Large attendance at tourism conference
ENNISCORTHY hosted yet another major national conference at Riverside Park Hotel last week with the ‘Collaborate Locally to Compete Globally – Local Authorities supporting Tourism’ event taking place over two days.
In his opening address Wexford County Council Chairman Paddy Kavanagh welcomed the large attendance to his home town saying that in relation to tourism, Enniscorthy has it all, history, culture, beauty and old-world charm and its people are immensely proud of where they come from. Paddy went on to welcome the chairs of 31 local authorities from all over Ireland saying that their presence at the conference was indicative of the level of commitment to tourism and the tourist sector in every county the length and breadth of the Island.
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O’Donovan, who opened the conference, said that if the industry is going to continue to grow branding alone is not enough. ‘We need to involve all county chairmen and all county CEOs to get the job done,’ he said, adding that it is imperative that we get Ireland’s Ancient East off the ground and on par with the Wild Atlantic Way. He got a laugh from the audience when he quoted comedian Brendan Grace: ‘Ireland’s ancient coastline has been there for millennia and the Government only discovered it three years ago’.
The highlight of the two-day event was a gala banquet on Wednesday evening at the Riverside Park where Enniscorthy Histori- cal Re-enactment Society as Redcoats and Pikemen complete with musket and pike formed a guard of honour for the guests and escorted them into the function room, giving them a flavour of Enniscorthy’s living history.