TERAPROOF:User:keevanbrowneDate:17/02/2011Time:16:52:34Edition:18/02/2011ExaminerLiveXX1802Page: 23Zone:XX1

Friday 18.02.2011

Money & Jobshttp://breaking.tcm.ie/business

Your guide to investments, personal finance, tax and recruitment. Editor: Conor KeaneBusiness Desk: T: 021-4802259, 4802387 F: 021-4275477 e: business@examiner.ie

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Interview:John Daly

John Ahern says of the walking industry: “This could be a phenomenal tourism sector in Ireland but as of yet hasn’treally taken off.” Picture:Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus

JOBOF THE WEEK

■ My job John Ahern

Name:John Ahern

Occupation:Director, South WestWalks Ireland

Background:Co-founded thecompany 18 yearsago. One of thelargest walkingholiday operators inIreland cateringmainly to theoverseas market,offering walks ofvarying duration anddistance, coveringCork and Kerry, theWestern Atlantic andNorthwest coasts,and Wicklow’s‘Garden of Ireland’.

Getting afoothold inexpandingbusiness ofwalk tours

W ith the official start ofSpring on February 1, theextra length in the

evenings has prompted many to headout once again across trail, bog and hillfor rambles in Ireland’s great outdoors.Continuing to grow in popularity

with both natives and tourists, thewalking tourism sector has increased asone of the top activities enjoyed byholidaymakers with over 1.6 milliontaking part during 2009.Research also shows that walking is

extremely popular with both domesticholidaymakers, over 860,000, andoverseas visitors, up to 800,000, enjoy-ing the wide range of walking facilitiesaround the country during the sameperiod. Plugging into the green gymethos, the development and enhance-ment of walking routes across thecountry has resulted in the steadily ris-ing graph of the sector.The USA, Germany and the

Netherlands show the greatest poten-tial for attracting walking visitors, andresearch indicates that there are poten-tially more than 1 million British resi-dents who would partake in walkingholidays in Ireland over the next threeyears. This figure is closely followed by900,000 German visitors, 800,000from the USA and 700,000 from theNetherlands.At South West Walks Ireland, the

varying routes on offer have beenplanned to give and an insight and un-derstanding of Ireland’s history, cultureand people as well as an introductionto the country’s stunning scenery. Thebusiness has grown over the years tobecome the leader in Irish walkingholidays, but still maintaining the per-sonal touch as part of its ethos.“The Irish walking industry is a rel-

atively fragmented entity with a sub-stantial number of very small opera-tions, and just a few larger operationslike ourselves”, says John Ahern. “Inrelation to the competition out therein other countries, we are a still minus-cule industry. This could be a phe-nomenal tourism sector in Ireland butas of yet hasn’t really taken off.”John Ahern readily admits that 2010

was a tough year for business — due inno small way to the effects of the ashcloud last Spring. “Because 99.9% ofour business is foreign, we took a seri-ous hit and would have been down onturnover by over 20%. Our clientsmainly come from Canada and the US,followed by France, the Netherlandsand Australia.”He cites Canada as showing the

biggest potential for walking tourism— a vast continent with a high interestin Ireland. “We are seeing a strong in-terest from second or third generationex-pat Irish who now want to visit thefamily roots and see some more of Ire-land on foot,” he says.Research by tourism bodies shows

walking is seen by holidaymakers as apremier product, with one in everyfour mentioning it as an activity theyhave taken part in during their holiday.

This figure rises to one in every threeamong mainland Europeans who dis-play high satisfaction ratings with thequality and price of this activity. Overthe past number of years, 200 nationallooped walks have been developedthroughout the country — with sup-port from Fáilte Ireland, the Depart-ment of Community, Rural andGaeltacht affairs and Coillte as well aslocal groups and landowners. Thewalks have been developed under anumber of themes including nature, is-land, mountain and coastal and the lo-cal communities, who are actively in-volved in their maintenance, are reap-ing the benefits of visitor spend in theirareas.Holidaymakers who stated that

walking was an important factor intheir choice of Ireland as a holiday des-tination spent an estimated 215mhere in 2009. “I take walking holidaysmyself in other countries, and I can saywithout equivocation that the productwe have in Ireland is far superior to

anything on offer in other territories, aproduct head and shoulders aboveplaces like Spain and New Zealand,”he says. Visitors are increasingly seek-ing quality looped walks in areas ofoutstanding scenic beauty where theycan interact with local people whileexploring rural areas, and phase four ofthe national looped walks initiative hastwo to three loops from the many trail-heads to choose from.“The walking product made up of

the 30 national way marked routes,Coillte forest walks and heritage trailshas been further enhanced with thedevelopment of these looped walks.“The modus operandi of our companyis to show visitors the Ireland that weknow, including the countryside, theculture and nature,” says John Ahern.“We want them to taste the best

food and accommodation, and, yes, wewill be out there walking every day.While there are approximately 10% ofwalking tourists who will undertake toplan their own vacation agenda, wehave found that the vast majority wantto be part of a group where age, classdistinctions and nationalities don’tmatter — and all gelled together in aconvivial atmosphere guided and en-couraged by us, their leaders. Whilesome may cringe at the notion ofgroup holidays, our experience atSouth West Walks Ireland has showntime and again just how much peoplelove interacting and discovering placesin a group.”The heritage and culture of Ireland

which has taken root across most of theglobe by numerous generations of em-igrants is a resource offering enormouscommercial possibilities, Ahern be-lieves. “The simple fact is that Irelandhas touched practically all corners ofthe world, even close by Robben Is-land in South Africa, where NelsonMandela was imprisoned for so manyyears, is a little post office called Irishtown — just a single example of howfar and wide the name Ireland has trav-elled. It is a resource to be developed,we ignore it at our cost,” he says.“People who come here have atremendous interest in the country,and I always say to my tours: ‘Everytime you put your foot down in Ire-land, you put it down on 5,000 yearsof history’. Even our stone walls have astory to tell,” he says.Clearly an individual whose enthusi-

asm for his occupation can bat awaythe daily threat of inclement weatheror steep inclines on the road, John Ah-ern does concede the successful guidemust be part leader, part performer.“Without a doubt you need enthusi-asm, as you do in any job where youwant to make a difference to people.What motivates me is my passion forthe beautiful country we live in, thepeople and our unique culture. Theseare the things that set us apart from anyother place,” he concludes. “These arethe things that make us such a uniqueand special place to come to.”

