Morocco came to Dublin and, at the Gresham Hotel, threw one of the best trade evenings, seen in the city for quite a while. The evening was attended by HE Anes Khales, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Ireland.
The evening commenced with a supplier workshop for one-on-one meetings with the agents, then it was a full Moroccan dinner, with entertainment provided by a Moroccan band followed by a traditional musical trio with a troupe of belly dancers who really got the audience in the mood for a trip to Morocco.
There were prizes galore as Graham Hawkins who compered the event outlined how to win a trip to Morocco. All the agents were given an electronic voting device and had to answer 30 questions on the destination. Believe it or not the result was a tie between Monica Rossi from Abbey Travel and Tom Scott from Trailfinders. So a tiebreaker question was asked and Monica Rossi gave the winning answer and won a really great prize of two tickets with Aer Lingus, with superb accommodation, to Morocco.
However, in a truly generous gesture, the Moroccan Tourist Board then donated another all-in trip to the runner up, Tom Scott from Trailfinders.
Sunway Holidays also contributed to the prize draw with an all-inclusive holiday to Morocco and the lucky winner was Colette Pearson from Abbey Travel. There were also prizes from the Moroccan suppliers who attended.
They obviously keep the really good news to the last in Morocco – because just as the evening was coming to the end they announced that 12 of the agents who had attended the evening had won a place on an agents fam trip to Morocco.
The winners were Barry McElligot, Cassidy Golf; James Moran, Cassidy Golf; Marek Maslowiec, Classic Resorts; Andre Migliarina, GoHop.ie; Paddy Baird, Killester Travel; Stephen Fuery, PAB Travel; Maria Fuery, PAB Travel; Paula McCarthy, Sunway Holidays; Shelly Osbourne, Sunway Holidays; Danielle Farrell, Travel Department; Emma Slattery, Travel Department; and Derek Dunne, Travel Counsellors.
This was one of the most professional travel trade events, in that it was informative, educational and entertaining. Morocco should get more Irish visitors as a consequence.
