Fáilte Ireland, the State agency charged with promoting the Irish tourism industry, announced on Thursday that is has secured €10 million worth of international conferences for Ireland at a business trade show taking place this week in the United States.
Imex America, which concludes in Las Vegas on Thursday after three days, is one of the world’s biggest events of its kind.
A spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland said it had secured a number of conferences for Ireland at the trade show including the international papillomavirus conference 2024, International Air Transport Association’s twice-annual slot conference 2023 and the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest 2024.
It brings to €127 million the value of conferences that Fáilte Ireland has secured in 2022 for the coming five years, she said, a total of 313 events.
Paul Kelly, Fáilte Ireland chief executive, said that Imex America is “a vital platform to build awareness of [Ireland’s] world-class business and conference facilities”, and that bringing big business events to Irish towns and cities “has an enormous impact on the wider tourism ecosystem”.
Speaking from Las Vegas, Paul Mockler, the agency’s head of commercial development, said Fáilte Ireland also expects to add roughly €26 million in new leads from the conference.
