One of the reasons many attendees consider the USTOA Annual Conference & Marketplace the best travel conference of the year is because the tour operator members send their top people to the conference. It creates opportunities for unparalleled access to the heaviest movers and shakers of the tour industry. Because the tour segment connects and aggregates the products of all the other segments of the travel industry, the USTOA conference is a central connecting point for the entire global travel industry.
At this year’s conference, held in Austin Nov. 28-Dec. 1, I had the opportunity to speak with Elizabeth Crabill, CEO of CIE Tours, who is one of the most extraordinary of a very extraordinary group. Speaking to a person with her intelligence and grasp was an enlightening experience.
Ms. Crabill is one of a handful of leaders of USTOA active member companies who are Harvard MBAs. Others include Scott Nisbet of the Globus Family of Brands, and Jennifer Tombaugh, president of Tauck.
Before taking over the leadership of CIE Tours in 2016, Ms. Crabill served as senior director of marketing at Travel Impressions/American Express, vice president of sales and marketing for Lindblad Expeditions, and president of Travel Bound and GTA Americas at GTA.
She is also the vice chair of the USTOA executive committee, which means she will be the next chair, after the two-year term of Scott Wiseman, the present chairman, is concluded.
Like most other attendees at the conference, Ms. Crabill was upbeat about 2022 and 2023. The year 2021, she said, was a partial season, but in 2022 the company got pretty much the entire season.
“There’s a lot of pent-up demand for the destination and no impediments to crossing the border,” she said. “So, it’s been amazing. We have done much better than we anticipated. It will still take a couple of years to get back to pre-pandemic levels, but I think the tour operator segment is very happy about the level of business. We’ll just keep on climbing upwards.”
CIE was also happy to see that as the pandemic wound down, people were not reluctant to travel together or eat together, as had been feared.
“People have returned to being comfortable socializing, sharing meals and coaches,” said Crabill. “We thought, ‘Do we have to get two tables, four tables, for all the different people?’ But no, they’re happy to sit at a table, happy to share food, happy to meet new people.”
It turns out people are eager for social contact again.
“I’ve been on some of the tours,” she said. “Any time I was with customers, it was clear they are back to pre-pandemic comfort with traveling, talking to people, embracing strangers, physically hugging people. It’s amazing. I believe there has been a growth in appreciation after not being able to have contact for so long.”
Long Trail, Deep Impact
CIE Tours is a unique company in the travel industry. It’s an Ireland specialist, based in Ireland, owned by the Irish government. It has the longest history in tourism in Ireland of any tour operator. It’s part of the historical infrastructure of Irish tourism.
CIE is actually owned by the Irish National Transport Authority, which runs the buses and other public transportation in Ireland. In Gaelic, the title is Córas Iompair Éireann, hence the initials “CIE”.
CIE Tours was founded in 1932, making 2022 its 90th anniversary year. Because it’s owned by the operator of national transport, and because of the company’s longevity, it has an unrivaled ground operation in Ireland.
At a recent event celebrating the 90th anniversary, the Irish prime minister, Micheál Martin, appeared in a personal video addressing the company.
“The Prime Minister wasn’t able to attend, but he did a personalized video for us, where he touted the history, not only 90 years of CIE Tours, but his affection for the company and the impact that we have on the Irish economy, which is pretty outsized for our size of company. His father was a bus driver for the parent company of CIE, which runs the national bus lines and the national trains, so he has a lot of personal affection for CIE and the company.”
That video and that relationship point to the unique position of CIE Tours.
“There’s a lot of great operators in Ireland, there’s no question.” said Ms. Crabill, “Ireland has a great product, and there’s a lot of really good companies that offer product. But CIE Tours is a little bit different because we’re part of the fabric of Ireland and we’re part of the history of the tourism industry in Ireland. We do have an outsized impact on the economic activity and the small businesses in Ireland. A lot of them really live off of CIE Tours, the coaches coming and hosting our guests. A lot of small mom-and-pop businesses and multi-generational businesses have really become strong viable entities because of CIE Tours.”
When the borders opened up, CIE was the first to get back into gear on the ground in Ireland.
“What we hear from our suppliers is that when the borders of Ireland and the UK opened in 2021, CIE Tours was the first one to come back and the fastest one to come back. A global operator, which has a different business model, can move the business; so they would first recover where they thought they could get more things going. Whereas we really are Ireland. We are synonymous with Ireland; so as soon as the borders were opened, we said, ‘We’re just going to go all in. We’re going to get these things rolling. We’re going to get the kinks out, and we’re going to make sure people are comfortable going.”
Branching Out
Although, CIE will never be a global operator and remains an Ireland and Britain specialist, it has introduced a couple other European destinations in recent years for clients who love traveling with the company and want to try it in another destination. The company now offers programs for Italy and Iceland.
As a specialist, the company takes 50,000 passengers a year to Ireland and Britain, with a wide range of ways to experience the country packaged into about 26 itineraries.
The company surveys its guests twice during each trip. “We asked travel advisors and our traveling customers if they would come back with CIE to another destination, and asked for suggestions,” she said. “We had a lot of enthusiastic responses. What the agents said to us was, ‘Oh God, we’d love it if you had more product because we can sell you very easily, because our clients are so satisfied.'”
Italy and Iceland were at the top of the list in first and third place. The second-place destination was not in Europe and not a place CIE would go.
Those products were rolled out before the pandemic to a positive reaction, then had to be put on pause. But as the lockdown period receded, both Iceland and Italy opened before Ireland. Many who had cancelled trips because of the pandemic chose to rebook as soon as possible, and went with Iceland or Italy.
“They weren’t even going to wait for Ireland to open,” she said. “They were like, ‘We’ve been behind doors for so long, just send me anywhere I can go. But it really did help get that momentum going again for those new products.”
Before the pandemic, CIE was also working on developing programs to Spain, which, in common with Ireland, also has a strong Celtic element. That development was also interrupted by the pandemic, but is likely to reemerge over the next couple of years.
Ready for Anything
Though the upheaval from the pandemic is smoothing over, USTOA operators are seasoned professionals and know from experience that they have to be ready for anything that may come down the pike.
Elizabeth Crabill believes that CIE Tours is as well positioned to handle whatever may come as any company.
“We’ve been continuously owned by the same entity, the government of Ireland, for 90 years,” said Crabill.
“We have the backing of the Irish government, so when there’s a pandemic and there’s upheaval, that’s a really good seal of approval. What the agents and the trade and the travelers know about us is that we are consistent, we are reliable, we are stable, and we are here to stay.”
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
