Seán Browne:SEÁN BROWNE, who has died aged 64, was a leading figure in the Irish and international tourism sector, and an international expert on tourism management and sustainable heritage development.
He spent 25 years working in the Irish tourism industry and 15 years as an international tourism consultant, working on modernisation projects across Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Southern Asia, and Africa.
He was born in Ballinlee, Bruff, Co Limerick in 1946 and educated at St Munchin’s College in Limerick, UCD and TCD. He entered the tourism industry in 1975.
As regional manager with Shannonside Tourism, based in Limerick, he brought new vision to the region when heritage tourism was in its infancy.
For the next 10 years he pioneered state-of-the-art visitor services, activities and attractions in the midwest. These included the Burren National Park, Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre and Curraghchase. He oversaw development of the Lough Gur Heritage Centre and the Aillwee Cave project.
In 1984 he moved to the Bord Fáilte head office in Dublin as head of regions and environment and for the next 10 years was responsible for national policy on tourism and the environment.
He led the implementation of the first EU operational programme for tourism in Ireland, managing a fund of over €100 million. He produced the Developing Sustainable Tourism blueprint for tourism development in Ireland for 1994 to 1999.
He left Bord Fáilte in 1995 and set up an international tourism consultancy, spearheading a wide range of programmes and projects for the EU, UN, USaid, the World Bank and individual public and private sector clients. His work took him all over the world, assisting developing economies to create sustainable and heritage-based tourism projects. One of his early projects was to design regional tourism structures for Wales.
He set up the Polish Federation for Rural Tourism, and delivered extensive training programmes in countries as diverse as the Baltic states, Poland, Hungary, Syria, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Lesotho and Finland.
One of his final projects involved the restoration of the Roman city of Palmyra in the heart of the Syrian Desert. His work to expose the treasures of many countries, and to train local experts to preserve them, will ensure many visitor sites will be conserved.
Seán Browne died peacefully after seven years of living with cancer, during which he displayed extraordinary courage and calm.
He is survived by his wife Carmel, son Ronan, daughter Fidelma, grandson Adam and his loyal dog Ben.
Seán Browne: born June 18th, 1946; died April 20th, 2011