MBTA 2024: Meet the finalists in the Best Tourism Experience or Event category

100 years of welcoming racegoers and the local community

Navan Racecourse

Tell us about your business and team

Navan Racecourse started operating in 1921 and holds 18 Flat and National Hunt fixtures throughout the year. The premier flat fixture is held on April - Super Saturday featuring the Vintage Crop Stakes - and the feature National Hunt weekend being Navan Racing Festival in November. The relatively small team of 10 are all from Meath with some having worked at the track for over 20 years. The racecourse also operates on non-race days and hosts a range of groups and clubs from the locality and further afield including hosting Navan Bridge Cub every Wednesday and events from the Circus to outdoor cinema events on its grounds.

Describe the best thing about your service?

There are many parts of Navan Racecourse that we are all extremely proud of. In comparison to other tracks, Navan Racecourse is a small racetrack, but continually attracts the best horses in Ireland. This year it produced three Group 1 winners from the April flat meeting. The hospitality team look after each booking individually and know each party by their first name, by the time a race day comes around. The track team have dedicated their whole lives to the racing surface at Navan and are continually championed by the industry for the racing surface they produce. All in all, we are very proud of the service that all the individuals who work for racecourse contribute to the business.

What's the best business advice you've ever been given?

“Always deliver more than expected.”

What does the future hold for your business?

We hope to continue to attract new race goers to Navan, growing our race days and creating further links with the local community and surrounding businesses, to ensure the racecourse is present in the Meath community for another 100 years.

A warm Kilmessan welcome where the customer comes first

The Station House Hotel

Tell us about your business and team?

Celebrating its 40th year, The Station House Hotel is a family run, boutique hotel, renowned for hosting beautiful weddings and events. It is also a popular food destination for local people and those travelling from Dublin, from across Ireland and internationally.

Employing 75 people, the hotel attracts over 35,000 unique visitors each year to Kilmessan and the local area. Now into their 2nd generation, the Slattery’s and their team are passionate about supporting local businesses in Meath and the Boyne Valley, making this an integral part of the business.

Describe the best thing about your service?

In two words, the people! As a team, we pride ourselves on always putting the customer first, with a warm Irish welcome as soon as anyone walks through the door. Ranked as one of Ireland’s top hotels, the team are hugely dedicated to creating a professional yet warm environment where nothing is ever a problem. This dedication stems from a genuine love of the hotel and hospitality across the team, some of whom are with us for over 30 years, and some who started in Transition Year and are now doing PHDs in university! As they say, teamwork makes the dream work!

What does the future hold for your business?

Following a major refurbishment of the hotel both inside and out since 2019, we hope to continue to build our Weddings & Events business at the hotel, as well as our food and accommodation offering, working closely with local suppliers and businesses, to bring more and more people to Meath!

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Do what you love, learn from your mistakes, and surround yourself with great people.

Growing the Greenway experience

Park Beo Greenway Hub

Tell us about your business and team?

Park Beo Greenway Hub is a new offering in the Leisure and Tourism Industry within the Boyne Valley region. Park Beo is developed next door to its existing retail business of 18 years, Doughtys Wilkinstown which now links onto the new 30km paradise that is the Boyne Valley to Lakelands Greenway.

Park Beo is a privately-owned, family operated three acre outdoor amenity offering ample, safe off-road car parking, toilets, picnic areas, sheltered seating, bike hire, bike services, outdoor cafe and direct Greenway link. With the team at Park Beo and collaborating with on-site partner, Feel Good Bicycles, it is now striving to provide a unique and innovative tourism experience to visitors locally, regionally and nationally. The positivity from visitors so far has been incredible as the demand for safe accessible places to explore the Greenways of Ireland is high.

Describe the best thing about your service

We have many things to shout about here at Park Beo Greenway Hub though we like to remain humble and always look at ways we can improve. The highlight overall has to be the direct link between Park Beo Greenway Hub and the Boyne Valley to Lakelands Greenway. A short, safe, easy, accessible 300m walking or cycling path linking Park Beo to the 30km Greenway, that is hard to beat!

What's the best business advice you've ever been given?

We both come from hard-working self-employed families. Hard work, graft and resilience were part of the fabric of growing up, achieving and getting places. There is no substitute for hard work and nothing comes easy. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

What does the future hold for your business?

As we approach our first year open here at Park Beo Greenway Hub, it's good to reflect on our past, present and future. In the near future, we will open a natural outdoor play area for children. Working with others, we aim to soon have a structure in place to facilitate inclusive cycling at Park Beo. We will continue our marketing efforts in attracting regional and domestic tourists to the Greenway and the Boyne Valley region.

Keeping the nation screaming with excitement across 50 acres of fun

Emerald Park

Tell us about your business and team?

As Ireland’s only theme park and zoo, and with something for the whole family to enjoy, we have undoubtedly had the Irish nation screaming with excitement since we first opened our doors in 2010.

Opening for business 14 years ago, we welcomed our guests to what was more reminiscent of an adventure park, rather than a theme park.

Fast forward to 2024 as a fully-fledged theme park, we now offer over 50 acres of fun, with 40 attractions, 250 animal species, and each year hiring on average 600 seasonal and 130 full time staff members.

Describe the best thing about your service?

Emerald Park offers multiple unique zoo experiences and live shows and has a number of family-friendly seasonal events. It is best known for rollercoasters, including the iconic wooden Cú Chulainn (the country's first rollercoaster), and our most recent additions in Tír na nÓg, which houses Europe's longest intertwining family and thrill coasters called Na Fianna Force and The Quest. The zoo also offers our guests unique experiences, such as our immersive Lemur Woods and our World of Raptors bird of prey display.

What does the future hold?

After major park expansion this year, we are taking the time to understand if our age demographics shift; we want to make sure we have enough rides and attractions that cater to all the people visiting us. We will also focus on efficiency and optimisation that we can work on within our existing ride areas.

Best advice you've ever been given?

Never be afraid to take chances. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Some of the best business successes come from taking risks and not worrying about what may or may not happen.