Plans for a new 81 bedroom hotel, restaurant and bar at Belfast International Airport have been submitted to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
The new complex which is being proposed by the Turkington Group and will be occupied by the Premier Inn.
The site will be located 250 metres from the hotel entrance on land bound by the Antrim Road and the junction with Ballyrobin Road.
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Representing an investment of £8million, the plans also include 100 car parking spaces and will cater to the growing number of visitors passing through the airport each year including 600,000 visitors from the Republic of Ireland.
The construction phase project is expected to support 30 jobs, create an estimated £4 million of indirect benefits through the construction supply chain and £0.5 million of 'induced benefits' to the local community.
Once operational, the new Premier Inn is expected to support 30 full-time equivalent jobs, creating £500,000 annual wages, and yielding more than £2 million in annual supply chain contracts.
Jill Anderson, Premier Inn acquisition manager for Northern Ireland, said: “It’s an exciting time for Premier Inn in Northern Ireland as we look to grow our network of hotels in locations where we are not currently represented and really want to be.
"Working with the Turkington Group we now have the opportunity to create an 81-bedroom hotel at Belfast International Airport and grow our presence in Northern Ireland to seven hotels.
"The airport is a location we have wanted to invest in for a while, with superb connections throughout the UK and internationally, and I am confident the hotel will be a popular choice for our customers who are travelling to Belfast and further afield.”
Welcoming the news, a spokesperson for Belfast International Airport said: "The proposed hotel will be a welcome addition to the facilities at Belfast International Airport.
"With passenger numbers continuing to grow and with 20 new routes to choose from this year, the demand for additional hotel capacity on our site will also increase.”
It is understood that the hotel chain are currently scouting a number of other locations to expand their portfolio in Northern Ireland including a site in South Belfast.
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