Coachmen join up
Page 12
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)URTEEN coach operators have joined the Local European Coach perators consortium which plans to market Continental tours for .1xt season, bringing 15,000 seats within its scope.
LECO chairman Paul Hadlow, hose own London-based Warick Travel business manages e consortium and provides 3ckaging services for LECO, Id CM that potential partners 3ve already had to be turned vay, though more may be aditted for the 1983 season.
He said that only Merseyside id Greater Manchester are not !rved by LECO members at p rernt and the consortium (CM, J I y 18) has drawn up a basic -ochure and a programme of 3 tours which each member Derates according to its own dgement, and at prices to suit 3 own needs; but Mr Hadlow rid a set of pricing guidelines 3s been issued.
He anticipated a tour from eading to the Austrian Tyrol ould work out at about £10 less ian the charge made by Thom)n's Holidays, and added that iere are no supplements for iurneys starting at regional 3ntres.
The tours range from weekids in Paris, Amsterdam, Norrandy, or Cologne (the last inluding a visit to the 3ntasialand pleasure park) to vo-week tours of Austria, West ermany, Switzerland, the -ench Riviera, and Scandinavia. In all cases, high-standard otels have been selected, iostly with private bathrooms, I order to generate new busiess for coach operators. imilarly, the first and last days nish and start near Channel orts, so avoiding exhausting ing-distance runs which tend to issuade customers from using Daches again.
The LECO name is only being romoted to the public as a leans of bulk-buying quality, rid the operators will advertise le tours as their own, and with vehicles painted in their own Dlours.
LECO, though, insists that ehicles used should be no more Ian three years old, and that 2m coaches should have no lore than 48 seats.
Moreover, as if to emphasise -let the consortium is not aimig for the "pack 'ern in" Laker narket, it is not operating tours Spain. Mr Hadlow explained iat this is partly because of the
volume of business there in any case, and also because Spanish coach holidays are generally associated with cheap, fast motorway travel which is not the image it wants to exploit.
He said he is convinced there is scope for LECO's concept of slightly up-market coach holidays, and is confident that former air travellers, disenchanted with delays at airports, will turn to coaches. He also believes that there is a demand for a holiday in which customers see the countries they pass through, rather than fly over.
The initial programme has been designed to fill the 15,000 places which will be available between April and October, as LECO does not want to be forced to cancel many tours. It feared that an over-ambitious programme on the first year might do it more harm than good.
"All the companies are keen to operate as much of the programme as possible," Mr Hadlow said, adding: "While we can't guarantee every tour, we intend to run just about everything."
The consortium has nearly 500 coaches at its disposal and members are Smiths of Reading, White of Camberley, Surrey, International of Cranleigh, Marchwood of Southampton, Nutley Brothers of Gwent, Castleways of Winchcombe, Whittle Group, Happy Days of Stafford, Express Coaches of Rugby, Youngs of Cambridge, Globe of Barnsley, Scott's Greys of Darlington, Moor-Dale of Newcastle, and Park's of Hamilton.