Tapping into tourism

INTERVIEW/Declan Somers, Galway Tour Company:WHEN JASON McAteer scored the goal against the Netherlands that more or less sealed Ireland's qualification for the World Cup in Japan and Korea in 2002, Declan Somers was watching the match on the TV in the Irish pub he ran in Tokyo.

"I remember thinking, somewhere along the road there's going to be work out of this," he says. "I went to the Irish embassy and told them I was an interpreter. They knew I had good Japanese so they had no problem putting me down for that and when RTÉ kept asking for a co-ordinator on the ground, I became the person.

Throughout the tournament he worked as interpreter/co-ordinator for the visiting Irish media and co-ordinated the FAI official tour to Japan. Luckily for him, based on the Japanese mainland, he missed the flak from the infamous Saipan incident.

"We had an absolutely gorgeous training pitch. Roy Keane wouldn't have a problem if he had arrived in Japan direct!" he says.

When the World Cup ended, he decided to return to Ireland and had an idea of setting up a backpackers' tour company similar to one he had used in Hawaii.

The only problem was he had no guide badge, had never driven a bus and his knowledge of Ireland was a little rusty having lived in Japan for six years. "It didn't work out in a linear fashion, though, and I had to spend at least three seasons as a Japanese-speaking guide before I was satisfied that I could do it," he says.

That led him to set up his first company, East West Entertainment or ewe tours to co-ordinate visits to Ireland by the likes of city-twinning committees and Japanese media companies.

"When a television crew comes to Ireland, I do the media business for Tourism Ireland," he says. "I drive them around and co-ordinate their visit. They need transport and accommodation - they might need a camera crew and they might need lighting."

One of his first jobs was to co-ordinate a thank you visit to the FAI from officials from the Japanese city of Chiba where the Irish team had had its base. While hosting a Japanese media company, he met Ray Murray, a chauffeur. Like Somers, Murray also had an idea of setting up a tour company so the two men decided to pool resources. Somers sold his cottage in Connemara which helped purchase two coaches, with Murray also putting in his own cash. The Galway Tour Company was launched in April 2007.

"In the beginning nobody believed we would last," says Somers. "Our buses were old. Tourism providers questioned the need for another tour provider in Galway. Convincing people that we were different often meant offering free tours just to allow people to compare with previous experiences and it worked."

The key was giving the market something different, he says. "We both wanted to be able to provide tours that are not about making money from souvenir sales commissions but about really providing a genuine tour," he says.

They combined trips to more isolated and secluded places off the beaten track with the traditional tour operators' staples of the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and the Aran Islands.

"We also decided to give people more time everywhere because people were being rushed. For example, our Cliffs of Moher tour gives two hours at the cliffs."

Such attention to detail paid off, with the company being lauded by Tripadvisor.com, the international company which reviews tourist destinations. "The best thing has been hearing how well we are doing as a company from independent sources. Getting number one on Tripadvisor.com for Things to Do in Ireland was the icing on the cake," says Somers.

As the company is just over a year in existence, full-year accounts are not available but Somers says it had turnover of about €250,000 in its first six months, which augurs well for the future. Profits have been reinvested and the company now has six buses.

Somers says they will continue to improve and innovate to offer customers something different.

"We see the need to move away from the traditional coach tour and adapt a more experiential approach," he says. "Developing eco-tours to allow guests to interact more with the real Connemara and the real Burren are the next challenges and we have a few ideas on where to go with this. But we are not forgetting that Galway is synonymous with fun."

Name:Declan Somers.

Age:34.

From:originally from Carlow, but now lives in Galway.

Background:Graduated from Dublin City University with a BA (Hons) in international marketing and languages and holds an MA in Chinese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

He then went to Japan where he worked in telecommunications for two years before opening an Irish pub in Tokyo. He returned to Ireland after six years in Japan.

Admires:Tony Smith, who is involved in the charity Mary's Meals, which sets up school feeding projects in communities in the Third World where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education.

Most likes to:walk in the great outdoors as well as enjoying the odd pint.