Belfast Newsletter - Well well well. There is a whole different side to Belfast that I suggest many people have been totally unaware of - to their loss. So you are familiar with city centre shopping, Belfast City Hall, The Cathedral Quarter, the Ulster Museum and Botanic Gardens, the Golden Mile, the Victoria Square and environs, Lisburn Road and the Troubles Tours in the west of the city?
But what about the Titanic Quarter as a weekend leisure designation?
Never thought of it? Me Neither.
But that all changed with a stay in the delightful Titanic Hotel.
One of Ireland’s largest privately held companies, Harcourt Developments, has unveiled the results of the first phase of a €20 million investment in its hotel portfolio - The Harcourt Collection, at County Donegal’s five-star Lough Eske Castle.
The new additions are named “The Donegal Suites” and showcase furnishings, artworks and amenities sourced and created by local craftspeople and businesses. Overseen by Harcourt Developments Creative Director, John Doherty, interior features include working with world famous local tweed weavers Magee 1866.
A short film about the amazing artist Angela Conner FRBS who created a series of large kinetic sculptures for Park West Business Park in Dublin including the 40m (129ft) high, 20-tonne 'Wave' - the tallest kinetic sculpture in Europe, which is powered only by the wind. Our chairman Pat Doherty was delighted to be interviewed by the filmmakers Laura Warner and Dreweatts 1759.
Hollywood, Los Angeles - the team at Titanic Belfast were delighted to accept a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement – Visitor Experience Re-envisioned at the ‘Oscars’ of visitor attractions.
The THEA Awards, organised by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), recognise achievement, talent and personal excellence from those who bring incredible experiences to life for people around the world. This is the first time an attraction has won twice in its 30-year history.
Belfast City Council - He sums up its work as bringing “step changes” to Northern Ireland, such as the emergence of a new film and TV industry in the 2000s after Harland & Wolff’s old Paint Hall was transformed into Titanic Studios.
It's among the milestones for Titanic Quarter witnessed by James Eyre since he joined Titanic Quarter Ltd, the company behind the massive seafront development, as a surveyor in 2006.
James, who studied estate management at UIster University, was last week named its new chief executive – the first at the company since a restructuring in 2015.
Harcourt were honoured to welcome Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle to Titanic Belfast on their first official engagement to Northern Ireland.
The couple visited Titanic Belfast on 23rd March, where staff, locals and visitors from across the globe caught a glimpse of the couple ahead of their wedding in May.
Irish Independent - The hotel arm of Pat Doherty's Harcourt Developments group last year recorded revenues of €60m and said that its experience of Brexit to date has been positive.
The Harcourt Collection comprises seven hotels and resorts spread across Ireland, the UK and the Caribbean along with Titanic Belfast and a spokesman said yesterday that it is "very pleased with the performance of the hotels".
Tatler - If you're anything like me, you're fed up with making decisions. What are we going to call the baby? What soup are we going to eat? Where should this lamp thing I bought go? Who's coming for supper? Should I give up sugar or gluten? I'm DONE with deciding stuff. It's all I do, all day long...
ArtDaily - Titanic Belfast has won an Outstanding Achievement Award from the world’s top themed entertainment association, based in the United States. Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), recognises excellence in the visitor attraction...
BBC News - The number of visitors to Titanic Belfast has exceeded all expectations, according to Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness. The first and deputy first ministers were at the attraction to mark its first anniversary.
According to figures compiled by Stormont, more than 800,000 people from 128 countries visited Titanic Belfast in its first year. It had been predicted it would need 290,000 visitors a year to break even.
BBC News - It is the biggest launch Belfast's waterfront has seen in a 100 years. The last one was the Titanic itself.
Now a century later the slipways are dominated by the imposing Titanic Belfast centre designed to commemorate the most famous vessel ever built.
Independent - A century after Titanic set sail from Belfast prior to her tragic maiden journey, a £97m tribute to the ship and her makers is almost ready.
"That's where she was built. That's where she was designed. That's where the workers lived." Noel Molloy is a man with a mission to explain – and entertain. He is project manager for Titanic Belfast, a structure as monumental as the ship it commemorates.
Like a magnificent liner in the final stages of construction, the shell of Northern Ireland's new landmark is complete. Sprouting from a quay overlooking Belfast Lough is an angular, aluminium-clad eruption. Imagine if Ikea made a flatpack ship, and someone had made a right old muddle of the instructions: that's roughly how Titanic Belfast looks.
Belfast Telegraph - The multi-million pound Titanic Signature Building in Belfast will become an international attraction, First Minister Peter Robinson says.
He and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness sprung to the defence of the project after a recent Audit Office report cast doubt over its long-term prospects.
The biggest single tourism project launched in Northern Ireland, the building will require an estimated 290,000 visitors a year to break even.
The Times - A luxurious winter break in the Caribbean provided the perfect opportunity for Julie Burchill to indulge her passion for hotels.
Maybe it’s something to do with being one of Mother Nature’s runaways, but I’ve never understood why so many otherwise sensible people have a problem with hotels - more specifically, why people who could afford to stay at gorgeous hotels choose to hire villas instead.
I grew up in a working-class family, yet when we went to the seaside it was to a B&B - never a flat - and when we went to Butlin’s it was full-board, never self-catering. My parents regarded those who chose to do their own cooking on holiday as uptight, penny-pinching freaks, and as in all things they were so right.
