Destination Marketing – what are your symbolic actions?

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Marketing Ltd Symbolic Actions? You’re well up Coomakista on the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle when the vista suddenly opens up and you see the slow, slinking shapes high above you, pushing manfully against a nasty headwind on the final metres of the 3% climb. You’ve done about 4km… Read more »

Large Events: Garth Brooks and the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua B2B and B2C Most discourse in the meetings industry tends to coalesce around “private” events for individuals, companies or associations. Occasionally, when a private event is particularly large – the welcome event for a city wide convention of 20,000, for example – we need to interface with civic and… Read more »

Cycling the Ring of Kerry – 180km in a day

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Cycling the Ring of Kerry – sometime after 04:00 A thin frame of bright light leaks out in the gap between the heavy drapes and the wall of the room. You reach for the phone. 4:30am. Too early. Far too little sleep for what lies ahead. You turn from… Read more »

Coming Home – Revisiting Ireland’s Incentive Icons: Killarney Park, Europe, Dromoland, Adare

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua I’ve greatly enjoyed the opportunity over the past 4 weeks to re-acquaint myself with Ireland as an incentive destination. A combination of familiarisation trips and live programmes brought me, in quick succession, to two of Ireland’s premier locations for corporate meetings and incentives, the Shannon area renowned for its… Read more »

Killarney, Destinations, Hybrid, Delta

Walking in Killarney For 10 years now the Gilligans have spent Easter at the Killarney Park Hotel. This year was no exception but for two things: one, no Gilligan child had an excuse to absent herself from the dreaded mandated family activities due to pending exams and two, Master Shea Gilligan, aged 8 months, became… Read more »