Britain's Unrivalled System
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of Extended Coach Tours
THE coacn-tours season is now in full swing, and from organizers we learn that inquiries and bookings point to the likelihood of new records being established. His Majesty's Jubilee, with its influx of passengers to London, was an event well catered for by the industry, and now comes the annual exodus from London, to which must be added the many overseas visitors who prefer, in always bigger numbers, to see the country from an armchair, rather than from a railway track.
These visitors are mostly clients of concerns such as Thos. Cook, Frames Tours. Pickfords, etc., which combine rail with coach travel. Apart from these well-established organizations, however, the coach-tours business has developed in this country, on quite independent and healthy lines.
Judging by the number of tour operators and/or organizers, there is certainly no reduction in the popular demand for these roaming holidays at an inclusive cost, or for the inclusive holiday at some fashionable resort, where the tourist makes his permanent headquarters at an hotel and is given the option of making frequent coach trips during his stay.
It is surprising that so few provincial operators are, on their own account, exploiting this profitable field, preferring to leave it to an organizer, who, having no licence, places his passengers on the ordinary service coach. Of course, the operator who, besides running the service vehicle, supplements it with local coach facilities, is in a far better position profitably to offer the tourist an attractive programme.
The Scarlet Pimpernel concern, of Ilfracombe, is a case in point, and as the proprietor, Mr. Harding, owns an hotel, the service which he can offer is exceptional. His all-in charge for an eight-day holiday, including two wholeday and one hall-day local tours, is £6 /Os.
Red and White Services, Ltd., has further developed the inclusive lalliday in its Happy Valley tours, whereby, at an all-in cost of £5 15s. for seven days, the tourist who has travelled by service coach is given practically the free use of the Red and White local bus services in the Wye Valley, the Vale of Usk and the Forest of Dean.
Headquarters can be made at Ross, Hereford, Chepstow, Monmouth or Littledean. As the company:s buses operate throughout the district from Cardiff to Gloucester, and are free to he boarded when and where desired, this form of " do-as-you-please" holiday represents full value for money. This remark applies also to the new inclusive holiday and extended-tour facilities which have recently been announced in connection with the Llandudno service of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd.
The ambitious 8-15-day conducted tour continues, however, to be in the greatest demand, and is being fully exploited by reliable operators. The unreliable man has been frozen out arid, although there may still be a number of mushroom tour organizers of no substance active in the big centres, they find fewer victims and gradually evanesce. . The business is consequently coming under the control of the larger organizers, or those who, . established for a number of years, have acquired goodwill and are in a position to offer reliable service.
First place must be given to the operating companies such as Southdown Motor Services, Ltd. (the nucleus of its tours business was Messrs. Chapman's Tours of Eastbourne), the Scottish Motor Traction Co., Ltd., Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., and Crosville Motor Services, Ltd., which carry annually thousands of tourists throughout the country. The last-named three operate from Liverpool, Edinburgh and Chester respectively, and London tourists proceed to these centres by service coacI4, the return fare being added to the inclusive cost from the company's headquarters.
Other operators catering seriously for the tours trade are Black and White Motorways, Ltd., with Cheltenham as an ideal centre; Yenoway Motor Services, Ltd., of Blackpool, with a big clientele in the Northampton area: Westcliff-on-Sea Motor Services, Ltd., Southend, at one time prominent in the industry and now under Tilling control, whilst a comparative newcomer is the East Kent Road Car Co., Ltd., operating from Thanet, but without a lIcensed picking-up point in London.
The right to collect passengers in the Metropolis is a privilege . that is zealously guarded by those who enjoy it. Quite recently, the Auto Pilots concern of Folkestone sought to run
tours from Folkestone, via London, with a picking-up point at Victoria, but the opposition was so strong that the Metropolitan. Traffic Commissioner refused the application.
In addition to the regular-service operators engaged in the tours business, there are the actual organizers of tours. The larger of these are coach proprietors with one or more tours licences. In this category are Glenton Tours, Ltd., and Wallace Arnold Tours, Ltd., to name only two.
Universal Travel Bureau, Ltd., London, S.W.1, is also a well-known tours operator, but in addition to operating its licensed programme the company has created a country-wide organization and is, moreover, allying itself to a number of smaller concerns, the specialities of which are being woven into the °elaborate Universal network. The company also features popular Continental coach tours. mainly in Belgium, France and Germany, in conjunction with local operators.
In this category, the blue ribbon is, perhaps, held by Messrs. European ' Motorways, of London, whose Pullman coaches are to be seen all ovtr Europe west of Budapest, and whose most modest Rhine tour is a 12-day land cruise of the Rhineland, Switzerland and the Black Forest for 28 guineas, whilst an eight-day Universal Rhineland tour, in conjunction with the Autobus Co., of Cologne, is listed at 10 guineas.
The smallest class of tours organizer comprises those who have to depend entirely on others to carry their passengers. They exist mainly on a 10-per-cent. booking commission from service operators, and/or a 5-7i-per cent. tour commission, out of which they have, in turn, to pay sub-agency commissions, produce their own literature, advertise, pay the usual overheads, etc.
Service is the keynote of the success Of the modern coach tour and the secret of its popularity. The cost may vary from under £1 a day to £1. 5s. or £1 10s. a day, but the difference in price is measured only in terms of
service. .•