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Albatross lands in Donegal

Albatross Travel, one of the largest UK wholesale partners for group travel, together with their top UK clients, are in Ireland to learn more about Fáilte Ireland’s tourism brand,

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the Wild Atlantic Way as they are including the stretch north of Galway, which includes Donegal, Sligo and Mayo, in their itineraries for 2018. The visit of these twenty-two tour operators is hosted by Fáilte Ireland, in collaboration with sister agency Tourism Ireland.

Pictured are Dr. Prannie Rattigan, irish Seaweed Kitche, Eva Dearie, Failte Ireland and Elaine McGonigle, Doengal Craft Village.

Albatross Travel has a client base of UK and Irish coach operators who currently offer 21 tours to Ireland and have recently added a new tour to the Wild Atlantic Way – focussing in particular on north of Galway - to their 2018 brochure. This tour is already selling exceptionally well among their clients and has the potential to extend further in 2019.

Revenue up at Killarney Hotels

Revenues at the Swiss-owned Killarney Hotels Ltd continued to increase last year to €19.2m.

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New accounts show that revenues at the group - which operates two five-star hotels in Co Kerry, The Europe Hotel & Resort and the 102 bedroom Dunloe Castle - last year increased by 13pc. .

Turnover at the group has increased by 126pc since 2011, when revenues of €8.49m were recorded.

However, hefty non-cash depreciation charges of €6.2m resulted in Killarney Hotels Ltd last year recording an pre-tax loss of €5.5m.

This followed a pre-tax loss of €4.9m in 2015.

Good Year for Griffin

The Griffin Hotel Group, which owns a number of hotels in the southeast of Ireland, including Monart spa (pictured) monart

, has posted accounts for 2016 showing revenue growth of 9 per cent for the year.

Turnover for the group grew to €22.8 million with operating profit, excluding exceptional items, at €3 million, representing a growth of 12 per cent since 2015.

Ireland at Rimini Travel Show

Ireland was promoted by Tourism Ireland to thousands of Italian travel professionals attending the annual TTG Incontri travel fair in Rimini.

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Pictured are Raymond O'Grady, Irish Rugby Tours; and Niamh Kinsella, Tourism Ireland.

Seven Irish and Italian tourism companies joined Tourism Ireland at TTG Incontri, an important B2B travel exhibition which attracts about 37,000 Italian travel professionals each year, including influential tour operators and travel agents, as well as leading Italian travel media.

Provenance is King at The Strand

It began as an Intercontinental Hotel in the 1960s and later morphed into Jurys Limerick Hotel. Then it was demolished and a €50m modern hotel was built on the site.

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To-day The Strand Hotel in Limerick occupies a dream location overlooking the lordly Shannon, facing onto Sarsfield Bridge and the retail hub of the city.

Many of its large guestrooms offer panoramic views of the river, Curragower falls and Kings Island. Ours was on the first floor corner with a glazed-in balcony designed to optimise the vista while curtailing traffic noise. It was equipped to four star standard with a water cooler cabinet as a welcome feature.

We came to experience The River Restaurant and to preview Limerick City’s ‘Pigtown Festival’ which runs until the end of October. Celebrating the city’s long tradition of producing fine ham, bacon and other pug products, the festival includes a dine-around this Friday (September 22nd) with guests enjoying a special dish in each of four local hotels- The Strand, Absolute, Clayton and Savoy.

At The Strand they will experience a dish with exemplary provenance. Executive chef Tom Flavin has a passion for sourcing high quality foods from Limerick and its hinterland and his ‘Taste the Place’ menu is a showcase for producers from Achill Island to West Cork.