HIS previous attempts to plot the Kingdom’s downfall will be put to one side when former Donegal boss Jim McGuinness will be the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Irish Hotels’ Federation in Killarney next week.
Now a full-time performance consultant with Glasgow Celtic FC, McGuinness will be the star turn at the two-day event to be held in the Gleneagle Hotel and INEC.
With one All-Ireland medal as a player, McGuinness managed his native county to win Sam in 2012 and he is regarded as one of the best motivators and tacticians in the game.
A former IT Tralee student, he holds a science and sports psychology degree and he previously lectured on the subject at Limavady College in Derry.
Over 400 hotel and guesthouse owners and managers will gather in Killarney to assess the challenges and opportunities facing Irish tourism and the actions required for the sector to achieve continued growth and a sustained recovery.
The conference takes place against the backdrop of the general election and the formation of the next government, which will have a vital role to play in ensuring tourism lives up to its full potential as an engine for job creation across the country.
Under the chairmanship of broadcaster and entrepreneur Bobby Kerr, other speakers at the conference this year include Tayto Park boss Raymond Coyle, Fáilte Ireland chief executive Shaun Quinn, Guinness Storehouse managing director Paul Carty, Tourism Ireland boss Niall Gibbons, outgoing government ministers Paschal Donohoe and Michael Ring and John Concannon who is the director of the State centenary programme to commemorate 1916.
