by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Day One: 07:35 – The Enterprise Train to Northern Ireland I’m sitting in first class on the Enterprise Train that travels several times daily between Dublin and Belfast. I’ve just enjoyed a wonderful cooked breakfast served to me piping hot in my plush seat. My laptop is open as… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Seismic change in Ireland’s Tourism Product and Promotion During the thirty years of my involvement with incoming tourism there has been a seismic shift in Ireland’s tourism product and the way it’s promoted. In the 80s I conducted 7 and 10 day tours of the country with sophisticated Italians who… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Following a couple of decades bringing meetings, incentives and events to destinations, @SuperGreyBeard and I are now working with these destinations, helping them identify and communicate what makes them different. To do this successfully we have to try to become insiders, immersing ourselves in the destination, getting behind the scenes, talking to a… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua I’ve had Vancouver on my mind for years now, like Hoagy Carmichael with Georgia or James Taylor with Carolina. It’s been lodged there in the deep recesses as the home or adopted home of so many meetings industry friends – Claire Smith, Tahira Endean, Emily Edwards, Brenda Anderson, Isobel Mahon. It had… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua It’s hard to describe Vancouver without referencing San Francisco: two cities with paradisiacal natural surroundings, on the water, both with iconic bridges, both heavily Asian, both redolent of supreme west coast cool. Vancouver’s connections to that stunningly rich natural hinterland – the islands, woodlands, mountains – are more immediate,… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Visitor numbers to Dublin have increased year on year by 16% in 2016 which means our message is getting out there and folks are anxious to catch a breath of fresh air, Dublin-style. Thankfully the scope and range of things to do around the city is increasing all the time… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Telling Stories In many languages the words for history and story are the same. Telling stories is intrinsically connected with the past, with relating how people, events and circumstances from times gone by have fashioned, forged and formed our present realities. When it comes to selecting a destination to visit we’re… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Prague – off the beaten track Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference If ever there was a place to get off the beaten track and follow Robert Frost’s advice to take “the road… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua One week later and I’m still buzzing from a week in Slovenia. @Supergreybeard and I visited the country for two reasons: firstly, to attend the board meetings of the Foundation of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and secondly, to participate at Conventa, a MICE trade show for South… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Love at first sight? With Bratislava, you don’t fall in love at first sight. She’s not that kind of city. She’s a pretty city in many ways but she doesn’t use her beauty to beguile you. She’s not coquettish in the slightest and she never flirts with you at all. Bratislava… Read more »