Belfast hopes costly Titanic visitor centre will be tip of iceberg of tourism boom

BELFAST BRIEFING:The £97m building is not just a homage but a glimpse into a distant powerhouse economy

BUILT IN Belfast is not a slogan to which many Northern Ireland companies can lay claim in these challenging times, but in 67 days it is going to become the rallying call for the most expensive tourism project built from scratch in the North.

A £97 million (€116 million) building named Titanic Belfast – located just 90m (100 yards) from the slipways where the luxury ship was built – will open its doors on March 31st. It is being billed by the North's tourist board as the world's largest Titanic visitor experience, intended to celebrate the city's special relationship with the Titanic.

After all, as Una Reilly, chairwoman of the Belfast Titanic Society, frequently says: “What happened was a disaster; the Titanic was not.”

The new visitor centre hopes to highlight the “innovation, engineering and craftsmanship that flourished in Belfast a century ago and is still present today”.

Titanic Belfast, which has been timed to open in the centenary year of the ill-fated liner’s maiden voyage, will feature nine interactive galleries, a dark ride, underwater exploration theatre and recreations of the ship’s desks and cabins.

The North’s First Minister Peter Robinson believes the development will “make a significant contribution to job creation and the local economy”.

Mr Robinson and the North’s Executive must certainly hope so. It is one of the chief financial backers of the project, having sunk more than £36 million into it. The rest of the development cash came from Belfast City Council, Belfast Harbour Commissioners and Titanic Quarter Limited (TQL), an associate company of the Dublin-based Harcourt Developments Group.

According to Tim Husbands, chief executive of Titanic Belfast, the centre has the potential to attract 425,000 visitors this year. He said it had already sold 40,000 tickets in advance of its launch and that the excitement over the opening is beginning to build.

"There is a huge fascination with all things Titanicand what we want to do is respectfully tell the whole story about her birthplace, her launch, her construction and what occurred.

“The centenary is very important for Belfast but it is not just about this year. This is about creating a must-see attraction in Belfast that will go on delivering a huge economic benefit.

“More than 600 people have been employed on site over the last three years and, once we are up and running, we will employ more than 250 people, so the economic impact is already not insignificant,” Husbands added.

But not everyone shares his enthusiasm. The Northern Ireland Audit Office is concerned. It claims Titanic Belfast will “utilise £60 million of public funds” and there is a risk that its impact “may fall short of the anticipated ‘step change’ in tourism”.

It estimates that the new visitor centre will need to attract 290,000 visitors each year just to break even. If it does not get these numbers, Harcourt’s Titanic Quarter Limited has agreed to underwrite losses up to £5 million in the first seven years.

The audit office believes that, compared to other world-class attractions, Titanic Belfast could end up “one of the most expensive relative to the number of visitors it expects to attract”.

Considering that some reckon the Titaniccost in the region of £5 million to build in 1912 and the equivalent cost today would be nearly £260 million, perhaps it represents good value for money.

One thing is for certain – if you simply stand under any of Titanic Belfast’s four hull shaped wings, you cannot fail to be impressed by the imposing structure even before you go inside.

It is nestled in the heart of what was Harland and Wolff – the company's original drawing office where the first sketches of the Titanicwere made are on one side while the river Lagan, where the ship first set sail, provides a fitting backdrop.

If nothing else Titanic Belfast provides a priceless glimpse into what was the powerhouse of the local economy a century ago.

What is far from priceless is the number of firms that see an opportunity to cash in on the Titaniclegacy.

Take, for example, Belfast-based Titanic Guitars, which has just launched a "range of limited edition guitars to celebrate the milestone". The company has apparently developed "a unique line of guitars that proudly pay homage to the Titanic".

Then there is also the likes of the White Star Momentos company based on "the shores of Belfast Lough, in clear view of the famous Harland & Wolff shipyard". Its gift range includes Smiffy the Titanicteddy bear complete with TitanicT-shirt to 100th anniversary Titaniccufflinks.

There are Titanic Bus Tours, registered Titanic Irish Whiskey and Titanic Gift companies and also Titanic Taxis. None has any connection to the ship itself or the people who built it in Belfast.

But the North’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has a bona fide personal connection to the liner – his granduncle was one of the hundreds of carpenters who worked on the ship.

He believes it is time Belfast had a “fitting and lasting tribute to the most famous of all ships, with which it will forever be synonymous”.

That is what the Titanic'scentenary year should be all about.