the
  Welcome to Excellence range.

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People Committed to Progress

• Féile an Phobail
• West Belfast Black Taxi Association
• Cultúrlann MacAdam Ó Fiaich

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Féile an Phobail

• Féile An Phobail means 'festival of the
  people' or 'community festival' and it was
  established in 1988 as a community reaction to
  challenge the negative and damaging portrayal of
  the West Belfast community.
• It was also a community response to funnel the
  tensions each August around the commemoration of
  Internment on August 9 into a positive
  celebration of the area.

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• It runs one major festival, the August Féile
  for ten days and an increasing number of
  specialist festivals with Draíocht, a two-week
  arts festival for children and young people and
  Féile an Earraigh, focusing on Irish culture,
  music and language, as well as the annual St.
  Patrick's Day Celebration and other one-off
  events. Féile is one of the largest Community
  Festivals in Europe, which attracts many visitors
  and generates over 3million to the local economy.

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West Belfast Taxi Association
The West Belfast Taxi Association employs 263
people and transports over 5 million passengers
annually, generating millions into the economy.
The Association through the endeavours of its
membership generated share capital to build a
city centre located state of the art taxi depot
offering office, residential and retail outlets.

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Cultúrlann MacAdam Ó Fiaich

A landmark building on the West Belfast skyline
for over a century, Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich at
216 Falls Road is at the centre of Belfast's
Irish language community. Set up in 1991 in the
former Broadway Presbyterian Church, it is named
in honour of Roibeard McAdam, a Presbyterian
businessman who pioneered the revival of the
Irish language in 19th century Belfast and Tomás
Ó Fiaich, a stalwarth of the Irish language in
the twentieth century.
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• Today the three storey culture and arts centre
  contains a 130-seat restaurant, a 110-seat
  theatre / conference space, the Gerard Dillon
  Gallery where regular exhibitions take place, a
  book/gift shop catering for Irish language and
  Irish interest. It is also the site of an
  official tourist information point, which among
  its many services offers help in arranging
  accommodation in Belfast.

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