To ask the Minister for the Economy, given the announcement that Dublin Port will not accept cruise ships for 2022, what actions she is taking to ensure that cruise ship facilities are developed to benefit from the potential of additional tourism business.

Considerable efforts and funds have been devoted to the development and promotion of cruise tourism to the region and as a result it has been one of Belfast and Northern Ireland’s success stories of recent years and is a key contributor to our tourism economy.

Cruise Belfast, the sales and marketing partnership between Belfast Harbour and Visit Belfast, has established strong and profitable working relationships with cruise lines and operators since 1999.

Significant investment has been made to Belfast’s port-side facilities in recent years. My Department, through Tourism Northern Ireland, part funded an £800,000 programme in 2019, which included the first dedicated cruise welcome facility on the Island of Ireland. It enables larger cruise ships to dock in Belfast and includes a Visitor Information Centre. This represents an important development of the city’s cruise tourism infrastructure and utilises the latest digital and audio-visual technology to showcase Belfast and Northern Ireland’s visitor attractions. In addition, new gangways and luggage scanners were installed to enable Belfast to be promoted as an embarkation port.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 Cruise Belfast has worked closely with the Public Health Agency NI, Port Health Authority, Maritime Policing, and Belfast City Council Emergency Planning Team to put in place measures to support the safe return of cruise tourism to Belfast and Northern Ireland in 2021 and beyond. To facilitate new Covid health protocols, capital funding was also secured from the Department for the Economy Tourism Recovery Programme in March to ensure that full safe-guarding measures are in place for the first cruise arrivals. The investment will help to provide as safe an environment as possible for cruise guests, crew, local staff and the wider local population, whilst delivering a warm and informative welcome.

The Cruise Belfast team has maintained regular contact with the cruise lines, their shipping agents and shore-excursion companies, particularly those that have become regular callers to Northern Ireland prior to the pandemic. As a result, they are well informed of the work being done to welcome them back safely to Northern Ireland.

The cruise industry has consistently ranked Belfast highly as a UK Port of Call. This strong track record, combined with the investment in facilities will only help to strengthen Belfast’s position as a cruise destination. Cruise Belfast will continue to engage with the cruise lines to take advantage of market opportunities as they arise from Port of Dublin’s decision to limit cruise calls in 2022