Of the many celebrities Paul Carty hosted at Guinness Storehouse in his 21-year innings as CEO there, Pink was his favourite.
Paul Carty smiled as he story again, this time form the podium in the Gravity Bar which he had created, where 300 members of the Irish hospitality and tourism industry wre gathered to pay tribute to him at a Covid-delayed retirement function in the Gravity Bar last evening, Thursday November 2.
Diageo Ireland CEO Mark Sandys told the gathering that an independent study of the economic impact that the storehouse created for Ireland estimated that the storehouse contributes every year €381m to the Irish economy because of all of the tourists that come to Island because of the storehouse and the money that they spent during their time in the country. “You have taken this to an even higher level.”
Mr Sandys recalled: “Paul promised that someday they would 700k visitors a year. He did all of that and much more, peaking at 1.8m visitors a year, for many years the number one visitor tourist attraction in Ireland and also recognised as the world’s leading tourist attraction.”
“If the Guinness Storehouse was a country it would be the sixth biggest country in the world for Guinness, which is amazing. The storehouse has created so many memories for the visitors that have come here, 20m and above.”
Mr Carty paid tribute to his success, Catherine Toolan, current CEO of Guinness Storehouse, who moderated the event, on how she coped during the pandemic. “Domestic was only 7pc of our market, and the 93pc of international visits the low hanging fruit. It is a tribute to Catherine that the Guinness Storehouse brand has never been stronger in the domestic market.
Former Diageo Ireland CEO and current chair Brian Duffy recalled how Mr Carty set up the photograph of Bill Clinton with a pint of Guinness that went round the world, by strategically placing a flame haired assistant between the lift entrance and dignatories to present him with a pint of Guinness. The cameras clicked and the photograph went around the world.
The speakers paid tribute Mr Carty’s family, his wife Aggie and daughters Catherine and Jenny.
Chair and CEO of Failte Ireland Ruth Andrews and Paul Kelly and CEO of Tourism Alice Mansergh were present at the event. Edward and Rory Guinness, eight generation descendants of Arthur Guinness joined the tributes with a dual speech: “what is the collective term for a pair of Guinnesses? A hangover.” Edward Guinness, Lord Iveagh, said it took a hotelier “to show a brewer how to have a jolly fine knees up” while Rory Guinness interjected “piss up.”
