Meet in Ireland has confirmed that 85 international conferences worth €48.5million have been secured for Ireland so far this year, including Transport Research Arena 2024 in Dublin (€4.8m) and the International Federation for Home Economics World Congress 2024 in Galway (€2.4m).
They are looking to drive further business event wins for the country over the coming days at IMEX America, one of the largest global meetings industry trade shows in the world, and a key source market of business for Irish suppliers. The show kicks off on Tuesday 9th November in Las Vegas, and Meet in Ireland will be joined by 36 Irish trade partners on their booth.
A central focus of the pitch at IMEX America this year will be on growing business events into Regional Ireland. So far this year, Fáilte Ireland (the National Tourism Development Authority) has supported the conversion of €14.7million for locations outside of Dublin through the Regional Convention Bureaux in Shannon, Cork, Kerry and Galway.
- Almost half of international conferences secured are for locations outside of Dublin
- The National Tourism Development Authority aims to drive further business tourism wins at IMEX America
Paul Kelly, Fáilte Ireland CEO said:
“For a small country, Ireland has always punched above its weight in winning business events. Prior to Covid-19, business tourism had been one of the fastest growing segments of the Irish tourism industry, contributing more than €716 million annually to the economy and supporting up to 20,000 jobs. This sector is highly specialised, lucrative and high yielding for Ireland because each business tourism visitor generates almost three times the tourism revenue than that of a leisure tourist.”
Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Commercial Development Paul Mockler, added:
“Despite the unprecedented trading environment, Fáilte Ireland’s team have been working to ensure that Ireland’s Business Events offering has stayed front of mind with international event planners and are currently working on a pipeline of opportunities worth almost €1bn for events due to take place up to 2033. Tradeshows like IMEX are a key opportunity to leverage our work over the past 18 months and get major overseas meetings, conferences and events confirmed for the years ahead. We have 36 top-class Irish industry joining us, and they are showcasing the very best that Ireland has to offer. “