3 May 2004

DUBLIN CONVENTION BUREAU RECORDS SUCCESSFUL FIRST YEAR
AND APPOINTS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

€3 million in conference business sourced

The Dublin Convention Bureau today announced a successful first year in operation, having sourced over €3 million in new conference business into Dublin since its establishment in 2003. The Bureau, an organisation established jointly by the Irish Hotels Federation, the Association of Irish Professional Conference Organisers, Dublin Tourism and Dublin City Council, also announced the appointment of Ms Jean Evans as its Business Development Director.

Ms Evans will take up her appointment on June 1 st 2004 and joins the Bureau from Tourism Ireland in New York where her role as Product Executive – Corporate Business includes the development and implementation of effective promotional plans for the corporate business market, with a particular focus on incentive travel, international conferences and corporate meetings . Prior to that Ms Evans worked with Bord F á ilte as a Trade Executive covering Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus with a particular focus on increasing incentive and conference travel. She holds a BA from UCD in Italian and Linguistics and is presently studying for an MSc in Marketing from the University of Leicester .

John Power, a Director of the Dublin Convention Bureau and Chief Executive of the Irish Hotels Federation comments, “The work of the Dublin Convention Bureau to date has been very encouraging and I am delighted to welcome Jean Evans on board as a strategic member of the team. However, despite the Bureau’s success to date, without a dedicated convention centre Dublin is still at a disadvantage to other European cities in attracting conference business. I am hopeful that the development of the international convention centre, announced by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue TD, last summer, will take place swiftly in order to attract an additional 50,000 visitors to Dublin each year on top of the current 120,000 conference and meeting delegates who travel to Ireland.”

Mr Power continues, “Delegates attending international conferences tend to be high spending individuals, on average spending in excess of €1,200 each in the country during their visit, which is 50% higher than the normal average tourist spend. This is a key target market for Irish tourism in our strategic objectives to attain higher yields. I look forward to our industry experiencing the benefits of increased conference business following the development of a dedicated convention centre and aided by the ongoing work of the Dublin Convention Bureau led by Jean Evans.”