An Overview of the Events Industry in Ni
An Overview of the Events Industry in Northern Ireland
Bowdin describes events as “benchmarks for our lives”. He goes on to explain the tradition of events and contrasts it with how “Even in the high tech era…we still need social events to mark the local and domestic details of our lives”. Northern Ireland is one of the most up and coming places on the international stage in recent times and its potential is continuously growing. Since the late 90’s a new era has begun and NI has begun to flourish. One of the main reasons behind NI’s new found success and attractiveness is the events industry. There are always events taking place all over NI, and with each passing year, the number of events continues to grow, as does the prestige of many of the events that are held here.
Events are categorised from smallest to largest under Local, Major, Hallmark and Mega-Event. When applying this typology to NI I would consider events like a football final to be local; Belfast Music Week to be major; MTV EMA awards to be Hallmark; and ‘NI 2012’ to be a mega-event. These are a mere few examples as there are various events from each category, taking place all over NI.
NI is home to many great events even at the smallest level. With cultural events like those surrounding St. Patrick’s Day on-going every year in local towns, and local sporting events taking place all the time, NI has proved its capability to create and sustain events. This then allowed for events like the Continental Market to be held at Belfast City Hall every year, which became a very popular attraction around Christmas time and still is every year. Larger events like the Tall Ships coming to Belfast in 2009, gave NI the coverage it needed for it to be considered for many more prestigious events. The confirmation of the MTV EMA awards coming to Belfast in November this year is a landmark event. This will create the perfect opportunity for the world to see just how big an event NI can
Bowdin describes events as “benchmarks for our lives”. He goes on to explain the tradition of events and contrasts it with how “Even in the high tech era…we still need social events to mark the local and domestic details of our lives”. Northern Ireland is one of the most up and coming places on the international stage in recent times and its potential is continuously growing. Since the late 90’s a new era has begun and NI has begun to flourish. One of the main reasons behind NI’s new found success and attractiveness is the events industry. There are always events taking place all over NI, and with each passing year, the number of events continues to grow, as does the prestige of many of the events that are held here.
Events are categorised from smallest to largest under Local, Major, Hallmark and Mega-Event. When applying this typology to NI I would consider events like a football final to be local; Belfast Music Week to be major; MTV EMA awards to be Hallmark; and ‘NI 2012’ to be a mega-event. These are a mere few examples as there are various events from each category, taking place all over NI.
NI is home to many great events even at the smallest level. With cultural events like those surrounding St. Patrick’s Day on-going every year in local towns, and local sporting events taking place all the time, NI has proved its capability to create and sustain events. This then allowed for events like the Continental Market to be held at Belfast City Hall every year, which became a very popular attraction around Christmas time and still is every year. Larger events like the Tall Ships coming to Belfast in 2009, gave NI the coverage it needed for it to be considered for many more prestigious events. The confirmation of the MTV EMA awards coming to Belfast in November this year is a landmark event. This will create the perfect opportunity for the world to see just how big an event NI can
References: Bowdin, G. McDonnel, I. Allen, J. O’Toole, W. (2001) Events Management. Australia: John Wiley and Sons Australia Ltd. Kok, C.N. (2002) An analysis of the Olympic venues and their post-Games use. Dissertation, (MSc) European Tourism Management. University of Savoie, France. Northern Ireland Tourist Board (2011) NI 2012: Our Time Our Place. Available from: http://www.nitb.com/ni2012/default.aspx Northern Ireland Tourist Board (2011) Titanic Signature Building. Available from: http://www.nitb.com/DocumentPage.aspx?path=aedbda88-d741-4bec-b324-36204c735653,2d95614c-f2b9-4096-8fa8-8ceabab3894f,b73e1913-f79b-48a4-bb1e-a1ff2edf7c48