Celebrating Over 35 Years in Business
In 2024, we celebrated our 35 years in business in Ireland. Over those years, we have served many, many satisfied clients and started lots of young Irish people on their careers in the travel business, some of whom are still with us today. We are hugely proud to be a 100% Irish owned, independent business and are dogged in the provision of the high-end quality of our service. In short, we are nice people to do business with.
Throughout those 35 years, we have always strived to be the best in the business. We may not have always made it but, boy, did we try. We have enjoyed meeting and looking after many lovely people (and a few not so nice) but overall it has been a blast. The time flew and it is hard to believe we are ageing so well. The travel business has changed utterly over that period and we have evolved with it, always staying at the front of the curve in technology, consumer trends, product innovation but always retaining the core customer service ethos. Today we exclusively offer top-end luxury vacations, with special expertise in the very best cruise lines and in expedition cruises to the most remote parts of the world.
We have learned a lot, matured a bit but mostly, we have honed our skills and consider ourselves an oasis of client care and consideration, in an industry blighted by low-cost and low-ethics operators. We may be a “dinoasour” in an online world (we actually talk to our clients and help them when they need help – how mad is that?) but our clients seem to like us and as long as courtesy, respect, value and efficiency are appreciated, we’ll be around.
We started in a very small office in Earlsfort Terrace in 1989, then moved a few times before settling down in Sandyford. The financial collapse and, more recently, the pandemic, has seen the number of travel agents in Ireland decimated but we are proud to have prospered, despite the best efforts of bankers, builders, politicians, pandemics, cowboy airlines and other “chancers”. We continue to provide levels of consumer protection (though licensing and bonding), that is not offered by our online or airline competitors. We comply with all the laws and regulations of the land and our bonding ensures that once you hand over your money to us, it is protected and safe. The exact opposite, in fact, of what happens with foreign online vendors or with an airline.
If you are one of the many people who have worked with us or have been a client, in the past 35 years, we would like to say “Thanks”. We hope to hear from you again sometime soon.
John
Our Services
We are Ireland’s real experts in top-end vacations, luxury cruising and expeditions to Antarctica, The Arctic, Greenland, Galapagos etc. If you have a budget and appreciate excellent service, we are the ones for you. If you have trawled the internet for days and are looking to beat the lowest price you have found, please don’t call us. We do charge fees for booking certain items where the supplier does not cover our costs but most of the time or service is paid for by the supplier and comes at no extra cost to you. Any applicable extra fees will be advised to you at the point of sale. All clients who book with us pay a mandatory Consumer Protection Levy of €10 pp. This is to cover the enormous costs and time it takes to provide government licensing and bonding to protect your money and all of the enormous burden of compliance, reporting etc. that goes with being a small Irish (SME) travel agent.
JOHN GALLIGAN TRAVEL ARE LICENSED BY THE IRISH AVIATION AUTHORITY. LICENSE NUMBER TA 275
To book a holiday call John Galligan Travel on (01) 207 6555 or e-mail leisure@jgt.ie