Inside CIE Tours’ Strategy: Expanding Carefully, Delivering Consistently

CIE Tours is entering 2026 with a clear strategy in mind: innovate with intention, embrace evolving consumer patterns, and lean into product quality.

After a bullish outlook at the end of 2024, much of the tour operator segment experienced a choppy year in 2025. A slow first quarter, driven in part by political uncertainty and broader macroeconomic pressures, tempered early expectations across the industry—although most still ended the year either even or with some growth.

The same was true for CIE Tours, an Ireland-based tour operator known for its escorted, small group, self-drive, and chauffeur-driven private tours of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, Italy, and Iceland. In the last couple of years, the company also expanded its portfolio to include Spain itineraries, which debuted in 2025, as well as walking and hiking tours in Ireland, on sale now for 2026.

Travel Market Report spoke with CIE Tours’ Stephen Cotter, managing director, and Rosanne Zusman, chief commercial officer, about how those new products are performing—and how the tour operator is navigating an increasingly unpredictable market.

“We were more or less the same as last year with the volume of passengers, which we’re very happy with considering there [are] so many things going on,” said Cotter. “It was soft at the beginning, so we had a very windy sort of path to get there — but we got there in the end.”

New Products from CIE Tours: “We’re Happy with Where the Numbers Are”

CIE Tours is best known for its Ireland and Scotland itineraries, but in 2025, the tour operator expanded its offerings to include Spain as a destination.

The inaugural itinerary, Best of Spain, is a nine-day journey through Madrid, Seville, Granada, Córdoba, Valencia, and Barcelona. The first departures left in 2025 and the tour is operated in both a classic and a small group style (maximum 26 guests).

“The new products we introduced in Spain have gone really, really well,” said Cotter. “We’re actually very surprised how well we’ve done in the first year because it’s a brand-new destination for us.”

The walking and hiking tours have also shown promise. The new travel style officially launched over the summer, with CIE Tours unveiling two walking tours in Ireland: Ireland Walking & Hiking: The Northern Coast and Ireland Walking & Hiking: Cork to Kerry. Both are nine-day itineraries and will operate from May to October in 2026.

The more active travel style is a departure from CIE Tours’ usual approach to guided travel in Ireland. Each departure is a small group (maximum 16 guests) and features two to six miles of walking per day. The goal was to give travelers a more immersive, up-close way to experience Ireland’s beauty and culture.

“These are not forced treks of 25 miles a day,” Zusman explained. “It’s a lovely balance of light walks and hikes, but you’re still seeing all the iconic sites.”

So far, the walking and hiking tours have been received well: “It’s a completely new segment for us, so we’re not known for it at all—but we’re happy with where the numbers are, and we’re only halfway through the booking season,” said Cotter.

If the demand is there, the walking tours model could expand beyond Ireland, with Scotland being a natural destination to test next due to its scenery.

“We’re optimistic,” said Cotter. “If the demand is strong over the next few years, we can very easily switch it on for Scotland as well, which is very popular for the same walking and hiking.”

Both executives emphasized the importance of having the right people on the ground for any new product or destination.

“Our tour directors are our secret sauce—they make or break a tour,” said Zusman. “And the local experts we use for walking tours bring destinations to life in a way you just can’t replicate.”

Booking Trends & Future Outlook

Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, CIE Tours is embracing evolving consumer behavior. The tour operator relies on feedback from travel advisors as well as its own internal data, and takes notes of changing preferences or trends.

One of the consistent themes advisors are reporting back is a dual booking pattern: clients booking well in advance and others waiting until late in the game.

“We’re seeing people booking far out, and we’re also seeing more people booking close-in. It’s kind of both ends of the spectrum,” said Cotter.

The exec also pointed to changes in when guests want to travel, particularly in Ireland. Cotter noted that demand patterns are also shifting in unexpected ways, particularly around seasonality.

“We’re seeing really big May and September months now,” he said. “July is actually the weakest point of the season, which you wouldn’t expect for Ireland.”

Zusman told TMR that this consumer uncertainty, regardless of the cause, is increasingly looking like the new normal in a post-pandemic market landscape.

“Things completely outside of our control can put hesitancy in the consumer’s mind—and that’s just the environment we’re operating in now,” she explained.

When asked if CIE Tours would be looking to expand further into other niches—such as leaning further into small group travel or looking at the river segment—Zusman was quick to specify that the tour operator is prioritizing maintaining and building on its existing excellent reputation for guided land tours.

“We really pride ourselves on being destination specialists,” said Zusman. “We don’t cover the world—but the part of the world we cover, we do really, really well.”