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SOME 650 of the world’s leading travel bloggers will be jetting into Kerry next year as Killarney hosts a major social media conference, TBEX Europe 2017. Announcing that Ireland has won the bid to host the prestigious and influential event, Fáilte Ireland said it would be a major boost for tourism in Ireland and is poised “to make Ireland go viral”.

The conference, which takes place from October 3-5, 2017, in the INEC, Killarney, will be the largest gathering in the world of travel bloggers and writers, new media content creators, and social media-savvy travel industry professionals. These are visitors with an online output which reaches an audience of over 300m.

A range of pre and post conference familiarisation trips are being organised for attendees, who will be in Ireland for an average of nine days. They will experience all that Dublin, Ireland’s Ancient East and Wild Atlantic Way has to offer and it is expected that Ireland will go viral as delegates post, tweet and share their experiences.

The Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, today welcomed the announcement, saying: “Thanks to the efforts of Fáilte Ireland, we have won a conference which will deliver up to 650 of the world’s most influential travel bloggers to our shores with the potential to showcase Ireland to hundreds of millions worldwide. The future of tourism is very much dependent on growing our digital footprint and an event like this is a significant boost for marketing all the great assets we have on offer.”

Fáilte Ireland’s head of publicity, Ciara Sugrue, said no other event in the world offers Ireland the opportunity to meet with so many travel bloggers, traditional travel media, digital content creators, and social media influencers all at once. “This is a community with a combined reach of over 300 million and, by bringing them here, TBEX 2017 provides us with a fantastic opportunity to create the largest blogger-storm that Ireland has ever seen and put our country very much front and centre in the world’s digital shop window for travel,” she added.

It is expected that TBEX Europe 2017 attendees will primarily come from North America and Europe but there will also be a sizeable contingent present from Asia and the rest of the world. Most TBEX delegates are content creators; producers of blogs, podcasts or Web TV but approximately 20% of those in attendance include Destination Management Organizations (DMO), Travel Brands, Hoteliers, Tour Operators, Public Relations and Marketing Agencies, Traditional Media Editors and Publishers. In winning this conference bid Ireland has beaten off stiff competition from other leading European destinations including Poland and the Czech Republic.

Anticipating next year’s event in Ireland, Rick Calvert, CEO of TBEX said: "We are very excited to be coming to Ireland, for TBEX Europe. The breath-taking scenery, culture, storied history and genuine warmth of the people were all factors in our decision. We know the TBEX community will fall in love with Ireland. They will be sharing their experiences with hundreds of millions of travellers all over the world through their blogs, YouTube, traditional media and social media channels. The Fáilte Ireland team has done an amazing job so far and we are looking forward to working with them once again to produce a memorable TBEX Europe 2017."
 

 
Ireland has won the bid to host the prestigious and influential social media conference TBEX Europe 2017. Pictured above, Rick Calvert, TBEX; Cara Fuller, INEC; Mary Hartnett, Kerry Convention Bureau; Ciaran McLoone and Ciara Sugrue, Fáilte Ireland; Breffni Ingerton, INEC; Johnny McGuire and Mike Buckley, Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, with Patti Lorraine and Michele Sapp, TBEX. PICTURE: VALERIE O'SULLIVAN