A £5 million investment has been made in one of Northern Ireland's top entertainment venues, with the hope that it will become a top business spot.

Belfast's Odyssey Arena has upgraded its facilities with a launch of a 64-seater 'West Suite'. This is a new luxury corporate hospitality suite, which is predicted to become a favourite business venue among the country's top companies.

This comes after a £5m investment in the arena. The joint investment from SMG and the Odyssey Trust saw £2m used to upgrade of the facilities within the complex.

In addition to the West Suite the money was used for the refurbishment of 24 smaller corporate hospitality suites and the facelift of a number of public areas throughout the complex.

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The new suite was launched at the Odyssey Arena last week at the opening of Rihanna's European Tour and comes on the back of the announcement of a further 15-year contract between the world’s biggest arena operator, SMG, and the Odyssey Trust.

Over 120 business leaders from across Northern Ireland attended the launch.

Odyssey Trust Chief Executive Robert Fitzpatrick said: "The Odyssey Arena recently celebrated its 10th birthday and it is largely thanks to our strong partnership with SMG that it has become one of the world’s best run and most successful arenas over the last decade, so a further 15-year extension of the contract is excellent news for Northern Ireland".

Speaking on behalf of SMG Europe, the Arena's General Manager Adrian Doyle said: "The Odyssey Arena has been a huge success story over the past ten years, enabling Belfast to attract some of the world's most famous and most popular artists, and contributing significantly to the Northern Ireland economy."

The arena has welcomed its six millionth visitor through its doors, making it the fourth busiest public attraction of its kind in Europe.

(LB/CD)