CONVENTION CENTRE DUBLIN OPENS

The official opening of the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) last week got me thinking about the type of tourism infrastructure we now have.

Imagine for a moment that a modern capital city applied to the European Investment Bank today to fund a grand plan as follows:

• Build a brand new airport terminal capable of handling up to 15 billion visitors a year
• Build a 4.5km underground tunnel to connect the airport to the city centre
• Build one of the most technologically advanced convention centres in the world at the other end of this tunnel
• Connect the convention centre to a new bridge with four traffic lanes and cycle tracks to the southside of the city
• Build a 2,111 capacity purpose built theatre on the far side of this bridge capable of accommodating world class West End and Broadway productions
• Build a world class sporting facility a short walk from this theatre with the capacity to host the final of European Cup competitions

I think the bank might admire the plan but it would never agree to fund it! However, now that we are lucky enough to have all this in place, the challenge is to adopt the right policies to ensure that the economic benefits of this infrastructure are maximised.