Liam Griffin was speaking to Sonya Lennon on the Architects of Business show.
The Wexford hotelier, who managed the county to All-Ireland glory in 1996, is the Chairman of the Griffin Group which owns and runs the Monart Spa, Hotel Kilkenny and the Ferrycarrig Hotel.
He told the show, made in partnership with EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™, that he had made ‘overtures’ regarding the appointment of a dedicated Minister for Tourism.
The Green Party’s Catherine Martin was appointed Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht in June of this year.
Griffin explained to host, Sonya Lennon, that a dedicated tourism minister was crucial to ensure that the sector stayed competitive as Irish hotels face into reopening challenges.
“A man gets into an airplane in London, he can fly north, south, east or west.
“He can do the same from Barcelona. He can do the same from Paris.
“So we have to be competitive, it’s either an industry or it’s a Cinderella game.
“You either see it as an industry and back it because from Malin Head to Mizen Head to Carnsore Point and all the way back to Belfast Lough, every parish is involved in tourism and hospitality of some nature.”
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Watch the full interview with the 2010 finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ programme below.
The conversation about the future of the Irish hotel industry starts at 18.21.
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