Landmark anniversary of facility which aims to drive conferences to Limerick region
AN ORGANISATION charged with bringing big business events to the region is marking a landmark anniversary.
The Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
As part of this, its staff have announced that in this time, it's attracted blue-chip events worth more than €150m to the local economy.
To mark the occasion, a celebration event was held at Limerick Strand Hotel in the city centre.
Its partners and ambassadors were in attendance.
Karen Ronan, the general manager of Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau said: “We've overcome numerous challenges in the mid-west region over the past two decades and it's truly phenomenal to be celebrating our 20th anniversary.”
“Our efforts have resulted in an economic impact of over €150m for the wider Shannon region including Limerick, Clare, Tipperary and Offaly.”
The facility serves as a convention bureau while also encompassing a sports remit.
Its objective is to attract international conferences, events, sports competitions and high-end luxury incentive business to the region.
It works hand-in-hand with Failte Ireland, the local authorities across the region and all other tourism stakeholders locally to attract events of substantial scale and impact.
"The success of this collaboration has created a win-win situation for our entire tourism infrastructure in the Shannon region," Ms Ronan said.
Its chairperson Tony Brazil added: “Since its inception, the team has worked with hundreds of ambassadors across sport, culture, business and academia. These ambassadors work tirelessly with us in the bureau and Failte Ireland to bid for, and win, international events for the Shannon Region. Each conference or sporting delegate is worth €1,880 to the local economy so you can see quickly how valuable this is.”