DUBLIN: The value of business tourism generated by the Cork Convention Bureau (CCB) looks set to break the €10m barrier for the first time this year.
But if the trend continues, the city could face a hotel beds shortage within a few years, it warned.
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The details emerged last night as the CCB, which is tasked with generating and attracting conference business to the city, hosted its largest #KeepCorkMeeting event in the city in a bid to drum up more international conference meetings and events in the region.
It brought 150 key figures in Ireland’s MICE industry — the meeting, incentive, corporate and exhibition sector — those who book some of Ireland’s largest corporate conferences, to an expo in City Hall.
CCB’s Seamus Heaney said it is important for the corporate buyers to see the full extent of what Cork has to offer.
“We have 2,500 hotel beds in the city and we are far more competitive than Dublin. The CCB has seen the level of business it generates rise from €7.3m, to €8.2m the next year, to €9.1m last year, with the figure likely to break the €10m mark this year. If the trends continue, we will have a shortage of hotel beds here in a few years. Planning needs to start now to address that issue,” he said.
He also called for clarity on the development of the city’s proposed events centre.
Meanwhile, the Annual Conference of the Coroners’ Society of Ireland is to be held in Cork over this weekend at the Imperial Hotel.
Dr Myra Cullinane, Cork City Coroner, is the current president of the Society. She welcomes her colleagues from around the country together with members of the Coroners’ Society of England and Wales.
A number of speakers will address the conference including Judge Marie Baker of the High Court, Professor Deirdre Madden of the Department of Law, UCC and forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd.
Minister Kathleen Lynch T D will address the delegates at their annual dinner.
