Media & Marketing

Route to success: How CIE Tours is wooing new hearts in America

One of Ireland’s oldest tour companies is primarily located in the US, where its customer base is becoming ever more eclectic, its chief executive Elizabeth Crabill tells Emmet Ryan

Elizabeth Crabill, chief executive of CIE Tours: ‘When you look at all the segments of the travel industry, our role is to participate in almost every corner of it.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

It may come as a surprise to most people familiar with CIE tour buses that the company is actually primarily based in a small town in New Jersey.

The initials which originally stood for Córas Iompair Éireann now signify an international operation, which is a key part of Ireland’s tourism sector.

“I get it all the time. Many people in Ireland are just so familiar with seeing our tour coaches that they just assume we’re headquartered there,” Elizabeth Crabill, chief executive of CIE Tours, told the Business Post.