11 Nov 2026
Northern Ireland ITOA Workshop 2026
Tourism Northern Ireland is delighted to announce that the Tourism Northern Ireland - ITOA (Incoming Tour Operators Association Ireland) Northern Ireland Workshop will take place on Wednesday 11 November 2026 at Galgorm Resort, Ballymena, Co. Antrim.
ITOA members are responsible for handling more than 730,000 leisure, business and incentive visitors to the island of Ireland each year. Member companies maintain relationships with over 4,000 overseas tour operators, travel agents and buyers across the leisure, incentive, conference and events sectors. ITOA is also a valued partner of Tourism NI.
The ITOA Workshop is a valuable opportunity for Northern Ireland Tourism Businesses to meet directly with ITOA members and showcase their products and experiences. Approximately 50 individual ITOA members from 33 are expected to attend.
As Northern Ireland's tourism offering continues to evolve and attract increasing international interest, it is more important than ever for tourism businesses to position themselves with this influential network of travel trade buyers. The event will feature morning and afternoon workshop sessions, providing structured opportunities to develop new business relationships and explore future commercial opportunities.
Who should attend?
The ITOA Workshop is designed for Northern Ireland tourism businesses that are actively seeking to develop business through the international travel trade, including the coach and group. FIT (Fully Independent Traveller) and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) markets.
- Accommodation: 3-star, 4-star and 5-star hotels
- Visitor attractions
- Experience providers (preference may be given to EAGS aligned experiences)
- Tour guiding associations (no individual tour guides)
- Activity providers
- Special interest providers
- Coach operators and transport providers
- Local Councils and Regional Tourism Organisations
- Luxury & MICE providers
Eligibility Criteria:
To be considered for a place, businesses should be able to demonstrate that they are travel trade ready and committed to developing business through the international marketplace.
This Includes:
- Offering net negotiated commissionable trade rates
- Being able to contract with international tour operators
- Having products and experiences suitable for international visitors
- Have sufficient capacity to facilitate tour group and pre-booked FIT business
- Demonstrating a commitment to working with travel trade through participation in Tourism NI B2B support and development activities
- Completion of relevant Tourism NI travel trade e-learning modules via MyTourismNI is desirable and may be taken into consideration where applications are oversubscribed
- Have actively engaged with Tourism NI Business Solutions and travel trade development initiatives within the past two years such as workshops, networking events, trade shows, sales missions or other industry engagement opportunities
Places at the event will be in extremely high demand and are strictly limited to 1 representative per organisation to maximise participation across the industry. Should the event become oversubscribed, additional selection criteria may be applied to ensure a balanced representation of businesses across sectors, regions and areas of tourism expertise.
Successful applicants who have not yet completed the Tourism NI Travel Trade Ready E-learning programme may be asked to complete it prior to attending the workshop. The short online programme is designed to help businesses better understand how the travel trade operates and how to work effectively with international tour operators and travel trade partners.
If you have been awarded a place, you will be notified within 7 working days of the closing date. Otherwise, you will be placed on a waitlist and, should space become available, we will contact you.
Expressions of Interest applications will close at 5pm on Friday 18th September 2026. If you do not hear from us within 7 working days of the closing date, you have not been successful in securing a place. If you meet the criteria set out above, you will be placed on a wait list.
We would encourage you to maximise on business opportunities throughout the year by completing some short Tourism NI's 'Travel Trade Ready' E-learning modules via MyTourismNI. The platform offers a range of 'always on' learning tailored to meet industry needs. Free to access – find out more at tourismni.com/mytourismni. In the event of oversubscription, preference may be given to those who have completed the relevant E-Learning modules.
Please continue to check on Tourism NI Homepage and Opportunities (tourismireland.com) for further opportunities, toolkits, and advice.