The development of Belfast as an increasingly popular tourism and business destination continued apace yesterday with the announcement that a €30 million five-star Fitzwilliam Hotel is to be built in the city creating 100 jobs.
The 131-room hotel, a sister to the Fitzwilliam Hotel on St Stephen's Green in Dublin, will be located on a prime site in Belfast city centre at Great Victoria Street beside the Grand Opera House. It is scheduled to open in 2009.
The announcement follows on a series of recent hotel openings in Northern Ireland in recent years that flowed from the cementing of the peace process.
Last month Andras House, run by Lord Diljit Rana, announced that it is to build five new hotels in the North at a cost of £50 million (€74 million).
The development site and hotel are owned by Belfast businesswoman June Burgess through her property company Graffan Properties Ltd and will be managed by Hotel Partners, under the Fitzwilliam brand.
Ms Burgess, who released part of the original site to the Grand Opera House, which enabled it to carry out its recent extension, said she was delighted to join in the venture with Hotel Partners.
"I had a number of approaches from other excellent hotel chains but in the end the way that they have managed the Fitzwilliam in Dublin fitted my hopes exactly," she said.
"The hotel will complete the development of this site and I look forward to working closely with the Grand Opera House to provide unique facilities for conferences, theatre nights etc," added Ms Burgess.
The company said the development marked the beginning of the "roll-out" of the Fitzwilliam name. "Expansion plans will see the eventual opening of several select hotels under the Fitzwilliam brand," Hotel Partners said in a statement.
Managing director Colm Deignan said: "We will be actively seeking a combination of new potential hotel sites for the Fitzwilliam brand as well reviewing expressions of interest from existing properties as we begin our expansion at a solid pace."
This is a further significant development in the turnaround from Belfast's former tourism blackspot reputation to finding itself on the Lonely Planet'stop ten of must-see destinations for 2007. The city now attracts more than six million visitors a year, contributing £285 million to the economy and supporting 16,000 full-time jobs.
Said Belfast's Ulster Unionist Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers yesterday: "This ground breaking is symbolic of many things for Belfast. It means increased jobs for area residents, growth opportunities for local business owners and forward movement on a rejuvenated Belfast tourism trade."
The SDLP MP for South Belfast, Dr Alasdair McDonnell, said yesterday's ground breaking ceremony was another expression of the growth in the North's tourism industry. He added: "Yet again Belfast is to benefit from outside investors who see clear signs of growth in the tourist economy here in the North. The recent report of the Northern Ireland affairs committee at Westminster outlined the potential and scope for growth of the tourism industry here and it seems that the Fitzwilliam group agrees with that opinion."
The hotel interior will mirror that of the Fitzwilliam in Dublin. "We envisage that the Fitzwilliam Hotel, Belfast will become the number one choice among savvy travellers to Belfast as well as local residents and event organisers," said John Kavanagh, project manager, the Fitzwilliam, Belfast and general manager, the Fitzwilliam, Dublin.
