Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?
Conference centre mooted to boost Limerick tourism (Sunday Business Post)
22 July 2007 By Ian Kehoe
The government is investigating the possibility of building a 2,000 capacity conference centre in the Limerick area in an effort to boost tourism in the mid-west.
The Department of Sport confirmed last week that it was considering building the facility, and would be commissioning an independent feasibility study on the project over the coming weeks.
If sanctioned, the new regional conference centre will be located in the Shannon-Limerick area, near Shannon Airport.
The aim of the centre is to increase the number of business tourists arriving in the region.
Department officials will meet representatives of the business and tourism groups in the coming weeks to discuss the project. The department is keen to build the centre as a public-private partnership, whereby the state will join forces with a private company to work on the project.
Business tourism is an increasingly important element of Ireland’s overall tourism policy. According to a recent Failte Ireland report, revenues from business tourism amounted to €447 million last year, with the average value of each visitor estimated at €293 per day.
The tourism body is forecasting that business tourism will be worth more than €1 billion to the economy by 2013, more than double its current value. The forecast assumed that the number of business visitors will increase steadily from295,000 in 2006 to almost 600,000 in 2013.
A key part of that strategy is reducing the reliance on Dublin. Currently, the majority of conferences and business events are located in the capital.
A new facility in the mid-west would complement the new Conference Centre Dublin (formerly called the National Conference Centre), which is being built in Spencer Dock.
Preliminary building and excavation work has already started, and it is due to open in September 2010. When finished, the centre will have the capacity for 8,000 conference delegates.
Its focal point will be the auditorium, a 2,000-seater venue with a 400 square metre stage. There will also be two so-called ‘‘flat floor’’ spaces, which can be used for exhibitions, conventions, and banqueting.
Regional Conference Centre:confused:
Hmmm…….. If Dublin has the National Conference Centre and since it could be located near Shannon Airport well why don’t we call ours the International Conference Centre instead! 😀 Man this Dublin mind-set that everything outside the capital has to be downsized to it!
To boost Limerick Tourism
Fair enough, then build it in the city centre. If the Kerry Co-Op site ever came on the market it would be an ideal location. Hotels, Restaurants, Pubs, Nightclubs are all walking distance away. Attractive riverfront walkway is underway. Train and bus station is only 1.5 Km away. Shannon airport is only a 20 minute drive by bus / taxi.
Second option would be to build it at Bunratty (between Limerick and Shannon). But would it complement the Tourist attractions already built up there or negate them?
Third option would be to place it near the N18 /N19 Junction at Shannon. It would be good for Shannon that the conference centre be visibly seen by passing traffic. This would raise the profile of the town away from been perceived only as an airport or an industrial zone town.
