09-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Best employer award for Wicklow company providing adventure tours
The awards night was held at the Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel and Spa, Co Limerick, and acted as a way of rewarding businesses who have participated in Fáilte Ireland's employer excellence programme.
Vagabond Adventure Tours, based in Newtownmountkennedy, took home the best employer tour operator award at the awards ceremony. Established in 2002, Vagabond Adventure Tours was the brainchild of Rob Rankin, who had been travelling in southern Africa with his wife, Amy. While in Africa, Rob and Amy saw the safari and overland tours that were so popular there. This was an idea for an Ireland vacation tour unlike anything that existed back then.
Over the years they have built an excellent reputation in the Irish tourism sector and offer active adventure tours and more relaxed tours that vary from free to 12 days long.
Speaking from the awards, Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said: 'Tourism is fundamentally a people business, and nowhere is this more evident than in Ireland, where our greatest asset is the Céad Míle Fáilte provided by tourism staff and businesses to our visitors. An engaged workforce is key to delivering successful businesses and this warm welcome to our visitors.
'The Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence Awards celebrate the businesses that have set the industry standard for employee engagement and workplace culture. These awards will help drive further improvements in both the quality and perception of careers in the tourism sector.'
As part of the programme, a survey was conducted with staff of participating businesses, which gave them the chance to highlight the strengths of their workplace, along with areas for further development. Fáilte Ireland is now supporting these businesses to implement actions identified in their survey to further enhance employee engagement. The winning businesses completed management upskilling, engaged with HR experts and were then chosen based on employee feedback.
Fáilte Ireland's director of sector development Jenny De Saulles- said: 'Our latest figures show that since the programme launched in 2022, it has positively impacted 30,000 employees across the tourism sector nationwide.
'Employee engagement scores for businesses now in their third year of the programme have grown to 75pc, 8pc higher than the average across the wider employment sector, with significant improvements made in the areas of induction, reward and benefit, and management involving people in decisions affecting their jobs.
'So, it's fantastic to gather together for these awards to showcase the best-in-class examples of employers along with those professionals who are thriving in the industry.'
