With more American travelers staying closer to home, domestic
motorcoach-tour operators are hoping to capitalize on the favorable
trends.
In these uncertain times, travelers who may feel a bit nervous
about getting on a plane, may not be as hesitant about getting on a
bus.
Sorry, make that a “motorcoach,” as tour operators prefer to
call the somewhat more luxurious vehicles used today.
Most have many of the same amenities found on planes: reclining
seats, restrooms and even lounges. And some tour operators are also
adding other perks: newspapers; snacks and beverages; computer
hookups and televisions on their coaches.
And the motorcoach vacation products now available are also
becoming more enticing especially to baby boomers, who may never
have considered a motorcoach tour before.
“Motorcoach tours are the shining star right now, especially
those that don’t involve flying,” said John Stachnik, president of
Mayflower Tours based in Downers Grove, Ill. “Anything safe and
sensible is doing well.”
Peter Pantuso, president of the American Bus Association, said
that rising fuel prices are encouraging people to look at
motorcoach travel one of the most fuel-efficient modes of
transportation.
“Motorcoach travel is popping to the top of the list, based on
value,” he said. “It’s cost-effective in terms of moving
people.”
While escorted motorcoach tours have traditionally aimed for the
50-plus market, tour operators now say that they are seeing more
multigenerational families traveling together.
“The grandparents are taking the grandkids to D.C., and that
sort of thing. It’s not unusual to have a tour with all ages on it,
from 80-year-olds to 8-year-olds,” said Scott Nisbett, executive
director of sales, marketing and customer service for Globus and
Cosmos.
Many tour operators are also designing itineraries that give
travelers more freedom or, as one tour operator called it,
“organized independence.”
“Groups may be traveling to a destination together, but they’re
doing different things when they get there,” said Pantuso.
The hot destinations for motorcoach vacations haven’t changed
much over the past few years. The top choices: Branson, Mo., New
York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and
Toronto. And there is renewed interest in national parks in the
West.
“Our Yellowstone program is doing better than it ever has,” said
Stachnik. “People are saying it’s a good time to see the
mountains.”
And travelers don’t necessarily want to go for a whole week,
said Stacey Walberg, marketing director for Anderson Coach &
Travel, Greenville, Pa. At Anderson, one-day trips have become very
popular from their “Father’s Day Outing” to a Canton, Ohio car
show, to Niagra Falls, said Walberg.
Still, she said, the company’s 29-day tour of Alaska is still
very much in demand.
Reporting a 10 percent increase in North American business last
year, and reduced revenues in Europe, Collette Vacations has beefed
up domestic tours with several new programs.
One of them is a partnership with Smithsonian Journeys, called
Travel Adventures, which includes not only destinations around the
world, but also eight itineraries in the U.S. and Canada.
With these value-priced tours, the focus is education. In
addition to information on the destination provided by Collette’s
tour managers, travelers are also accompanied by a Smithsonian
expert.
This year Globus launched its “Open Doors” program in Canada and
the U.S., tours that offer travelers unique experiences they
couldn’t get on their own. For example, one Canadian itinerary
includes lunch with an Olympic athlete. And on a tour of Los
Angeles, travelers can participate in an acting class at the Stella
Adler Academy of Acting.
Not all Globus tours involve motorcoach travel, but those that
do, are drawing a new demographic: New Americans.
“We’re seeing people who come from Asia or South America, who
want to see their new country,” he said.
“The most successful tours are the ones where people don’t even
remember where they were, but they just had one heck of a good
time,” said Stachnik.
