A BELFAST-based alternative tourism business is calling on landowners to grab their share of an innovative new accommodation venture set to generate £27 million by 2023.
Further.space is coordinating the provision and installation of tourist pods throughout the UK and Ireland and aims to deploy 100 in the north over the next five years through 20 landowner partnerships.
The business, launched in November, is looking for landowners in Northern Ireland committed to exploring tourism diversification opportunities to register their interest in the project.
Further.space CEO and former founder of Habitat for Humanity Northern Ireland, Peter Farquharson explained there is increasing demand for new forms of accommodation.
“The demand for alternative accommodation options is growing with 37 per cent of tourists recorded as preferring non-traditional accommodation solutions including pod based ‘glamping’ experiences in unique locations," Mr Farquharson said.
“Our vision is to empower landowners in off-the-beaten-track locations, particularly where there are accommodation shortages, to create profitable, sustainable and low maintenance tourism businesses on their land, that has both societal and economic benefits for the entire area. We are very interested in hearing from landowners who are interested in pursuing this opportunity with further.space.”
The start-up firm aims to establish up to 100 micro tourism business partnerships throughout the UK and Ireland and has already secured its first contracted partnerships.
The business has set a target of 500 pods in hand-picked locations over the next five years, including 100 in the north.
Each further.space pod is forecast to deliver a minimum annual revenue of £18,000 per year, while a partnership with four pods on site will generate an annual revenue of £72,000 per year and £720,000 over ten years.
COO of further.space, and energy efficient housing entrepreneur, David Maxwell said a little unused land can be big business.
“Our research shows that while many landowners are attracted by the opportunity to diversify into tourism, they are also hindered by financial and logistical issues. At further.space, we provide a turn-key tourism solution for our business partners," he said.
"We deliver a complete tourism package from financing and planning support to marketing and booking systems. This allows our partners to concentrate on the experience, by hosting the guests and maintaining the pods. Our aim is to de-risk the diversification process by providing the asset and minimising the financial outlay to empower landowners to tap into the benefits that tourism provides," Mr Maxwell added.
Interested landowners should visit: https://further.space/ and complete an online enquiry form.
