From F1 to long-haul and specialised holidays

In the 1990s there was an enthusiastic following for motorsport in Ireland. Eddie Jordan was in the limelight with his Jordan Grand Prix team and loyal fans were keen to show their support in person.

However, getting to races at the time was a real hassle as motorsports fan Bob Haugh (then in is early 20s and working for Budget Travel) discovered.

Having been on one too many red-eye departures, Haugh saw an opportunity to run F1 race trips directly from Ireland and, in 1996, he set up Travel Department.

Since then the company has expanded well beyond its original niche to become the largest operator of escorted tours in Ireland. It now runs holidays to more than 60 countries, including long-haul destinations such as Nepal, China and Sri Lanka.

It also specialises in themed breaks from gardening and opera to food and wine. Its typical customers are those aged over 50 with the budget to holiday at the luxury end of the market.

Haugh stepped back from day-to-day operations a number of years ago to develop other businesses in the sector; Brendan Breen, who has worked with Travel Department for nine years, has been managing director for the last 18 months.

“We offer people planned itineraries and the services of experienced local guides but there is also time for personal exploration, so it’s the best of both worlds,” Breen says.

“We develop our own packages to specific destinations with specific departure dates which our customers buy. The profile of customers varies according to the type of holiday.

“For example, walking holidays are extremely popular and attract a younger age group.

“We are also offer solo-friendly packages . . . this means folk on their own can holiday with other like-minded individuals without incurring a single-room supplement.”

Travel Department is based in Dublin and employs 50 people. Most work in its call centre, which also services Travel Department operations in Northern Ireland and Britain. The company has been trading in Northern Ireland since 2005 and in Britain since 2008.

“Having operations outside Ireland gave us a cushion when the recession really hit here but even then, we were not as badly affected as others in the industry,” Breen says. “What helped is that our operating model has always been very lean and we have made it through without redundancies.

“We sell directly so we don’t pay commission and we don’t have heavy distribution costs for seasonal brochures. Not printing big brochures also allows us to be flexible. We can react quickly to market changes and if we see a demand, we can add a holiday.

“We also have a very high rate of online booking and our aim is to become completely paperless . . . We now have around 92 per cent of our customers using it and we’d like that to be 100 per cent. If someone still wants a paper ticket, there is an administration charge.”

Breen says the company has invested heavily in technology to support its drive towards a fully web-based business.

“We aim to make the holiday selection and booking process as slick and easy as possible, whether someone wants to go on a day out to Wicklow or a garden trip to the Cotswolds.

“This means continually updating the website and then revamping it in a major way every year to 18 months. The shift in the market from booking through travel agents to booking on line didn’t have a major impact on us. What’s changed is that more people now book and get information about our holidays from the web.”

To keep customers coming back, Travel Department constantly adds new destinations.

The expansion of Aer Lingus and Ryanair routes has facilitated this, as has the increase in the number of other carriers operating out of Dublin Airport. The company also flies customers from Belfast and from two locations in England and two in Scotland.

Escorted sun holidays are a new departure for the company. “To be honest, we were surprised that so many of our existing customers were asking for sun holidays,” Breen says.

“We took the request on board and these holidays have been a major hit in the off-peak periods. What customers seem to like is that they get the ‘givens’ such as top-quality hotels and local guides to take them on trips, but with the sun thrown in.”

Breen puts the company’s longevity down to getting the product right, to effective marketing and to underpinning the operation with the best IT available. “We are also very price- conscious and try to keep our backroom operations as streamlined and efficient as possible in order to contain costs. For example, we are still selling some of our holidays at the same price as they were in 2007. Holidays from other operators are typically 15 per cent more expensive for the same thing.”