From a background in market gardening, Elaina’s parents, Mary and the late Dick Fitzgerald started a bed and breakfast business, which has grown into the award-winning 4 star Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel & Spa that exists today. Elaina works side by side with her mother Mary, her three brothers David, Conor and Richard, her niece Kerry and her sister in law Orla, as well as with an extended team of 270.

Elaina and her family have been associated with the business life of Adare spanning back to the
1970s when they extended their bed and breakfast into a small family hotel. As the family grew so did the business and today their hotel ranks among the leading hotels in the region, catering for the thousands of tourists who visit Adare.

Set on 40 acres of organic ground, the resort is best in class when it comes to sustainable tourism and was recently awarded Ireland’s Sustainability Champion at the Guaranteed Irish Awards. Elaina is the current chairperson of ITIC – The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation which is the umbrella group representing the leading tourism interests throughout the country including airlines, ferry companies, the hotels’ federation, tour operators, B&Bs and visitor attractions.

ITIC lobbies government, carries out independent tourism research and insights and aims to raise the profile of tourism as a key business sector of the national economy. Elaina is a recent past president of the Irish Hotels Federation, a position she held with great distinction and during her years in office was the voice of the industry nationally.

“I am keenly aware of the important role that tourism, including hotels, can play within local communities as well as to the national economy. This year my family celebrates 40 years in business. We are privileged to work with multi-generations of families, whole households, with team members from new entrants to the hospitality sector right up to more senior team members. Hotels like oursacross the country also support local suppliers and their communities.”

“Tourism is part of my DNA and I absolutely believe it has a central part to play in Ireland’s economic recovery and regional prosperity”.

A graduate of the Shannon School of Hotel Management, the National University of Ireland, Galway and The Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD. More recently she has achieved certificates from Cornell University and DCU. Over the last 30 years, Elaina has worked in hotels in Switzerland and the UK as well as in Ireland.