Walk this way
Walks and Devours Tours Travel Trade Manager Joan Hamilton discusses work life and her deep love of Co. Clare with Claire O’Mahony
Originally from Dublin, Joan Hamilton has a longtime, deepseated love for the Wild Atlantic Way, especially after living in Clare for the last 20 years. “I’m a bornagain Clare woman and I’ve always been drawn to the west of Ireland,” says Joan, who is the Travel Trade Manager with Walks and Devour Tours, part of the City Experiences family.
Having previously worked in an international professional services firm, she moved into the tourism industry by becoming a guesthouse owner. She then became Sales and Marketing Manager for Doolin2Aran Ferries, a company which grew substantially during her time there. It was her passion for sustainable tourism which led to her involvement with the Burren Ecotourism Network, where she was a director of the board. “Because I’m so busy with my new role in Walks and Devours Tours, I stepped off the board but I’m still very much an advocate and ambassador for the Burren Ecotourism Network. I love the whole concept of 70plus businesses working together, in a beautiful region that needs protection but also the businesses need to generate income from tourism so that families who live here and want to work here have an option to stay in the area and make a decent living.”
Although Walks’ European Headquarters have been located in Baggot Street, Dublin, for many years, City Experiences has only recently expanded its portfolio of European city tours, through Walks and Devour Tours, to include the Irish capital this year. Walks and Devour Tours offer over 150 tours worldwide, partnering with some of the world’s best museums and experiences for exclusive tours and special access to bypass the crowds. Walks’ tours focus on the best of cities’ culture while Devour tours offer a unique insight into culinary scenes and histories. “The guides are local, they’re passionate about their tour subject and they know their city very well,” notes Joan.
Her role is specifically businesstobusiness. “I work with the travel agent and tour operator industry,” she says “a market I am very familiar with from my years with Doolin2Aran Ferries. “Everyone wants to go to the Louvre or the Sistine Chapel or the top of the Duomo in Florence and we can get them that access because that’s what we do – we get the special access, or the best guides or, for example, the best tapas bars in Barcelona.”
Walks’ ‘Dublin in a Day’ tour encompasses some of the city’s most lauded destinations including the Book of Kells, Guinness Brewery and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The Devour ‘Pubs, Grub and History’ Dublin food and tasting tour, meanwhile, allows guests to experience the hidden gems that tourists often miss. In terms of food, it’s not necessarily Michelin fare but more so dishes like oysters and even the cheese and onion toastie. “We do our best to give an authentic experience, and the type of food Irish people eat,” says Joan. “We’re so good at food in Ireland. People don’t realise how excellent we are until they travel and see the quality of other countries’ food and then they really see how we’ve advanced our food products.”
When it comes to her own preferred travel destinations, while she loves to explore new countries and destinations, she admits it’s a busman’s holiday as she always gravitates to the west of Ireland. Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, is a firm favourite and her next “holiday” will be a visit to Spanish Point in Clare and Galway city. “You can’t beat the stunning Clare coastline, and also the Burren for hiking and just the diversity of what’s happening in terms of the food offerings here,” she says.
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