Fáilte Ireland to spend over €1m on gala venues

Ballroom Formal Dining in Ballinacurra House Kinsale

Fáilte Ireland lost more that €100m worth of business events from 2014 to 2019 and has therefore started and investment scheme for more gala dinner venues, especially in Munster.

The scheme will go towards developing new and enhancing old gala dinner venues in Cork, Galway, Kerry, the Shannon region, and Dublin.

“The team at Fáilte Ireland have a pipeline of €1.1bn of international events up until 2032 but the sector has never been so competitive as destinations all over the world compete for this valuable business,” said Fáilte Ireland’s director of regional development Paul Keeley.

“Enhancing our gala dinner venue offering through the Gala Dinner Venues Investment Scheme will be crucial in the continued recovery of this lucrative sector,” said Mr Keeley.

The tourism body has pumped €1.4m into the scheme as it claims €90m worth of business events could be delivered for Ireland over a five year period through it.

“For a small country, Ireland has always punched above its weight in winning business events, However, our analysis clearly demonstrates that the lack of off-site gala dinner venues of scale is having a detrimental impact on the recovery and growth of Ireland’s business events sector,” said Mr Keely.

The business tourism sector was highly lucrative pre-Covid-19 as Fáilte Ireland claimed it was the one of the fastest growing segments in the Irish tourism industry. Over €716m annually was spent through business tourism events pre-pandemic, said Fáilte Ireland.

The body explained that while previously most gala dinners were staged in function or event venues designed to accommodate large numbers, there is an increasing demand for venues to go beyond the ballroom and offer a complimentary tourist experience.

"This investment in Ireland’s offering will help broaden our appeal as a destination and will help contribute to the spread of economic and social benefits of the business events industry to Cork, Galway, Kerry and the Shannon Region as well as our capital city,” said at Fáilte Ireland’s head of commercial development Paul Mockler.

The scheme falls under Fáilte Ireland’s Platforms for Growth investment programme and will fund up to seven gala dinner venues. Up to €200,000 will be allocated per venue.

Fáilte Ireland also suggested that this scheme could lead to more job creation within the hospitality sector as, pre-pandemic, business tourism employed around 20,000 people.

Hospitality was one of the sectors most impacted by the pandemic and it is currently struggling with staff shortages as a result.

Earlier this year , Fáilte Ireland launched a campaign targeting retirees and parents as potential hospitality employees.

According to Fáilte Ireland, this demographic is more likely seeking flexible working arrangements and patterns.

“The current staffing and skills shortage in tourism and hospitality is heightened as we head into the busy summer season, which is often the only time that is feasible for smaller businesses to operate,” said Fáilte Ireland’s director of sector development Jenny de Saulles.

Almost a third of employees say that having flexible working hours is one of the main reasons for working in tourism and hospitality, said Fáilte Ireland.

In addition to staff shortages, hospitality was hit last month when the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) came to an end for all businesses. The industry is set for another blow as Vat for hospitality is also expected to return to its pre-pandemic rate of 13.5%, which is up from 9%.