Kingdom dog track sees 10,000 German visitors in the past year

TRALEE’S Kingdom Greyhound Stadium has proved to be one of the big winners following the Earl of Desmond Hotel’s landmark deal to bring thousands of German tourists to Kerry.

In October 2011 management at the Earl of Desmond and its parent company the White Hotel Group announced they had secured a deal with German tour operators to bring some 17,000 german tourists to Kerry in 2012.

While the deal was a massive boost for the hotel it also proved a major boon for other businesses with coaches hired to bring the German visitors to destinations and businesses around Kerry and other hotels and B&Bs brought on board to help the Earl of Desmond cope with any overflow of guests.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the Earl’s German deal has been the Kingdom Greyhound Stadium whose manager Declan Dowling revealed this week saw over 10,000 german tourists pass through its doors in 2012.

Most of the german visitors, many of whom were enjoying their first visit to a night at the dogs, arrived between April and September with an average of 180 german visitors, ferried to the track in three coaches, arriving at the stadium on a nightly basis.

The German visitors proved an invaluable source of income though gate receipts and Mr Dowling said the continuation of the Earl of Desmond’s German arrangement will see similar numbers visit the track through 2013.