CIÉ Tours celebrates Irish tourism operators at its Annual Awards of Excellence

CIÉ Tours hosted its annual Awards of Excellence, recognising Irish tourism operators singled out by its 30,000 visitors in 2025

CIÉ Tours is the leading inbound tour operator for North American visitors to Ireland for over 90 years and in that time has brought over 3 million visitors from North America to Ireland. CIÉ Tours held its annual awards of excellence, celebrating Irish hoteliers and tourist experience operators who have been singled out by the 30,000 visitors who came to Ireland with CIÉ Tours in 2025. 

Now in its 34th year, an annual highlight within the tourism industry, the prestigious accolades are awarded based on post-stay feedback from CIÉ Tours customers. This annual survey has played a key role in developing Ireland’s tourism offering and raising standards across the sector since its inception.

A number of Irish tourism partners were honoured at the event while the National Heritage Award was presented to Jack Burtchaell (Pictured above with Stephen Cotter, Managing Director of CIE Tours) who runs walking tours in Waterford City. As a proud ambassador for Waterford, Jack recently completed his 10,000^th walking tour for guests of CIÉ Tours. For over 35 years, Jack has been leading walking tours for CIÉ Tours, and it is estimated that some 300,000 guests have walked the streets of Waterford alongside him.

Seán Canney TD, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, acknowledged the commitment of tour operators across Ireland and paid tribute to the award recipients.

“These awards are a testament to the high standards of quality that each operator holds and is a well-deserved recognition of their work in welcoming CIÉ Tours visitors to Ireland, providing them with unique and unrivalled experiences”.

“Tourism is a vital part of the Irish economy, impacting every town and village across the country and is a key source of employment for people in many rural communities. The government recognises the importance of the sector and recently launched a National Tourism Policy Statement which sets out a clear ambition to enhance tourism’s economic contribution, support regional development, and ensure the industry remains inclusive, sustainable, and adaptable to future challenges.  This is supported by the provision of €233 million in Budget 2026 for the Tourism Services programme which aims to drive regional development and employment in the sector”.

Aidan Murphy, Chairman, CIÉ Tours said:

“CIÉ Tours has been playing a leading role in promoting Ireland as a tourist destination for almost 95 years and continues to perform at a high level on the international stage which has had a significant impact on the Irish economy. As a market leader in the USA, one of the most competitive markets in the world, CIÉ Tours has helped to increase the number of U.S. visitors to Ireland, who contribute to 31% of visitor spend, which amounted to €1.87 billion in 2024.”

Stephen Cotter, Managing Director, CIÉ Tours said;

“2025 was another landmark year for CIÉ Tours, when we booked over 250,000 bed nights throughout Ireland.  That we can offer a unique experience unrivalled by any other country is due in no small part to our many partners who work closely with us, taking the feedback from our visitors and continuously refining their offering.”

“Our support for tourism destinations is bringing vital revenue to towns and villages across the country.

“We are continuously developing our offering, developing new and sustainable tours that will allow our visitors to experience the very best that Ireland has to offer.”

Award Winners 2025

The CIE Tours Awards of Excellence were first launched in 1990.  This year’s awards are presented based on post-stay feedback received from nearly 30,000 customers surveyed throughout 2025.  The data and information obtained from these surveys is invaluable to CIE Tours’ partners who use it to continuously improve their offering to their clients.  

Each of the CIE Tours’ partners who qualified for an award, delivered an exceptional quality experience and welcome to visitors, achieving a customer satisfaction rating of over 92%. Fourteen overall award winners were announced, receiving the Gold Award for achieving the highest customer rating in their category:

Gold Winners 2025

Merit Winners 2025

Merit Awards were also presented to 76 hotels and tourist attractions who achieved a customer rating of 92% or higher (see full list below).

CIE Tours International Awards – Merit Winners 2025:

Leinster Merit Winners

Munster Merit Winners

Ulster Merit Winners

Connacht Merit Winners

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