Catching Up With CIE Tours’ Managing Director Stephen Cotter and His Big Plans for Canada

“We’ve underperformed in Canada,” said Stephen Cotter, managing director of Ireland’s CIE tours, over a Zoom link from Dublin.

A major player south of the border for escorted, small group, self-drive and chauffeur-driven private tours of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, CIE has not been as well-known in Canada in past years. 

“We looked at that, and saw no reason why we can’t be just as successful in Canada. We’re investing more and we’re very confident. We think there’s some low-hanging fruit,” Cotter said. 

That investment includes Alberta-based sales manager Jennifer Bond, in place for three years, and Eastern Canada BDM Diego Perez, a 2025 addition.

CIE has an unusual history and ownership structure. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the CIÉ Group (Córas Iompair Éireann), the national transport company and a statutory corporation 100% owned by the Government of Ireland. 

CIE has been running the buses and trains in Ireland for more than 90 years, though those parts of the company now operate under different brands. In 1932, a religious attracted tens of thousands to Ireland, and CIE set up a separate company to show them around during their visit.

That went so well that the company was left in place. For the first years it mostly handled domestic clients, but as air travel became more accessible through the 1950s, 60s and 70s, America became the biggest market.

Ireland remains the primary focus for CIE – with government ownership, promoting tourism to the Emerald Isle is a priority. But over the decades the company expanded to the UK, and in recent years to Iceland, Italy, and – for the first time this year – Spain.

There are good reasons for this, Cotter told Travel Market Report Canada. 

“Customer satisfaction is so high. Our customers love the product, the team, the experience. But we only had a 10% repeat percentage. They come to Ireland  and ask ‘Where will you take us next?’” 

Perennially popular Italy was an obvious choice, followed by Iceland, which enjoyed a tourism boom after it became more affordable following that country’s financial crisis in 2008. “We were so happy with how that went. Our Net Promoter Scores were just as high in those destinations as they were in Ireland,” said Cotter.

That said, CIE has no intention to expand willy-nilly. “We’re still a niche player. We don’t want to be Globus or Trafalgar, but we do want to introduce loyal clients to new destinations,” Cotter said.

The managing director says CIE’s tour guides and drivers are “the secret sauce” driving the company’s success. “They so passionate, they love their country. People just relax when they meet them and soon they have the guests in the palm of their hand.”

A great guide is a unique person with a specialized set of skills, Cotter said, with historians, songwriters and comedians among them. With CIE’s inclusive model, they don’t have to sell optional add-ons, and can remain “fully focused on what they love most.”

CIE is trade-focused, with 75% of sales coming through that channel. It is preferred “with all the big consortia,” Cotter said. The company is based in Dublin with offices in New Jersey and Edinburgh.

Next year, the tour operator will introduce a whole new product category: Walking & Hiking tours. This new, more active tour style will let travellers of all ages experience Ireland in a more up-close and personal fashion. Cotter said he believes they will have strong appeal to outdoor-loving Canadians.

“These new itineraries strike a perfect balance between active exploration and sightseeing,” he said. “This launch marks an exciting evolution of our brand by offering travellers a new way to experience Ireland through the active lens of walking and hiking.”

Travel Market Report’s Sarah Milner experienced CIE this year through its Irish Adventure tour, a seven-night itinerary that covers the entire country, including Northern Ireland. It’s the tour operator’s second most popular tour in the country. (Taste of Ireland, available in five- to seven-day itineraries, is first, while the eight- or nine-day Irish Gold is third.)  

Cotter says CIE continues to look at ways to expand, in a paced and thoughtful manner. “We’re looking at golf tourism, can we elbow our way in? And we’re intrigued by river cruising, that may be something for 2028 or 2029.”

“We’re ambitious, but we have a good business already,” Cotter said. “And we look forward to welcoming a lot more Canadians in the years to come.”.