- Falcon Holidays founders Christine Donnelly, Bill Smith, Freddie O’Neill and Gabriel Malone attended celebrations in Dublin
- Party showcases 2019’s new destinations of Paphos, Cyprus and Dalaman, Turkey, and new luxury hotel brand TUI Blue
- Programme has additional flights to six destinations
Familiar faces from the Falcon days and TUI‘s new team marked the 30th anniversary of the founding of Falcon Holidays in Dublin, and showcased the TUI offering for summer 2019 at a celebration in Venue 35 on Dublin’s Dawson Street.
Next year sees direct flights from Dublin Airport to Paphos, Cyprus and Dalaman, Turkey, with additional flights to six existing destinations.
Marketing Manager Charlotte Brenner and Commercial Manager Claire Murphy told Travel Extra that the additional flights “bring greater choice of 10 and 11-night stays”, with Brenner saying such flexibility is a popular emerging trend among holidaymakers.
“Along with the traditional favourites, there’s a big trend towards the Eastern Med,” said Charlotte Brenner. Along with Cyprus and Turkey, there is demand for eastern Greek islands like Crete, Zante and Rhodes as well as the affordability factor of Bulgaria’s resorts.
Charlotte said it was great to have so many people from the past who have built up the brand in Ireland, and said TUI – following a relaunch last year, combining the Falcon and Thomson brands – has done well to get the new message across to Irish consumers.
Ireland management team Orla Markey, Irene Smith, Antoinette Young, Charlotte Brenner and Claire Murphy at TUI’s celebrations of their 30 years of business in Ireland at Venue 35, Dawson Street. Photo Kieran Harnett
New Head of Ireland Simon Eaton, who succeeded the popular Belinda Vazquez in that role after her promotion in Britain, was not present on the night. Irene Smith, Business Change Manager explained to guest that “this event was put in the diary long before our new Head of Ireland Simon Eaton joined the team and unfortunately he couldn’t change his arrangements to be with us here tonight but he does send his best wishes and hopes to continue to meet you all over the coming months”.
Antoinette Young, Country Distribution Manager, said: “On the 8th of the 8th 88 our business was formed by Christine Donnelly, Bill Smith, Freddie O’Neill and Gabriel Malone and we are delighted they could join us tonight. The date was an auspicious one and, Christine would say, picked for that reason.
“But everyone in this room knows that it takes more than a lucky date to make a business a success and we would like tonight, to acknowledge everyone in this room that has had a part to play in the success of our business over the last 30 years, be it from a management, employee, trade supplier, service provider or a journalist communicating our message to our customers. We value each and every one of you and look forward to many more years working together.”
Charlotte Brenner told guests that “we wanted to ensure the TUI brand became famous fast and was unmissable by every man, woman and child across the country. Not only did we achieve this but we exceeded and maintained our brand awareness targets throughout the whole campaign.
“We took the no 1 brand spot in January in the IPSOS MRBI Brand shout-out, dropping to No 4 in February. We were also very mindful to bring our existing customers on the journey to TUI with us as well as gain new ones and being in a position to grow our capacity for summer 18 and again for summer 19 is testament to the efforts of everyone around the room working collaboratively.”
See more pictures from the night here or connect to the album on Facebook.
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