PROS AND CONS OF EXTENDED AND DAY TOURS How Operators
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of Long-period Tours Have an Advantage Over Those Who Cater for Day-trip Bookings EXTENDED motor-coach tours are a happy., expression of the party spirit and, although fares may make them exclusive in some cases, they provide one of. the cheapest, ifnot the cheapest, meant for spending a sight seeing holiday, without, from the passengers' point of view, any of the trouble of studying routes, arranging hotels and other troublesome details.
.Conversation with firms who have aspired to make a success of extended touring reveals that their task, 'although it has its compe.nsations, is not without its disappointments. Quite apart from the ellOYITIolls amount of preparation that has to be undertaken before it is possible to establish a programme of tours, each occupying from 7 to 14 days, there is always a feeling of uneertainty as to bow bookings will come in, and whether these outings will pay as well or better than day trips. As a matter of fact, with, day tours the problem of making sure of minimum loads exists in a peculiarly accentuated form, especially when the schedule cora 'prises .mainly short -trips.
What are the economic facts? . Take the coach-owner running a 20-seater vehicle on three trips a day, 25 miles, at Is. 6d. per passenger. In a 7-day week the maximum n earning capacity of his coach is represented by 420 bookings, which yield a -total gross revenue of £31 10s. That figure approximates to the earnings per coach of owners in some towns. Now let us take a 7-day tour, say, in the South of England or to Scotland, by a similar vehicle. The total revenue, assuming that a maximum coach load is obtained, is about 1200, from which, of course, must be deducted hotel charges, probably amounting to about £120, for the party, Ordinarily there is _not a big difference in the aggregate mileage of the short local trips and the extended tour, but it might amount to as muCh as 500 miles. Operators of extended tours du not, as a rule, believe in-running up spectacular mileages, as they are more concerned with the comfort of . passengers. They point out that excepting on the firSt and last days of. the tour, mileages are g,euerally below 100 pei. day and, in any case, the average for the period of the tour is rarely more than that figure, so that the revenue per coach-mile is a much better proposition with the extended tours than from the day trips.