It was delightful to see those of you who could make it to Fota Island Resort in Cork last month, as we gathered for the annual AIPCO Business Tourism Conference. We were delighted to welcome the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD, as he opened our conference; we thank him for his time and look forward to his continued support for our industry into 2023 and beyond.

We have a programme of activity planned for the Association during the year including, in collaboration with Failte Ireland, hosting two educational events over the next few months,along with our more regular activity of liaison with key industry stakeholders. These activities which we undertake are aimed at further developing our industry and to attract more conferences to Ireland, while supporting all members of AIPCO and the wider industry.

As we have all said many times these have been challenging years and we believe they are behind us now and the future looks very promising indeed; however we do all need to collaborate as much as possible to ensure we tell a common story about what we do as an industry here in Ireland and we will be working hard with all of you to create that narrative and spread our message as widely as possible.

I look forward to meeting many of you during the year, and along with my fellow AIPCO Council members, am always available for a chat, and look forward to a very positive conference year and to securing as much business for Ireland into 2024 and the years ahead.