Aine Kavanagh, media relations executive, Dublin Tourism
OUR OFFICES are in St Andrew’s Church in Suffolk Street and it takes me 20 minutes to walk in from home in Ringsend.
Most mornings I’m in at 8.30am unless it’s my turn to meet a visiting cruise ship. On those days I’ll walk to the port and be on board by 7.30am. My role is to help arriving passengers organise their day in Dublin and I love getting the chance to tour the ships too.
After that I’ll pick up a coffee on the way to the office and first up check my diary for the day. It’s always full of meetings, either internal ones or with travel providers or overseas journalists coming to write about Dublin.
Part of my job is putting together interesting itineraries for them.
Unfortunately, because of the recession, many of the journalists who contact me aren’t able to get here in which case I help them by providing information about what’s worth seeing.
There’s no substitute for actually visiting a place though, particularly Ireland. No amount of visitor information captures the hospitality that visitors experience, which is why we love to see the journalists come.
At some stage during the week, I’ll be out visiting tourist attractions myself. There’s so much going on in Dublin I have to make a point of taking time out to go see new places and refresh my memory about old ones.
For lunch I’m either out with a visiting journalist or eating at my desk.
Another change the recession has brought about is the fact that tourism providers now work together much more. You are much more likely to see packages where hotels include tickets to an event or a guided tour, that kind of thing. It means there’s always something new to draft press releases about, which is also part of my job.
At the moment, Dublin may not be seeing Michelin-starred restaurants open up but we are seeing pop-up ones instead, and that kind of thing makes for great copy.
People like the “bragability” of having experienced something quirky and transient. It’s all about hidden gems and value for money.
I’m also working to promote our new free app for visitdublin.com. If you stand outside our office and point it, it will tell you what to see in any direction, and let you know where you can go to claim special discounts or promotions.
Most days I finish around 6pm, but very often I’ve a work function to go to.
Last night, I was at an event in Dalkey Castle and it was just brilliant, with staff all in medieval costume and totally in character.
Before that, I was out with a group of overseas journalists promoting “Culture Night” activities. The journalists are always good fun but those nights tend to be late ones. They all want to experience Dublin pubs and who could blame them.
In conversation with SANDRA O'CONNELL