The Shannon Region Conference & Sports Bureau and Meet in Ireland, the Business Tourism brand for Fáilte Ireland hosted 10 US meeting Planners in the Shannon Region this week in an aim to promote the region as a destination for conferences and incentives, showing attractions and heritage sites and activities as well as some of the fantastic venues the region has to offer.
The US Meeting Planners had the opportunity to see Adare Manor, Alex Findlaters, House Limerick and the day culminated in a literary showcase at King John’s Castle. Their accommodation for the evening was fit for a king as they headed to Dromoland where a horse and hound welcome awaited them.
Representatives from companies in Florida, Atlanta, New York and Washington DC among other US cities made up the group. They had a delicious seafood lunch in Limerick’s hottest new restaurant Findlaters & Co on O’ Connell Street followed by a cocktail class, afternoon tea and makeovers with Limerick’s top makeup artists at House Limerick. From there they were taken by bus on tour of Limerick’s attractions including a visit to King John’s Castle where Glassbox Events treated the group to a series of special vignettes of Ireland’s literary giants including Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and Bram Stoker with Limerick actor Myles Breen playing Oscar Wilde, a recreation of the town of Lilliput from Gullivers Travels using actors and sets and an ode to Dracula with a musical performance from renowned Irish sacred singer Nóirín Ní Riain and her son Moley O’Suilleabhain.
The evening was rounded off with dinner and overnight at Dromoland Castle where guests had a got a real feel for how an Irish castle provides the perfect backdrop to any event.
The Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau are celebrating 15 years in business this year. The Shannon Bureau promotes the Shannon Region as a location for business and sports tourism and offers an entirely free service to event organisers and local ambassadors to help increase the Clare and Limerick regions share of the lucrative international business and sports tourism market. Hundreds of ambassadors have been actively working with the Bureau in recent years to help attract thousands of people to the region through a range of business and sports events. In 2017 it supported business and sports events worth in excess of €7,000,000 to the economy of the region, a substantial slice of the national Business & Events Tourism cake. The bureau works in partnership with Meet in Ireland in all its activities.
In the last 15 years, the Shannon Bureau has worked on a myriad of events that have had an economic impact of over €100 million.
The bureau’s remit is to promote the Shannon region as a location for business and sports tourism and offer an entirely free service to event organisers and local ambassadors to help increase the Clare and Limerick region’s share of the international business and sports tourism market.
Karen Brosnahan, General Manager Shannon Region Conference & Sports Bureau said, “The day was a huge success. The sun was shining showing Limerick and the region in all her glory. We are excited to see what the day brings as our guests from the USA fell in love with our magical city. We are confident this will mean continued growth for Limerick as a destination city in 2019 and beyond.”
