Cork Convention Bureau to honour Cork’s ‘envoys’

Cork ‘ambassadors’ who have helped generate almost €10m for the region through conference business this year will be honoured tonight.

The Cork Convention Bureau, CCB, the agency responsible for promoting the region as a major conference destination, will present the awards at its second annual #CorkNeedsYou Cork Conference Ambassadors Awards ceremony in the city this evening to key figures who helped bring large-scale conference business to the city and county.

The ambassadors were all instrumental in bringing more than 13,000 delegates to Cork, 7,000 of whom were international delegates, in the last year alone.

The events were worth in excess of €10m to the local economy in terms of accommodation and local spending.

CCB chairman, Seamus Heaney, said he is delighted to recognise those Cork ambassadors who work tirelessly to deliver valuable business tourism for Cork.

“To give you a sense of the value of business tourism to the local economy, more than €50m has been generated in the past eight years here,” he said.

The ceremony in the Vienna Woods Hotel will see awards being presented under six categories, including an ultimate ambassador award, a special interest award, a corporate ambassador award, an association award, and an academic award.

The CCB was set up in 2007 as a public private partnership to bring together representatives from Cork City and County Councils, the Cork branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, Fáilte Ireland South West, Cork Airport and Cork Chamber, to promote the Cork region as a destination for business tourism.