Irish bus operator Dualway is investing €4.5 million to expand its business this year to capture an expected increase in tourist numbers to Dublin.
The company, which is owned by the McConn family, has spent €3.5 million buying numbers 117 and 118 Grafton Street. It plans to convert 118 Grafton Street into a visitor centre, with the other building likely to be let to another party.
Dualway is also spending €800,000 on 10 new buses for its city sightseeing tours business and €200,000 refitting its existing fleet. This will involve the recruitment of 46 additional staff, including 20 bus drivers. The company already employs 101 staff.
Sightseeing tours
The new hires will be mainly for its hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tours in Dublin, the only privately-run service in the capital.
Dualway will launch a new tour route for the north side of Dublin today with the Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar.
The tour will include Croke Park, Glasnevin cemetery and the Botanic Gardens on its route.
Commenting on its expansion plans, David McConn, chief executive of Dualway, said: "The tourist sector has definitely turned the corner and we're anticipating good growth this year in visitors to Dublin. We've decided that now is a good time to make this major investment."
The visitor centre will open on March 15th. It will be the fifth such centre operated by Dualway, but the first one owned by the company.
“It’s a big step for us,” Mr McConn said, adding that it was being funded from company resources and bank borrowings.
Mr McConn said the three years up to 2011 were “tight years for the business”, due to the economic downturn and a reduction in visitor numbers from Britain, from where it draws a large percentage of its customers for the sightseeing business.
Upward trend
"But the trend over the past 12 to 18 months has been for an increase in passenger numbers," he said
Mr McConn is targeting 300,000 customers for sightseeing tours of Dublin this year.
Formed in 1978, the Dualway group is owned and run from Rathcoole, Co Dublin, by the second generation of the McConn family. In addition to the sightseeing tours, Dualway runs some local services, transfers to Dublin airport, and private hire for corporates and schools.
The whole business had a turnover of about €6.5 million in 2013, Mr McConn said.
