A NEW Fáilte Ireland initiative designed to attract more corporate events to Ireland has secured its first major success and Killarney is one of two locations that will reap the rewards.
Major Chicago-based insurance company, American Auto, will host a major sales force meeting here in 2015.
With over 2000 delegates staying for seven nights, the event will bring a massive boost of over €9 million to the economy.
The final host city competition had come down to a battle between Dublin, London and Edinburgh with two locations to be selected.
However, destination management company, Odyssey International, working closely with Fáilte Ireland, added Killarney as a wildcard entry and Killarney struck gold when the decision was made to share the event between Dublin and the town.
KillarneyToday.com understands that the delegates will be based between the Europe Hotel and Resort in Killarney and the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. Groups of 200 visitors will spend four nights in Killarney over a 10-week period.
Fáilte Ireland official Paul Mockler said corporate meetings are big business for tourism and represent a real opportunity to attract more visitors and, importantly, more revenue.
“The value of the corporate meetings sector is €100 million with each delegate worth €1,150 a day to the economy which is almost twice that of a leisure visitor,” he said.
”We are delighted that our corporate meeting supports strengthened Odyssey International’s bid to bring this major corporate event to Ireland,” Mr Mockler added.
“Now our focus changes to ensuring that the delegates are impressed by what we have to offer as well as ensuring we attract more of this kind of business to our shores.”
The corporate meeting supports is specifically targeted at encouraging multinationals based both in Ireland and abroad to bring their next large-scale event to Ireland.
Kevin Shannon of Odyssey International commented: “This piece of business will have a major impact on the local economy and the supports from Fáilte Ireland were fantastic in helping us win this lucrative business.”
