Home

Campaign promotes Armagh attractions

Visit Armagh has launched a new video to promote the area’s wealth of outdoor beauty, rich cultural history and heritage, hospitality and variety of great places to stay as part of a new summer staycation tourism campaign.

Working closely with Tourism Northern Ireland and Tourism Ireland, the council will be promoting a wide variety of things do, see and enjoy over the summer, sharing suggested travel itineraries for day, overnight and short break trips, as well as great places to eat, shop and visit.

Ashford heads Irish 'Super Eight'

Ashford Castle has been voted the number one resort hotel in the UK and Ireland, in the annual reader survey of the US travel magazine, Travel + Leisure. ashford0720

Eight luxury Irish hotels made it onto the ‘top 10’ list – with Ashford Castle coming in at number one and Ballyfin Demesne, Powerscourt Hotel Resort & Spa, Sheen Falls Lodge, the K Club, Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, Dromoland Castle and Adare Manor also featuring.

Every year, Travel + Leisure asks its almost five million readers to weigh in on their favourite hotels, cities, travel providers and more, in its annual World’s Best Awards. The magazine has unveiled the results of its 2020 survey, including its list of the top resort hotels in the UK and Ireland. To view the results, click here.

Welcoming the news, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said:

Dalata Debt Move

Dalata, has secured additional financial strength with an amendment to its existing debt facilities. clayton

Its revolving credit facility has been increased by €39m to €364m until September 2022.

In addition, the conditions of the loan comprising of net debt to earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and interest cover will not be tested again until June 2022.

These two conditions have been replaced, until that date, by a net debt to value covenant and a minimum liquidity test, whereby the company must have a minimum of €50m available to it in cash and/or an unutilised amount of the revolving credit facility.

It comes as the company beings to re-open its hotels.

In a statement today Dalata said it continues to have significant financial headroom.

Docklands Swimming Pool Plan

Dublin City Council is planning to develop an open air public swimming pool as a companion project to its €22m white-water rafting facility in the Docklands area. customhouse0720

A site on Custom House Quay has been earmarked for the proposed 50-metre heated outdoor pool, which it is estimated could cost €15m.

The council claims the Sea Pool project will help to create a new visitor destination in the Docklands, with other attractions including the Jeanie Johnston famine ship, the EPIC diaspora museum and the white-water centre.

Exhibition sector seeks clarity

The Irish Exhibition Organisers Association (IEOA) is calling for clarity from Government on whether trade and consumer exhibitions can recommence this Autumn. garretbuckley

With the economy gradually re-opening, IEOA members’ trade fairs and exhibitions deliver a vital sales pipeline for thousands of businesses. In September and October alone, over 3,000 small businesses are already booked to exhibit at IEOA member events.

Garret Buckley, Chair, IEOA and Managing Director of EventHaus comments: “Collectively, our trade fairs and exhibitions are responsible for generating millions of euro in sales for our exhibitors, many of which are small Irish businesses who depend on our events for sales.

“Our events are essentially ‘marketplaces’ and they will provide SMEs with a valuable opportunity to stimulate their sales in the post-lockdown era.”