Kerrycashesin onconferences
BUSINESS conferences alone have brought over 120,000 people to Kerry in the last five years according to newly released figures from Fáilte Ireland and the Kerry Convention Bureaux.
The figures were published as the Bureaux and tourism board brought a group of influential travel incentive buyers from Canada to Kerry and Cork for a ‘Meet in Ireland’ familiarisation trip.
The group is being shown around Kerry and Cork to learn more on how they can programme the two counties for future high-end incentive programmes for their corporate clients in Canada.
The figures released ahead of the tour show that since 2013 120,0000 additional visitors have been brought to Kerry thanks to conferences and other business events.
The figure for Kerry is all the more notable as it is almost 20,000 higher than the total number of conference visitors who came to Ireland in the last year.
Kerry Convention Bureaux Sales Manager Becky Hargrove explained the importance of conference and business event tourism to the county.
“Kerry is a spectacular place to inspire, engage and motivate business tourism delegates. Whether it’s an association or corporate meeting, or a high-end incentive, we offer unrivalled facilities in idyllic locations throughout our region,” said Ms Hargrove.
“In the past five years, Kerry has welcomed over 220 conferences or meetings and 180 incentives, with more than 120,000 delegates from over 25 different countries. As a business tourism destination, you won’t find another conference or incentive destination that marries professionalism and cutting-edge technology with such rich cultural history, spectacular natural scenery and abundance of activities,” Ms Hargrove added.
While in Kerry the tour group visited Killarney National Park; Ross Castle; Muckross traditional farms; and hotels including the Killarney Park Hotel, the Great Southern Hotel and The Europe.