BELFAST — From all reports it was an unforgettable night at an epic venue for the gala awards dinner at Trevello’s Building Bridges conference in Belfast this week.

Travel advisors, supplier partners, and tourism leaders, more than 300 in all, gathered at Titanic Belfast for the big event. Special guests included Alison Metcalfe, Executive Vice President and Head of North America, Australia and New Zealand with Tourism Ireland, and Laura McCorry, Chief Executive of Tourism Northern Ireland.

The evening opened with a performance by Ards CCÉ, a Belfast-based group dedicated to preserving and celebrating Irish traditional music, song and dance in the heart of North Down.

Trevello tells the story of what happened next: “Awards were presented. The dance floor filled. And then, as the night reached its emotional peak, pianist Ruth McGinley, vocalist Philippa O’Hara, tin whistle performer Patrick Davey, and the Arco String Quartet took their places. When O’Hara stepped forward and began to sing Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On,’ the effect was immediate and absolute. In any other venue, it would have been stunning. Here, standing on the very ground where the Titanic was built and launched, where the ambition and tragedy and legend of that ship first took shape, it was something else entirely. Three hundred people who had been laughing and dancing moments before went completely, breathlessly still.”

Says Trevello Travel Group CEO Zeina Gedeon: “I have been to hundreds of industry events. I have never seen an entire room cry at a gala dinner. I have never seen anything like tonight.”

She added: “When you watch 300 travel professionals hear ‘My Heart Will Go On’ performed live inside Titanic Belfast  and you see their faces, and you feel what that song means in this place, that is the moment you understand why destination experiences matter more than any brochure ever written. These advisors will carry tonight with them for the rest of their careers. This is what it looks like when an industry falls in love with a destination.”

The night’s honours included the Guiding Light Award, presented to advisors and supplier partners whose dedication, performance and passion for travel had defined the past year.

Lead image caption: Trevello Travel Group CEO Zeina Gedeon (centre) with Trevello advisors and team members at the Building Bridges 2026 conference in Belfast