Last year’s festival saw a washout on the Sunday
Belfast Maritime Festival(Image: Matt Mackey/PressEye)
Belfast’s popular Maritime Festival is to change its schedule from September to June from next year, due to weather changes.
Belfast Council revealed in a committee paper this week that while the festival will be scheduled in the traditional September period this year, last year’s washout during the festival has made officials rethink the time of year.
A report for the council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee states: “The Maritime Programme board has considered this and has proposed to host the next edition of the Festival in early June (June 6 to June 8) 2027.
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“This date takes into consideration coordination with the Fleadh, potential weather impacts and availability schedules for ship recruitment. Previous iterations of the Maritime festival have been held in May, with 2021 being the first year the event moved to September due to the pandemic. This allows for an 18 month planning cycle from January 2026.”
Findings from an economic report and visitor survey from the 2025 Maritime Festival shows a growth in “out of state” visitors. An independent survey showed 21 percent of those at the festival were staying in accommodation away from home, up from 14 percent in 2023.
However, the inclement weather on the Sunday of the festival last year affected numbers – 40,000 were recorded on Saturday, and this fell dramatically to 17,000 on Sunday.
Other findings for the event last year show that the estimated direct spend, based on 57,000 visitors, was £988,476.49 excluding accommodation. That was significantly down from £1,326,839.26 in 2023, and the weather was a key factor in this.
91 percent gave the Maritime Festival events last year an overall rating of 8 to10, up from 74 percent in 2023, including 24 percent who rated it as 10 “Extremely good.”
94 percent of visitors said that the Maritime Festival improves the reputation of Belfast as a place to visit, while 94 percent agreed that there should be more events like this in Belfast, and 61 percent said they would definitely or very likely visit similar events in the future.
A council report, published for the Climate and City Resilience Committee, which was also held this week, states: “Under a changing climate, Belfast will experience hotter drier summers and warmer wetter winters, with more extreme weather and rising sea levels. There will be an increase in average winter precipitation and in the frequency of heavy rainfall events.
“This, coupled with sea level rise, represents a significant climate risk. Large proportions of Belfast City Centre are between one and two metres below extreme tide level, with 6,000 properties currently considered at significant coastal flood risk.
“Climate projections indicate that sea levels around Northern Ireland are expected to rise by up to 0.94 metres by the end of the century. As well as coastal flooding, Belfast is exposed to surface water flooding due to its location within the River Lagan catchment area.”
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