AVEA Gathers at Hillsborough

Over 60 tourism and visitor attraction decision-makers gathered in historic Hillsborough Castle to explore opportunities for further visitor growth through enhanced collaboration.

The conference hosted by AVEA, the Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions, explored ways to strengthen links and foster cooperation between the many great places to visit and other immersive visitor experiences in Northern Ireland and across the island of Ireland.

Supported by the Shared Island Civic Society Fund, the AVEA conference highlighted the role and contribution of visitor attractions in the overall tourism ecology and discussed some of the ways they can work together to optimise benefits for tourism, communities and local authorities. 

Opening the conference, Economy Minister Conor Murphy said:

“The AVEA conference allows those responsible for promoting our world-renowned visitor attractions to focus on the opportunities that can be created through shared all-island knowledge, collaboration and learning around visitor attractions. Visitor attractions are at the core of our tourism offering and one of the main reasons why over two  million overseas visitors chose to visit the north of Ireland last year. It is symbolic this conference is taking place in Hillsborough Castle, a place that is not only one of our leading attractions but has also played an important role in our history. Tourism has really flourished under the peace process, delivering an economic peace dividend and opening up our society to different cultures.”

The chair of AVEA, Anne O’Donoghue, remarked:

“Collaboration and advocacy are the lifeblood of AVEA and have been key to our success since the association was established in 2017 by the tourism sector. What better setting than Hillsborough Castle for instigating purposeful conversations with colleagues in Northern Ireland, exchanging learnings and ideas, and developing constructive dialogue around our shared culture, heritage and stories.”

Attendance at the conference included CEOs and senior representatives from Tourism Northern Ireland, Tourism Ireland, local authorities, visitor attractions and the wider tourism industry.