Support to overseas tourist boards wanting to increase the profile of their destination to consumers originating from Ireland is one of the services being offered by a new Dublin-based business consultancy, Aura Business Consulting, establised by three ex-Falcon Holidays Directors, Damien Mooney, Don Shearer and Sean Ryan.
Damien Mooney told ITTN’s Neil Steedman: “We registered the company last Wednesday, the web domain on Friday and we are currently looking for a Dublin office. At present there are just the three of us, but we are talking with a number of people in the travel sector.”
ITTN had earlier met Damien in Belfast, where he was visiting the holiday and caravan show with Christine Donnelly, who recently announced that she was leaving her position as Head of Ireland of Falcon Holidays.
“Our business offering will not be restricted to the travel sector, nor to Ireland,” added Damien. “Since we left Falcon we have each individually been working for clients, within and outside of travel, on business development and marketing, and it seemed that the time was now right for us to work together.
“Some businesses have undergone dramatic changes over the past few years and we can offer expertise in change management – each of us has over 20 years’ experience at senior management level across a range of disciplines and in running small to FTSE 250/100 size operations.”
Four Service Pillars
Aura Business Consulting offers four service pillars: strategic planning (including bespoke business mentoring); financial planning (IFRS transition); sales development and growth (sales team organisation); and also travel and leisure.
The expertise offered in the travel and leisure sector includes:
Market Evaluation and Business Development: Delivering strategic assessment to evaluate markets in Ireland and the UK, and assisting in evaluating new business opportunities including either expansion or consolidation.
Inbound/Outbound Tourism Support: Tourism and destination brand building and delivering solid connectivity to a source market, support to overseas tourist boards wanting to increase the profile of their destination to consumers originating from Ireland, and support to those businesses that are looking to increase a presence in overseas markets.
Value Chain Assessment: Delivering efficiencies from overseas hotel relationships, handling agents, airline providers, through to effective distribution channels.
ROI and NI Trade Connection – Bespoke Trade Support: Creating a bespoke and cost-effective mechanism to deliver trade representation to the travel trade in Ireland.
