By Michelle Crean

Hotel staff from the town centre are part of a clean up campaign ahead of this year's Tidy Towns results.

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Staff from the Great Southern Killarney are out and about every two weeks making a special effort to keep their local area clean.

They're concentrating on the areas from the East Avenue access past the Railway station, all the way to the conference car park.

Staff take part in rotation with up to 10 members at a time from various departments taking part in this initiative.

“The Great Southern has been a landmark in hospitality here in Killarney since 1854," Michael Jacobi, Managing Director of the Hayfield Family Collection, said.

"We are proud of our history and for still playing such an integral part of so many peoples’ life in Killarney and beyond. We are aware of our responsibility to give back to the community and one way to do so is to support the efforts of the Tidy Towns team and to present Killarney as a clean and world-class tourist destination.”

Co-Presidents of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, Johnny McGuire and Padraig Treacy, welcomed the move.

"We really welcome this initiative that has been highlighted by Michael Jacobi, The Great Southern, one of our oldest hotels of Killarney town, with a proud tradition of welcoming community and visitors alike," Johnny said.

They added that the Tidy Towns ethos is at the heart of the Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce for many years and the great work being shown by the Great Southern team "is tremendous".

"We would love to see this being supported by the many other businesses across all sectors in the town," Padraig added.

"Under the new management structure of Kerry County Council there is a fresh impetus to bring Killarney as a town back up to a higher ranking in IBAL and Tidy Towns, and this can only be achieved if we have full support from you all."