Titanic tourists

Titanic Quarter Limited, a property development company, is co-promoter with Belfast Harbour Commissioners of a £97 million tourist project which is set to transform the waterfront of Belfast...

The Northern Ireland Executive has committed £43 million to the project, which is expected to bring 400,000 visitors a year to Belfast. The remainder of the £53 million funding will come from the Belfast Harbour Commissioners, Belfast City Council and private developers.

The five-storey Titanic museum will not only tell the story of the construction and doomed maiden voyage of the liner, but will also include exhibitions showing Belfast's industrial, shipbuilding and maritime history.

Work on the project is expected to begin in early 2009, with completion planned to coincide with the one-hundred-year anniversary in 2012 of the sinking of the Titanic, which resulted in the loss of 1,500 lives.

The chief executive of Titanic Quarter, Mike Smith, has said that the development is a good example of the private and public sector working together, and will deliver tangible and long-lasting economic benefits for Northern Ireland.

In addition to attracting tourists and creating jobs in the Belfast area, the development is expected to act as a catalyst to bring new investment to the city.

Source: www.homemove.co.uk