Kevin Stewart, Meath County Council, Cllr John V Farrelly, cathaoirleach, Meath County Council, Joan Martin, Louth County Council, launch the Boyne Valley Tourism Conferene with Boyd Rankin and Ricardo Gatica of Irish Arms Historical Reproductions.

Boyne Valley to host major tourism conference

John Donohoe

Published: Tue 4 Feb 2014, 9:55 AM

Last updated: Tue 4 Feb 2014, 9:58 AM

Boyne Valley Tourism has announced details of its inaugural tourism conference and exhibition, ‘Showcasing a Unique Destination – The Boyne Valley’, which takes place on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th February in the City North Hotel, Stamullen. Organised by Meath and Louth Local Authorities with support from Fáilte Ireland the conference will be attended by tour operators, travel writers, professional conference organisers, decision makers and representatives from the tourism trade within the region.
The conference dinner ‘Boyne Appetit’ promises to be a ‘gastronomic experience’ with the hotel’s chef, Jean Michele, sourcing the food from the Boyne Valley area. Henry Mount Charles, Marquess Conyngham and Dermot Seebery, food writer and former international five-star chef, will speak at the dinner.
The conference has been broken into four tourism themes: heritage and cultural, sports/recreational and family, business and conference; and food. Speakers include Rosemary Stipe from American based ‘Irish Treasure Tours’; Denis Savage, CIE Tours International; Clare Tuffy, OPW and manager of Brú Na Bónine; Neil Jackman, the journal.ie; Darach MccQuaid, Giro d’Italia; and Mairead McGuinness MEP.
An interactive exhibition, running alongside the conference also promises to entertain and showcase the tourism offerings of the Boyne Valley.
This two day event will commence with registration in City North Hotel on Thursday 27th February, followed by a guided tour of the famous Battle of the Boyne site, Oldbridge and a civic reception in the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda. On Friday 28th the full day conference and exhibition will be held in the City North Hotel.
Meath County Council cathaoirleach, Cllr John V Farrelly said: “Hosting this conference gives us a wonderful opportunity to showcase the Boyne Valley region to international tour operators and professional conference organisers. We believe that our showcase will help develop tourism in the region to its full potential and attract many visitors to the Boyne Valley.”
A detailed conference programme is available from www.meathtourism.ie.