PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 60
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
COACHING AND FOREIGN VISITORS.
How to Secure Increased Business by Catering for Holidaymakers from Countries Abroad.
NOW that the summer months are drawing near and coach Owners are completing their arrangements for the season it may be of interest to consider ways and means by which it will be possible to break fresh ground and thus secure increased traffic. In this connection one might point out the facilities that are provided to-day in a number of large Continental cities for making a motor-coach . tour of the locality, during which all places of interest are visited. At certain periods of the day motor coaches are to be found in a central position in the city waiting to pick up a sufficient number of passengers to undertake a trip, and each vehicle usually carries a guide, whose mission it is to describe all the places of interest that are passed en route. These guides are generally capable of speaking two or three languages, so that many foreigners can obtain information in their own tongue. These tours offer many advantages to people with perhaps a few hours to spare, for, at a cost of two or three shillings, they can obtain a fairly complete view of the town, together with a brief description of its outstanding attractions.
It seems that much more might be done in this direction in England. for, with the exception of some of those in London, very few owners appear to cater for people who are anxious to see the chief historical and other places in the town in which their headquarters are located. It would undoubtedly pay to give more publicity to national places of interest. Tours which cover districts rich in historical and literary associations have a definite educational value which would net only appeal to a large number of people in this country but especially to foreigners, for the latter class of traveller usually goes abroad not merely to seek recreation but to learn something of the country.
When such facilities are provided it is not only wise to advertise the fact prominently throughout the country but also through foreign tourist agencies on the Continent and in America. There is no better way of attracting the many tourists who visit Europe every year from America than by offering
c38 them tours possessing a real educational merit, whilst many of those who come from Germany and Holland are equally keen on securing useful information relating to the country they are visiting.
In this connection coach owners in some of the principal cities and towns in the country might well consider what has been done abroad to attract foreign
visitors. Take, for instance, a town
like Cologne. There one can obtain handy pocket guides dealing with the town, not only in every European language but even in Esperanto. Moreover, the writer htpens to know that this year the man ger of one of the leading motor coach concerns in Cologne paid a special visit to America, where he made a tour of the leading cities for the purpose of canvassing trade for this summer and to induce American tourist agencies to arrange for parties to visit Cologne. This is Only one way in which a German concern has .ght to work to secure increased business.