Americans still traveling -- on the ground

Americans are available to travel again, but want to stick closer to house and stay on the ground.
Americans are available to travel again, but not like they did before. Folk feel safer on the ground, and they want to take shorter trips closer to home, according to industry experts at the American Bus Marketplace.

The annual confab conveyance together motor coach manufacturers, transportation companies, tour owners and travel destinations was command Feb. 1-6, 2003, in the Hoosier state Convention Center, Indianapolis. Attending were more than 500 motor coach and tour operators and 1,600-plus representatives of the travel industry.

Like most of the travel industry, American Bus Association (ABA) members reportable at least a 30% drop in business at once following Sep 11th. But, in the second half of 2002, “people started coming back,” notes Butch Beckwith, co-owner of Turner Coaches in Terre Haute. Even as with a down economy and coercion fears, “people still need to get out. They can only stay house so long.”

Jennifer Hopkins, sales manager of Palladin Tour and Travel in New Jersey, agrees. “I guess folk think that if they’re losing money in the stock market, they can still win at gambling.” Her company, specializing in casino tours, has had a steady increase in bookings.

The opposite is true in Washington, D.C. There, school trips – always profitable for bus tour operators – have born off more than 60%. “We were simply starting to recover from Sep 11th, once the crack shot shootings happened,” says Peter J. Pantuso, president and CEO of the ABA.

Bus travel has become more important to travelers since the terrorist attacks. “We used to do a lot of trips wherever the groups would-be fly one way and board a coach for the return,” says Charles Zelle, president of President Lines in Minneapolis, Minn., and chairman of ABA. “Now they want to be on the ground some ways.”

Part of the change is credited to coercion jitters, but the hassles of airplane travel are a big concern. Buses have more legroom, provide point-to-point transit, don’t require safety checks, don’t weigh your baggage and don’t have the long waits now associated with air travel. Beckwith, whose institution handles transport for three colleges, notes that it commonly takes athletic teams less time to driving to away games than to fly.

Companies report the same number of customers, but say that those customers are choosing shorter trips. One-, two- and three-day trips are more much popular than the traditional 10-day or two week journeys. Doug Anderson, president of Anderson Coach and Travel in Pennsylvania speculates that this is due to a couple of reasons: “the tightened economy and the perceived need to be closer to home.”

Intermodal was another bunk on the marketplace floor. Instead of considering themselves as self-contained transportation providers, motor coach and tour operators are thinking of route to link not only with operators in different markets, but with different modes of transportation as well.

Zelle’s company, for example, schedules transfers to rural transit systems, different major carriers such as Hound dog and airports. “Just one of our trips could involve airplanes, buses and a cruise ship,” Anderson notes. “People are more interested in the destination than in the way they get there,” adds Beckwith.

And, speaking of destinations, the American Bus Marketplace was a nice possibility for Indianapolis. Not only did the city get a chance to showcase itself (all of the look tours were all reserved up by day two), but destinations throughout the region were mistreatment the possibility to buttonhole motor coach and tour operators. The ABA estimates that one long spent by one bus group results in $5,000 to $11,00 in direct holidaymaker defrayal – that’s big bucks, folks.

The Geographic region is seen as a stable, safe area. Most of the travelers here are domestic, so carriers aren’t experiencing the downturns seen on some coasts from the steep drop in international visitors.

But, there’s another reason: The American Bus Association has a 14-year history with Hoosier state University-Purdue University in Indianapolis: a continued education program for professionals. The Certified Travel Industry Specialist (CTIS) program is a series of seven courses administered by IUPUI, all of which are accessible either by correspondence or on-line.

The American Bus Association, the trade association of the intercity bus industry, represents the motor coach industry's interests in Washington, D.C. It as well facilitates relationships between North American motor coach and tour companies and all related segments of the travel and bourgeois industries and promotes travel by motor coach to consumers.

ABA represents around 950 motor coach and tour companies in the United States and Canada. Its members operate charter, tour, regular route, airfield express, special operations and contract services (commuter, school, transit). Another 2,300 member organizations represent the travel and business industry and suppliers of bus products and services who activity in partnership with the North American motor coach industry. Supported in 1926, the ABA was originally called the Motor Bus Division of the American Automobile Association. Organized in 1930 as the National Association of Motor Bus Operators, it changed its name in 1960 to National Association of Motor Bus Owners. The organization became the American Bus Association in 1977.

The ABA keeps a list of Internationally Best-known Events, and annually selects the Top 100 events in North America. What’s the top ABA event for 2003? Columbiform bird Forge Winterfest in Columbiform bird Forge, Tenn.

About the Author

Susan McKee, M.A., M.S., is a writer in America's heartland. She is the travel editor for State capital Eye.