Northern Ireland

Explore Belfast with new virtual reality app

 The free app, takes users on an immersive tour of the city’s attractions, including St. George’s Market, Titanic Belfast and Crumlin Road Gaol
 The free app, takes users on an immersive tour of the city’s attractions, including St. George’s Market, Titanic Belfast and Crumlin Road Gaol  The free app, takes users on an immersive tour of the city’s attractions, including St. George’s Market, Titanic Belfast and Crumlin Road Gaol

TOURISTS can now experience Belfast without ever leaving their homes, following the launch of a 360º virtual reality app.

The free app, launched today as part of Visit Belfast’s ‘Go Explore’ campaign, takes users on an immersive tour of the city’s attractions, including St. George’s Market, Titanic Belfast and Crumlin Road Gaol.

Visit Belfast said that the £200,000 marketing campaign is expected to generate £3.4m for the local economy and aims to “present Belfast as a culturally diverse, new and exciting place to visit and study” to young people in Europe.

The campaign features two videos – one in French and one in Spanish – which shows young French and Spanish people who are living in Belfast, using the app to explore the city.

Explore Belfast with Marta from Spain

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Visit Belfast’s chief executive Gerry Lennon said that the project will enable the company “to reach a young audience in Paris and Barcelona through peer-endorsed experiences”

“The use of innovative, new and exciting media brings a virtual Belfast direct to our overseas audiences and in this way we hope to inspire visits to our city,” he said.

Explore Belfast with Elodie from France

Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said that the company was “delighted” to work closely with Visit Belfast on the project.

“Visitors to Northern Ireland from France and Spain grew by 14 percent from January to September last year and this new campaign will undoubtedly help us to build further on that growth in 2016 and the years ahead,” he said.

  • The Belfast Go Explore app is now available from the App Store and Google Play Store.