There’s great news for the Irish MICE industry this year, as figures from the month of January smashed records for attracting new business events to the country.
As Ireland’s conference business continues to grow, Fáilte Ireland has announced that 57 conferences worth at least €28 million to the economy have been secured for future years with the support of the Meet in Ireland business tourism team. The conferences will take place at venues across the country, attracting a spectacular 19,000 international delegates or more.
Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said:
“There is significant potential for future growth in the Business Tourism space. 2019 is off to a strong start and we will be actively seeking out every opportunity to secure more business for Ireland. As we prepare for Brexit, central to our work in the year ahead is selling Ireland as a Business Tourism destination to the UK market, which has always been a strong market for us in this area of our work.”
But there’s still lots more work to be done: while business tourism is currently worth at least €760 million to our economy — supporting 22,000 jobs — Fáilte Ireland’s goal is to grow the sector during the next six years to bring the value of business tourism to the Irish economy over the €1 billion mark. Business delegates are extremely valuable, and worth in the region of €1,600 to the economy — three times more than the average leisure tourist. Bringing such valuable guests to Ireland will also help the country to prepare and protect itself from the impact of Brexit, with the National Tourism Development Authority identifying business tourism as a priority sector.
And it’s not all about Dublin; by supporting Regional Convention Bureaux in Shannon, Cork, Kerry and Galway, the National Tourism Development Authority will focus on growing MICE activity beyond Ireland’s capital. Fáilte Ireland is aiming to win conferences worth €31m for locations outside Dublin this year, a 15% increase on last year. Some of the exciting conferences secured by Fáilte Ireland in January 2019 include a major CrossFit competition, the Union of Aerospace Insurers, the World Ballroom Championships and the Third Global Soil Biodiversity Conference.
Event name |
Estimated no. international delegates |
Estimated no. international delegates |
Third Global Soil Biodivesity Conference, (Dublin Sept 2021) |
1,000 |
€1.6m |
World Ballroom Championships (Dublin, Dec 2019) |
2,000 |
€1.6m |
CrossFit Filthy 150 (Dublin, Nov 2019) |
1,500 competitors/4,000+ spectators |
€696,000 |
World Congress of the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (Dublin, May 2020) |
450 |
€720,000 |
International Visual Sociology Association (June/ July 2020) |
275 |
€444,000 |
International Union of Aerospace Insurers AGM (Dublin, May 2020) |
250 |
€440,000 |
The Irish Up with People Alumni Meeting (Ennis, April 2019) |
200 |
€432,000 |
Contact the Meet in Ireland Team today for more information on why you should choose Ireland for your next conference or international MICE event and how we can support you.