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Meitheal

Meitheal is Ireland's largest business-to-business travel trade fair. This year, Virtual Meitheal 2021 will take place over three days on Tuesday 13th, Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th April 2021. In light of COVID 19, and the challenges facing our industry, Fáilte Ireland has committed to covering 100% of industry registration fees for Virtual Meitheal.

Traditionally held annually each spring, Meitheal is a two-day face to face workshop that gives the Irish tourism industry and overseas tourism buyers from over 20 different countries the opportunity to meet and do business. The event attracts around 700 participants each year made up of approximately 300 overseas buyers and 400 Irish industry partners. Over 13,500 appointments are conducted over the two days with many new and important contracts signed.

All buyers attending Meitheal are fully hosted by Fáilte Ireland.

Access our suite of resources to learn more about preparing for virtual buyer meetings.

Preparing for virtual meetings

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What will Virtual Meitheal look like? Our inforgraphic explains.

View the infographic [pdf, 4.3MB]

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Find out more about the range of experiences available with the Meitheal Buyers Guide.

Meitheal Ireland Buyers' Guide

Watch an introduction to Meitheal 2019 to get a glimpse of what is on offer.

Watch the Meitheal video 2019

What does a typical Meitheal Programme looked like?

Fam visits

Pre-familiarisation trips around Ireland across the signature brands for overseas buyers
Post-familiarisation trips around Ireland across the signature brands for overseas buyers

Meitheal workshop

All overseas buyers fully hosted at Citywest Hotel for a two-day workshop.

Meitheal Workshop Day 1: 36 appointments
08.30 – 17.36 Appointments
19.30: Buyer and industry networking evening
22.30: Evening ends

Meitheal Workshop Day 2: 26 appointments
09.00 – 15.36: Appointments
16.00: Post fams depart if applicable
18.30: Buyer farewell evening
21.00: Evening ends

How do the Irish industry and overseas buyers make and book the B2B appointments at Meitheal?

Fáilte Ireland uses an online appointment scheduler called Converve to facilitate Irish industry and overseas buyers to make their appointments for Meitheal.

Approximately six weeks prior to Meitheal the confirmed list of Irish industry and overseas buyers attending Meitheal are sent a link to Converve to begin requesting and accepting appointments. Converve allows industry and buyers to create their own business profile and manage all appointments, and the platform remains open up to and during Meitheal.

Buyers can only see industry profiles and industry can only see buyer profiles. Access to the platform remains active for a year after Meitheal for both industry and buyers and so is a useful reference tool.

How can I attend Meitheal?

Irish trades need to be registered on the Fáilte Ireland Trade Portal in order to receive notifications regarding Meitheal.

The overseas buyers are recruited by Tourism Ireland offices worldwide to attend Meitheal. There is an agreed setting of deadlines between Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland for buyer recruitment and buyer registration for Meitheal workshop and fams.

Who delivers Meitheal?

The Trade Fams and Platforms team in Fáilte Ireland. Planning for Meitheal begins a year out from the workshop.

The complexity of planning the fams, venues, accommodation, entertainment, evening venue selection, photography, procurement, transport, printing, merchandise, F&B, industry registration and selection, buyer recruitment, Converve management and research means each Meitheal is a year-long project.