Attention to detail keeps Cork travel firm on the map

TIMES may be tough in the financial world but there are still good stories in the business sector, one of them coming from the travel industry with news of an expanding East Cork Travel group.

The company has taken over Fermoy-based Slattery Travel, following the decision of Joe Slattery to retire from business after almost 60 years of uninterrupted trading.

East Cork Travel was founded in 1995 in Midleton by Brendan Barry as a regular travel agency but moved forward five years later starting the Discover Travel product, specialising in the Asian and north African markets and marketing tourism in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, China and Egypt.

Mr Barry’s leap of faith has been rewarded and the Discover Travel brand is not only trading strongly but it has received national travel awards for its products.

Mr Barry explained the reason for starting it in the first instance: “I felt the need develop my own product in order to give better value to the customer and it is different in that it is a very personalised one; we arrange anything from honeymoons at intimate retreats with private villas and we also organise personal escorted tours, particularly in China and Vietnam, which makes it a very different type of holiday.”

Although money is scarce , he is happy with the way things are going. “Business is good; it’s different from 2007 or 2008 because people are very price conscious now but our new website, www.discovertravel.ie, is now producing some nice direct bookings at good value.”

But while the internet is an important part of business these days, Mr Barry insisted that the personal attention to detail available in main street travel agents is what keeps the customers coming back, and he is looking forward to developing the Slattery Travel business in Fermoy.

“Fermoy is a good town and there is actually quite a bit of a catchment area,” he said, “we’re keeping the same name because we’re conscious of the mark that Slattery travel has made over several decades; it has a very good name with top class staff.

“It will be a seamless transition and Joe will be there for the next few months seeing the transition through; it will also, however, bring a new impetus to Slattery Travel because we have bigger buying power for the long haul and general package holidays and in that sense will be able to deliver better value to the customer.

“On top of our own products, we are also pretty well established in the cruise market, so that’s another element we can introduce more of to the Slattery Travel brand. Basically, we intent to build on what is already a very good business,” he said.