Tourism

New Paris Tourism Event

Award for 'Gathering Garden'

A Tourism Ireland-sponsored ‘Gathering’ garden has scooped the ‘People’s Choice Award’ for best overall garden 2013 at Canada Blooms in Toronto, the largest flower and garden festival in Canada.

Tourism Ireland arranged for leading Canadian landscape designer, Anna van Maris, to create a ‘Spring Gathering Garden’, to highlight The Gathering Ireland in Canada. Canada Blooms is a hugely popular show – attracting over 200,000 visitors – providing an excellent opportunity to showcase The Gathering and the wonderful gardens right around the island of Ireland to a large audience of potential Canadian holidaymakers. Voting for the ‘People’s Choice Award’ took place among visitors to the ten-day Canada Blooms show. The garden also took two other awards – ‘outstanding use of natural stone’ and ‘outstanding interpretation of sponsor’s message’. It has featured on major networks in Canada, including CP24 (a Toronto-based news channel), The Weather Network and on Canada AM on CTV (an English language TV network); as well as on Zoomer Radio and in the Toronto Star and Canadian Gardening magazine.

Secret Service Checks Hotels

The US Secret Service is checking out secure accommodation in hotels along the Border as part of the massive police operation in the run-up to the G8 summit of world leaders in June.

Hotels in four southern counties, Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim and Donegal, are expected to be used by some of the delegations arriving for the summit, which will be held across the Border at the Lough Erne golf resort in Enniskillen.

Apart from those who will be staying in hotels that have been deemed suitable by security experts, it is expected that some of the delegations could fly into Dublin rather than Belfast.

KFC Plans Expansion

Fried chicken restaurant chain KFC will create 1,600 jobs this year by opening more than 40 restaurants across Ireland and Britain.

The US-owned firm plans to spend €47m on the expansion drive, while it will also spend another £40m on a makeover of 160 existing stores to “create a more modern, welcoming environment for customers”.

This year’s openings will boost the chain’s total number of Irish and British restaurants to nearly 900.