MCM Property Services has submitted a planning application to transform a property at 165 Ormeau Road in south Belfast into a 30 bed back-packers' hostel.

The low budget travellers will then have another option for staying in Belfast thanks to the new plans for the site, which had been used as a temporary location for the recently refurbished Crescent Arts Centre until April of this year.

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Alliance Party South Belfast MLA Anna Lo welcomed the hostel: "The area is very accessible for tourists. We want increased tourism to boost the economy and at the moment I don't think there is enough of a range of accommodation to entice people.

"With so many young people starting gap years, Belfast wants to be one of the destinations they visit," she said.

(BMcC/GK)