Conference Ambassadors Bring €2.1 million to Cork

Conference Ambassadors Bring €2.1 million to Cork

27 July 2010

The Cork Convention Bureau (CCB) today hosted a lunch in the Penthouse of the Imperial Hotel, Cork, to thank a number of Cork Conference Ambassadors. These are the people who have been directly responsible for securing over €2.1 million in Business Tourism for the Cork region.  All of these Ambassadors are people on the ground in Cork, or with a Cork connection, that have used their influence within organisations to bring international conferences to Cork.  All of these individuals have done so with the assistance of the CCB’s Ambassador Programme which identifies key individuals who may be interested in hosting a conference.  The CCB then assists the individual and/or local organisation to secure their Conference for Cork.Each of the 17 Ambassadors received a certificate as a token of appreciation, which was presented by Evelyn O’Sullivan, GM of the CCB and Seamus Heaney, Chairman CCB.Speaking as the presentations were being made, Evelyn stated "Each individual here today has been responsible for bringing new business to Cork and introducing Cork to a whole new range of people, who will come back again and again, to our region, now voted one of the friendliest regions in the world.  New figures show that each business tourist is worth €1,507 to Cork and everyone in this room has played a major part in the success that Cork  is now seen as a prime business tourism location."One of the people honoured today was Phil O'Hare, a Fire Officer, soon to be based in Cork, who is responsible for bringing the World Rescue Organisation Conference to Cork this September.  The Conference will see teams from every corner of the globe participate in Seminars, Rescue Challenges and Social Events.  Phil stated "Our event is not a typical conference which is why the location is so important.  There are so many reasons why we chose Cork, it has all the amenities of a major city, but is so compact making it easy for delegates to get from one location to the other".  "The event could have been a logistical nightmare, but thanks to the help of the CCB we were able to bring in key partners such as the Port of Cork Authority, Cork City Council, local Fire and Rescue Services and basically the CCB made my job as Conference Organiser a lot easier."Phil added "Response worldwide to the Cork location has been amazing – we have teams coming from afar as Australia and USA.  I think everyone is really excited to be coming to one of the world’s friendliest cities!"For further information on the Cork Convention Bureau and on how to become part of the CCB Ambassador Programme visit www.corkconventionbureau.com