Tourism industry to gather in Kilkenny for flagship conference

Announcing details of their annual conference, the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation today said that the sector must be supported in Budget 2026.

The conference entitled ‘Resilience in an Uncertain World’ will take place on October 1 in Lyrath Estate.

Hosted and moderated by broadcaster Dearbhail McDonald there will be a host of speakers including tech entrepreneur Mark Little, Minister for Tourism Peter Burke TD, British TV personality Timmy Mallett, hospitality expert Francis Brennan, Chair of Fáilte Ireland Ruth Andrews, Dalata CEO Dermot Crowley, Irish Heritage Trusts’s Anne O’Donoghue, economist Jim Power and former Ambassador Dan Mulhall.

“This is a time of unprecedented macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty,” said ITIC’s Chair and Cork Airport MD Niall MacCarthy, “The conference is timely and will take place a week before the Budget and tourism performance, priorities and policies are all on the agenda.”

The conference was launched on Wednesday by ITIC CEO Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, Tourism Ireland CEO Alice Mansergh and AIB’s CEO Colin Hunt who are all speaking at the conference. Director of Fáilte Ireland Deborah Nolan was also in attendance.

CSO numbers for the first seven months of the year point to an 11% decline in inbound visitor numbers and O’Mara Walsh said: “Demand is very mixed and when allied to escalating costs of business, margins are under real pressure.”

Tourism is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry and biggest regional employer and ITIC have called Dublin Airport “the key tourism gateway to the island”, and urged that the passenger cap be lifted without delay.