Galway Bay fm newsroom - A major push is underway to establish a Galway Convention Bureau in order to ensure the city and county captures more of this lucrative market
A voluntary marketing organisation formed in 2011 called Meet in Galway is now lobbying for funding from a cross section of bodies to upgrade its operation to a convention bureau
This means it would be able to promote conference and event facilities across the city and county
Meet in Galway has 30 members from the hotel and hospitality sector but currently its only source of funding is membership fees and support from Failte Ireland
The group feels if it moved to the next level, with dedicated personnel, it could bring in far more business than the 3 million euro it has generated to date
City CEO Brendan McGrath says Meet in Galway's promotion work is excellent and there are convention bureau models from other regions such as Cork and Kerry
Meet in Galway's Rose Finn, who's Sales and Marketing manager at Loughrea Hotel and Spa says the convention tourist spends 1500 euro, three times what the regular tourist spends.