Job: The Irish Hospice Foundation,which supports the development ofhospice and palliative care in Ireland,wants to appoint a chief executiveofficer.

Duties: You will play a key role in thedevelopment and implementation ofpolicy relating to all aspects of end-of-lifecare in Ireland.

Qualifications: A graduate, you musthave at least five year’s seniormanagement experience, a good recordof advocacy, and a strong empathy forthe core vision and values of theFoundation.

Applications: Send you CV, quotingreference number 68890 to Brian GWard, MERC Partners, 12 Richview OfficePark, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14, tel:01-2066700 or email: info@merc.ie.

New engineering jobs in 2011 will surpass last year’s 2,500by Joe Dermody

ENGINEERING will thisyear surpass the 2,500 jobsthe sector created in 2010,predicts Engineers Irelanddirector general John Pow-er.Skilled engineers are en-

joying a surge in demand inareas as diverse as pharma-ceuticals, biomed, electron-ics and ICT, as well as intheir traditional core em-ployment sector of con-struction. Power said: “Lastyear, we saw nearly 2,500technology jobs announced,most of which werehigh-end engineering posi-tions in the growth sectorsof biomedical, energy andsoftware engineering. If Ire-land wants to attract moreFDI and produce jobs of thiscalibre, then our graduates

need to have a high profi-ciency in maths.“We would be fully confi-

dent that figure will be sur-passed this year. The sectorcan progress a lot furtherthan that in the years ahead,once we keep a firm focuson quality and standards.“We are regularly getting

calls from companies sayingthey can’t fill vacancies.There are jobs out there. Itis considerably more positivenow that 12 months ago.”One recent economic im-

pact study, which Good-body Economic Consultantsprepared for Microsoft, sug-gested Ireland had a chanceto gain 9.5bn a year inrevenue industry by 2014,resulting in 8,600 new jobsin cloud computing, an areawhere engineers are alwaysin high demand.

Incoming Engineers Ire-land president, PJ Rudden,said earlier this week that heknew of one project withthe potential to create 9,000jobs here, but the backerswere getting “cold feet” be-cause of negative percep-tions of Ireland. He said thebackers were “getting both-ered about the reputation ofIreland Inc.” He didn’t namethe project. Power agreesthat there is a need to talkmore positively about Ire-land. He said that thousandsmore engineering jobscould yet be created in areassuch as developing infras-tructure for green energyand water.Power said: “There is far

too much negativity outthere, and the country isprobably suffering far toomuch because of that. In

construction, our memberstell us that their employeenumbers will either stay thesame or increase this year.There are signs that thingsare on the mend.“People are beginning to

realise the need to developinfrastructure. Biomed isone area which has a hugenumber of jobs for engi-neers. The perception ofengineers as somebodywearing a hard hat is chang-ing. There are more andmore ‘white coat’ engineersnow.“The IT companies,

Facebook and energy com-panies like OpenHydra andWavebob and Open Hydroall employ engineers. Therewill be more opportunitiesin that space. Similarly, inmanufacturing and the elec-tronic sector.”

That air of positivity wascertainly evident in many ofthe nationwide events fea-tured as part of EngineersWeek, which continues un-til this Sunday.One survey, Ipsos MRBI,

published this week, showedthat 76% of engineers work-ing in technology-basedfirms have described the fi-nancial health of their com-pany as the same or betterthan a year ago.It was also found that 75%

of engineers in these tech-nology firms expected theturnover of their companyto stay the same, or increase,in 2011 and 70% said theyexpected staff levels in theirfirms to stay the same, orgrow, this year.The figures in technology,

health and energy sectorscontrasted starkly with the

ongoing difficulties in theconstruction sector, with52% of engineers in this areadescribing their company’sfinancial health as worse, ormuch worse, than a yearago.Some 59% in construction

also stated that their compa-ny had fewer staff than ayear ago, 50% expectingturnover to decrease in2011, and 45% predictingstaff numbers would also de-crease over the next 12months.Some 78% of engineers

surveyed said Ireland is notdoing enough to boost in-novation and support eco-nomic recovery. The leaderof Engineers Ireland remainsoptimistic that this era oftightening in engineering isabout to ease somewhat. Heis hopeful, but cautious.

“There are obvious signsof resilience and optimismamongst our members, de-spite the harsh economicconditions,” said Power.“The figures, overall, indi-cate that sentiment is mixed,chiefly when the construc-tion sector is taken into ac-count, but what is most in-teresting is the positivity ex-pressed by engineers work-ing in technology compa-nies and also in thehealth/pharmaceutical andenergy generation sectors.“These are sectors that

have been earmarked as crit-ical to Ireland’s economicrenewal, so perhaps thegreen shoots of a sustainablerecovery are finally in evi-dence. The spread and di-verse roles of the engineerswe surveyed also highlightthe growing flexibility of

the modern engineer andthe variety of options an en-gineering qualification canoffer.”

■ Engineers Week continues untilSunday. The week featured nearly150 events in all. For more, visit:www.engineersweek.ie

Engineers Ireland directorgeneral John Power.