Destination Marketing: If I were the Mayor of Santorini …

by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI Recently I spent a wonderful week under azur blue skies and long lingering sunsets on the Greek island of Santorini. When my mind wasn’t captured by the vicissitudes of the intriguing life of John James Todd, protagonist of The New Confessions by William Boyd, it was captured… Read more »

Do you know weird and wonderful people? Key Attributes for DMC success.

The late, great Jack Franchek once told me that success as a DMC was all about cultivating relationships with weird people. And Jack being Jack exaggerated that contention to the nth degree: “Unless you’ve got a whole bunch of outcasts and weirdos in your Rolodex (this was a pre-Internet age!), you’re as useful to me as… Read more »

5 key ingredients for a successful incentive travel programme

Five Key Ingredients for a Successful Incentive Travel Programme Padraic Gilligan, Managing Director, Ovation Global DMC For the past five days I assisted my colleagues at Ovation Switzerland in the operation of an incentive travel programme for a US based Finance & Insurance customer. On departure day I listened with great interest as the Incentive… Read more »

“Muddy Waters, Headhunters and very tall buildings – getting beyond first impressions in Malaysia”

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Director, Ovation Global DMC There’s so much more to Malaysia than Nasi Goreng, Langkawi, Proton cars and politicians wearing funny hats. A week in Kuala Lumpur on Peninsular Malaysia and Kuching in Sarawak, East Malaysia leaves you feeling you’re only scratching the surface of this fascinating territory which, incredibly, traces its… Read more »