Excitement is building for the Travel Fun Day – 1st September 2012!

Press release
For immediate release

Excitement is growing in the Travel Industry for the inaugural Travel Trade Fun Day in aid of Pieta House and Irish Cancer Society, which takes place on Saturday 1st September 2012, at the ALSAA sports club, Dublin Airport.

The organisers are delighted with the response already, especially in the mixed 5-A-side football where all the entry spaces are now full.

Ciaran Mulligan from Blue Insurances, who is a member of the committee, is quoted as saying, “It looks set to be an all-out battle in the 5-A-side with Blue Insurances, Etihad Airways, Tour America, Royal Caribbean, Thomas Cook, Travelport, Turkish Airlines, Star Alliance, 1STS, Tropical Medical Bureau, OSG and Mapfre all entering a team. Teams are already in preparation with Lorraine Quinn of Royal Caribbean and Dave Walsh of Etihad already on strict training diets”.

Organisers are reminding people to register online on www.travelfunday.ie as it will make it easier for people when they arrive on the day. Registration will be open at the event on the day for those who do not have the chance to do so beforehand.

The 5K Fun Run/Walk, which starts at 1pm, has a growing number of entries with some participants using it as pre-training for marathon running in October. Some participants are also walking the course in order to collect money for the two great charities. Yvonne Muldoon from United is quoted as saying, “The run will be a great start to the fun day with all participants starting and ending on the ALSAA running track. It’s great to see a lot of families with children participating in the fun run too”.

The committee are also excited about the raffle which will take place on the day in ALSAA with Karen Maloney from Etihad quoted as saying, “We have over 15 prizes, including a weekend in New York, a cruise holiday, flights to Abu Dhabi, a sun holiday to Turkey plus lots more.”

Sinead Reilly from Travelport is reminding everyone of the different events happening on the day, “There really will be something for everyone on the day with fun events for all ages happening. These include egg and spoon racing, sack racing, bouncy castles, inflatable sumo wrestling, giant Jenga, and much more. A BBQ, ice-cream and refreshments will also be available for all attendees”.

Philip Airey from Sunway and Catherine Brennan from Travelport, who are also on the organising committee, have praised the event sponsors, saying, “Without the generosity of our sponsors then this wonderful event would not be taking place. We would like to thank the sponsors to date, who include, Aer Lingus, Mapfre, OSG, Travelbiz, Travel Extra, British Airways, Falcon, ERV, Northern Ireland Travel News, American Holidays, Club Travel, SAS, Irish Travel Trade News, 1 Stop Touring Shop and Travel Centres”.

The event, which is the first of its kind, was launched by Kathryn Thomas and has been organised by familiar names from across the industry. The event is open for everyone in the travel industry including their family and friends.

People are now being encouraged to get involved in the event in any way that they can, such as sponsorship, fundraising or attending on the day as a participant or volunteer, to help make this charity event an annual fixture in the all-Ireland travel industry calendar.

For further information and registration details, please visit: www.travelfunday.ie

Find Travel Fun Day on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/travelfunday

High resolution images can be downloaded here: www.dropbox.com/sh/ty1ncqs39vbanyz/Am39SpqGp6 Enquiries:

• Niamh Waters – TravelMedia.ie, email: niamh@travelmedia.ie, Tel: 085-120-5112
• Michael Collins – TravelMedia.ie, email:michael@travelmedia.ie, Tel: 086-858-3585
• Emma Barrett – Irish Cancer Society, email: ebarrett@irishcancer.ie, Tel: 01-231-0509
• Cliodhna O’ Riordan – Irish Cancer Society, email: coriordan@irishcancer.ie, Tel: 01-231-0509
• Marie Peelo – Pieta House, email: mariepeelo@pieta.ie, Tel: 01-601-0000

Sponsorship enquiries:

• Ciaran Mulligan – Blue Insurances, email: ciaran@blueinsurance.ie, Tel: 087-822-2233

About Pieta House

Pieta House, the suicide and self-harm crisis centre, officially opened its doors in Lucan, Co. Dublin in January 2006. The unique clinically based model developed by Pieta House is used across the five centres in Dublin and Limerick. There are also active discussions in progress to open centres in Galway, Cork and Roscrea. Pieta House provides a professional, face to face, free of charge therapeutic service for people in the acute stages of distress. Its primary aim is to reduce suicide by helping people get through that critical phase when suicide becomes a plan rather than just an idea.

Since 2006, Pieta House has grown to almost 70 therapists and staff. Demand for their services is constantly on the rise. To date over 6,000 people have been seen and helped by Pieta House. Pieta House’s vision is that no-one in Ireland should be more than 100 kilometres from a Pieta House centre where they can avail of the clinical services at that time of crisis.

www.pieta.ie – 01 601 0000

About Irish Cancer Society

Established in 1963, the Irish Cancer Society is the national cancer care charity. Their vision is that every person in Ireland will have access to the best possible cancer services; will have the lowest risk of getting cancer, the highest survival rates and the best support and information available when affected by cancer.

The Society is the leading provider of all information relating to cancer prevention, detection, treatment and support. They also advocate for improvements in cancer services and are the largest voluntary funded of cutting edge cancer research in Ireland. Their goals are focused around prevention, early detection and fighting cancer with three programme areas to achieve them; advocacy, cancer services and research.

Cancer in Ireland

Ireland’s cancer rate is one of the highest in the world. One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer during our life time and it is estimated that by 2020, 43,000 new cases will be diagnosed. Latest data from the National Cancer Registry (NCRI) shows that nearly 30,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in Ireland in 2011.These stark figures mean that there is an ever increasing demand for the direct patient care services provided by the Irish Cancer Society.

www.cancer.ie-1800 200 700

TravelMedia.ie, event organisers for Travel Trade Family Fun Day

This press release has been sent by TravelMedia.ie.