TORONTO — Asked about the secret to RIT Vacations’ 25 years of success, company founder and president Ian Duffy is quick to credit the company’s longevity to RIT’s team, and RIT’s travel advisor partners.

He does take a few moments, however, to word his gratitude in just the right way for these immensely important people.

“The staff we’ve had over the 25 years have been brilliant. We’ve been very lucky. Some of them have been working for us for 10 years, and some for as many as 20 years. They have been crucial to our success,” Duffy told Travelweek in a quick interview ahead of RITʻs 25th anniversary bash yesterday at Noonanʻs pub on the Danforth in Toronto.

He added: “I also want to thank our travel trade partners, who took us into their hearts from day one. We would not have achieved our success without their hard work and their trust.”

As RITʻs Director of Sales, Jonathan Sargeant and Sales Manager, John Fallon, told Travelweek in interviews earlier this week, RIT got a jump on celebrations for its quarter-century milestone with its Ontario roadshow this week to London, Hamilton and Oshawa, showcasing RIT product as well as product from 14 of RITʻs partners, who joined the delegation. One lucky roadshow attendee won a trip to Ireland with RIT, valued at $8,000 complete with flights with Air Transat.

John Fallon, Katherine Watts, Sinéad Duffy and Jonathan Sargeant

More roadshows in other provinces are on the way for early 2026. RIT will also host a series of webinars in the spring with partners from the UK and Ireland, with plenty of prizes.

When RIT got its start in 2001, it was just after 9/11. It was a tough time to set up a new travel business, to say the least. “Lots of people probably thought we were bat crazy. But as we all know, the travel industry is very resilient,” said Duffy, whoʻs celebrating a personal milestone this year: 50 years in the industry.

“In 2002 we issued our first brochure. We promoted 15 scheduled coach tour departures that first year, and 12 went ahead successfully. Fast forward 25 years and we have more than 250 scheduled departures for 2026, and most if not all of them will sell out.”

RIT launched a new Devon & Cornwall tour in 2025, and it sold very well, prompting RIT to add many more departures for the itinerary in 2026. Seven new UK tours include the 12-day North Coast & Islands, which includes stays on the Isle of Skye and Isle of Lewis, as well as spending time in the Orkney Islands.

At yesterdayʻs celebration Duffy also cited RITʻs Canadian ownership and family-run roots as another big reason for the companyʻs success. His four children all work for RIT. Conor Duffy is VP of RIT, Sinēad is Reservations Manager, Ronan works in RITʻs Dublin office and Lorcan is the companyʻs financial whiz.

“We’re a Canadian-owned and family-owned company and that has been a key element for our success,” said Duffy. “All four of my kids are here today. I see them as the future. It’s been a real pleasure for me, to work with them.”

Duffy also paid homage to his wife Patricia, who did just about everything to help her husband in those early years, while also raising their kids.

He also gave a shout-out to Tourism Ireland, as well as VisitBritain, VisitScotland and VisitWales for all their support and assistance.

IRELAND: HOME OF HALLOWEEN

Sandra Moffatt, Country Director – Canada for Tourism Ireland, was on hand yesterday with well-wishes for RIT, and to host an afternoon event at Noonan’s for Tourism Ireland.

Canadian visitation to Ireland is up 4% year over year. Even better, Canada is now Irelandʻs fourth top global source market. Thatʻs up from fifth in 2023, and seventh in 2019. Canada is also enjoying an 11% increase in lift to the Emerald Isle.

For several years Tourism Ireland has been highlighting the destination’s claim to fame as where Halloween got its start. Yesterday’s gathering marked the tourism board’s inaugural ‘Samhain Sessions’ event in Toronto, ‘a modern celebration of Ireland’s legacy as the birthplace of Halloween.’

As Moffatt shared, holding up a carved turnip – yes, a turnip – the end of October “is when the Irish and the ancient Celts thought that the veil between this world and the next was the thinnest. That’s when the spirits came out, and we wanted to protect our crop. It’s a harvest festival, so to protect our crop, we used to carve these guys. No one’s going near any crops that these guys are around. And we used to dress up in costume, and we used to wear animal skins and creepy costumes to protect our crop. And those are all the traditions that we know and love today.”

When the Irish began to emigrate en masse to North America in the 1800s, “we couldn’t find turnips as readily available. So that’s when it morphed into carving pumpkins. I tried a few years ago to do it the traditional way and carve a turnip. I still have all my fingers, but it was touch and go for a little while.”

Moffatt then introduced Dublin’s Kevin Adams from Walking Food Tours, who entertained with stories about everything from the origins of whiskey (Ireland, of course, at the Old Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland), to tales of the old Irish graveyards (where the mistakenly buried could pull a rope in their casket that rang a bell above their grave, giving rise to the terms ‘dead ringers’ and ‘saved by the bell’). Adams’ demonstration of how to make a Belfast coffee rounded out the event.

Tourism Ireland’s travel trade portal is here and the RIT Vacations site is here.