Images source: RTÉ screen grabs
HOW can you buy Killarney? Well, how can you buy almost an hour of prime time television coverage on the national channel highlighting several of the attractions and great personalities the country’s top tourist town has to offer?
With an average audience of 600,000, it was a golden opportunity for Killarney to show off its wares last night and it was the most appropriate location for RTÉ to broadcast the big news stories on the eagerly-awaited day that hotels, guesthouses, hostels and bed and breakfast operators reopened after lockdown.
Presenter Caitriona Perry anchored the bulletin live from a balcony at the five-star Europe Hotel and Resort with a magnificent backdrop of Killarney’s lakes and mountains.
Killarney Hotels General Manager, Michel Brennan, escorted the presenter on a tour of the hotel to highlight to viewers the several Covid-19 safety measures put in place as the hospitality industry comes out of lockdown.
RTÉ’s business editor Will Goodbody and southern editor Paschal Sheehy also filed their reports live from various venues around Killarney.
Among those interviewed were Killarney Park Hotel general manager Niamh O’Shea, Irish Hotels’ Federation Kerry branch chair Bernadette Randles, Dermot and Niall O’Donoghue of the old Weir Lodge, Paul and Laura Tangney of Tangney Tours and Ken Tobin of Tralee Chamber Alliance while Kerry great Colm Cooper made an appearance when he was interviewed live at the Europe Hotel by Eamon Horan for the bulletin’s sports section.
The cameras also caught up with newly appointed Killarney Park head chef Seán Doyle and his team as they prepared dinner for guests, the housekeeping team at the Old Weir Lodge adding the finishing touches before the reopening, anglers setting out from Ross Castle and a number of guests arriving at the Great Southern Hotel.
The extended bulletin opened with stunning drone footage of the lakes and mountains surrounding the Lake Hotel which was provided to RTÉ by the hotel’s general manager Niall Huggard.
And the RTÉ team was more than impressed by the sights and people that greted them in Killarney. Business editor Will Goodbody posted a snapshot on twitter and described the location as “a stunning backdrop”
