Belfast Capitalizes On Titanic Fever With New Attraction

Belfast is hoping to capitalize on Titanic fever with a new attraction dedicated to the doomed ship.

Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s icy demise in the north Atlantic Ocean (the liner sank on April 14/15 in 1912), Northern Ireland’s capital will open a gleaming new Titanic tourist attraction on March 31.

The city has a genuine link to the ship: the vessel was constructed in Belfast between 1908 and 1910. The new visitor attraction, known as Titanic Belfast, has cost £100m ($160m) to construct.

The new exhibit will tell the story of the thousands of Belfast men who worked for three years to build the ship and its sister vessels, Olympic and Britannic.

As well as slick audiovisual displays, a roller coaster-style indoor ride that carries visitors around the hull and through the rudder of a replica ship, and a marine exploration center linked to the work of Robert Ballard (who found the wreck of the Titanic in 1985), there’s also a 1,000-seat banqueting suite, complete with White Star Line crockery and a replica of the ship’s iconic staircase. And yes, you can dine there.

When it was built, the RMS Titanic was comfortably the world’s largest ocean liner. Acclaimed as “unsinkable,” its maiden voyage from England to New York saw the vessel hit an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland and sink. Most of those on board – 1,500 of 2,200 – died.

However, Tim Husbands, Titanic Belfast’s chief executive, is determined that the ship’s reputation should not be sullied. He told the Huff Post:

“What happened to the Titanic was a disaster. But the ship wasn’t.”

Belfast’s link with the disaster is not well-known, partly because James Cameron’s record-breaking 1997 film about the disaster fails to reference the ship’s origins. As Titanic Belfast marketing manager Claire Bradshaw also told the Huff:

“I wish the movie had mentioned Belfast just once. It would make my job a lot easier.”

Is this the kind of attraction you’d be interested in visiting, or would you prefer to see the real thing?