New Premier Inn to open in Belfast

30/01/2008 11:59:16

Whitbread has unveiled further details of its plans to expand its hotel offering in Northern Ireland, including plans for a new hotel in Belfast.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, the firm has bought a 171-room property in the Cathedral Quarter of the city which previously belonged to the Tulip Inn Group and intends to turn it into a Premier Inn.

It is scheduled to open later this year, with around 80 hotel jobs expected to be created.

Patrick Dempsey, managing director of Premier Inn, told the newspaper: "The Northern Ireland market provides a very attractive opportunity for Premier Inn and Whitbread to expand and I am pleased that we are able to purchase this hotel and others in the Tulip group."

Belfast is a major tourism hub, with government figures revealing that visitors to the city help support 17,800 local jobs, with the number of people heading to other areas of Northern Ireland also on the increase.

Mark Adams, acquisition manager for Premier Inn in Ireland, told the Belfast Telegraph that the firm was hopeful it would be in a position to make further announcements about the future of the brand "in the very near future".

Hotel jobs in Belfast

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