Business Resilience Programme 2026

The current operating environment for tourism businesses is challenging, with rising costs and reducing disposable spend. At the same time, ongoing global instability is influencing visitor confidence and creating more cautious planning and booking patterns. With this in mind, Tourism NI has designed the Business Resilience Programme, designed to offer expert one-to-one financial guidance to fully interrogate cost centres and build long-term financial resilience. 

Programme Aim 

To support Tourism Businesses to build financial resilience. 

What assistance can I expect?

Eligible businesses will receive a total of 7.5hrs expert financial support equating to a maximum investment per business of £1,000. 

 Support will include: 

  • One-to-one mentoring from an independent Financial Expert to help identify areas of concern – 3.5 hours (flexible) 
  • a Business Financial Health Check – 1.5 hours (flexible) 
  • a Targeted Action Plan to address areas for improvement – 2.5 hours (flexible)

Eligibility - Who can apply?

We need to ensure that the cost of investing in one-to-one financial guidance can deliver a strong return on investment and value for money in terms of its ability to support tourism. 

To apply you must:

1. Be an existing tourism business operating in Northern Ireland within the following sectors:  

  • Private sector: Companies and other legal entities and individuals
  • Voluntary/Community Sector: Community and not-for-profit bodies including companies limited by guarantee. Applicants from this sector may be required to evidence their charity number.

2. Have been operational continuously since 1st April 2022.  

3. Have a business turnover in excess of £100k per annum in at least one of the previous three business years. *Tourism NI will require proof of turnover through the provision of recent statutory accounts.

4. Have an active listing on our consumer website discovernorthernireland.com as at 01 April 2026.

 

How can I apply?

Expressions of interest will be used to shortlist participants.

Please complete the form by 5pm on Friday 5 June 2026.

Participation in this competitive programme will be capped to meet the budget available.

Apply now

 

As part of the application process you will be required to:  

  • Confirm the business is not currently receiving mentoring, consultancy, or financial advisory support through another funded programme, or State Aid.  
  • Confirmation the business is compliant with all other statutory bodies and adhering to all other regulations applicable to tourism businesses.  
  • Confirmation the business is fully tax compliant on the date of application and if required, evidence by way of a letter from your accountant or a screenshot from the HMRC website.  

Next steps of the process?

Following the EOI deadline, successful, eligible businesses will then be appointed to an Independent Financial Expert. 

It is essential that successful businesses commit to participation including attendance at all sessions and implementation of an agreed Action Plan.

During this stage of the process, successful businesses will be required to promptly provide financial information (for the independent financial expert only) before the first one-to-one clinic session, including: 

  • Last 3 years statutory accounts 
  • Latest set of management accounts, or bank statements if not available  

*Participants should be assured that all financial information provided will be treated with strict confidence. 

Additional Priorities

In the event that the Programme is oversubscribed, priority may also be given to: 

  • businesses within the Embrace a Giant Spirit Portfolio
  • businesses that have engaged with the Tourism NI eLearning Platform, mytourismni.com

A good regional spread of participating businesses and range of business type and size may also be considered as part of the selection process.