First Feelers For Facts

I'm ready to start gathering information on our tour destination. First, you'll have to decide on how many days the tour will take. Since I live in the San Diego, California area, I'll plan the tour from here. You will do the same from wherever you live. The quickest way to find out about an area is to locate the local convention and visitor's bureau (CVB), or local equivalent(chamber of commerce, merchants association, etc.).


I will send an e-mail to various CVBs asking for referrals for businesses that accept groups. In the e-mail I will say that I am planning on operating a bus tour into their area and needed information on various suppliers who could help me in terms of: lodging, restaurants, attractions, step-on-guides, and bus servicing.

Here is what I am looking for from the suppliers:
Lodging - Minimum requirements are that the hotel, motel, or condo have at least 25 rooms. A full bus will usually take 22 rooms. It works out this way: If I sell 44 seats, most of the sales will be to couples. This means that I will need at least 22 rooms. In addition, the place I select must either have a restaurant on their property or very close.

Restaurants: Must be able to take a group of 46, feed them and get them out within an hour. The restaurants must offer a conventional American menu (though this may be subject to change depending on the area and the attractions in the area).

Step-on-guides: While your tour manager may be very good, it is probable that he or she doesn't have in-depth knowledge of every area that the tour will operate in. For example, a lot of local knowledge is required to be able to best show off a city or parts of national parks.

I will be giving you tips to make your tour successful as we go along. Each tip will be highlighted this way - (Tip)

OK, I've done it, I've committed to a tour. This tour will begin and end in San Diego (K on the map). We will first go to Laughlin, Nevada (B) and then to Grand Canyon National Park (C) and then to Page, Arizona (D) and then to Zion National Park (E) and then to Bryce National Park (F) and then to Green River, Utah (G) and then to Blanding, Utah (H) and then to Flagstaff, Arizona (I) and then to Yuma, Arizona (J) and finally back to San Diego (K).

Look at the map below. Notice that the route forms a 8. If you're not coming out of southern California, you should include the top part of the 8 at a minimum. In this part you would see: The Grand Canyon, Page, AZ, Bryce National Park, Zion National Park and the Canyonlands National Park.



The total mileage on this tour is about 1,977 miles. I set up the route on MapQuest. MapQuest is free and can be easily found on the Internet by typing in MapQuest.

(Tip) While on tour it is advisable to not exceed 325 miles a day. The concept is not to drive but to see things.

Now, for your homework - Figure the mileage for each day. Use MapQuest or any other method that works best for you.

(Tip) Assume that a bus will average 50 miles per hour when traveling on a major highway, less when on two lane roads.

(Tip) Assume that the tour will leave at 9:00 AM every morning and should be at the lodging site by no later than 5:30 PM each evening.

(Tip) Assume that it will take at least 10 minutes for all of the tour members to get off of the bus.

In the next installment I'll get into more detail about getting the exact route set.

Step #1 - First tour, where to go?

As promised in my previous post this is the day when I will decide on where we will take our first bus tour to. Normally, I would set up a series of tours. I would plan tours for the entire coming year. Since this Blog is intended to teach you how to plan and operate a tour, I will stay with one tour - so as not to confuse the issue too much.

So...this is the time to sit and stare at the ceiling for a bit. What do I want out of this tour? How many days should it last? How much money do I want to make from this tour? Hmm.....

Well...I do know that I:

1. want a tour that will be easy to sell
2. want a tour that will show about a decent profit
3. want a tour that will be in the US 

Number three on the list is about two things - perceived safety on the part of the tour members and cost.

Since the Internet has become such a resource it is possible to advertise tours throughout the world. In the past it was both difficult and expensive to advertise tours outside of a local area but that is not longer true.

A website can be set up to feature a tour (or tours) and e-mail can be sent to any number of travel agents and people anywhere at little or no cost.

Given all this, I believe that a tour of the Western National Parks should be a good seller. People from around the world have read of, and seen, pictures, TV shows and movies that featured the American west.

From this point on, you and I, dear reader, will plan, arrange, advertise and operate some tours to the national parks in the west.

We should consider including:
1. Zion National Park
2. Bryce National Park
3. Canyonlands National Park
4. Death Valley National Park
5. Grand Canyon National Park
6. Yellowstone National Park
7. Grand Teton National Park
8. Mesa Verde National Park

On the next post I'll start on this tour.

Group Tours, The Beginning

This Blog is concerned with what group tours are and how to arrange them. If you want to start a small business, or, if you are in charge of arranging a trip for a number of people - this is a blog you should follow. I worked in the travel business for over 25 years and established and operated my own tour company for over 10 years. I, as they say, know where of I speak. I've operated tours across the US, into Canada, Mexico and parts of Europe.

The majority of this blog will be all about bus tours. Yes, it will be about taking folks to see and do things and we will be using buses as our main mode of transportation. To begin at the beginning here is a picture of a modern motor coach - let's not call them buses, they are much more refined than that name implies.



This is a modern motor coach. It is not the type of bus that your mother and father knew and hated. New coaches have: air-conditioning, movie screens, comfortable seats, music systems, WiFi ability and more.



The little picture above shows the inside of a new motor coach. Note the big windows and comfortable seats.

So, now that we have had a look at our transportation, let's talk for a minute about the tour business. Probably the most over looked portion of the travel industry is group tours - or more specifically, bus tours. I looked for hours on the Internet and couldn't find any real information about how one is trained to establish and operate a group tour company. I did find some sites that attempted this but they (mostly from India or other parts of Asia) were really designed to sell products listed on their web pages.

I did find a number of travel agency schools that briefly hit on tours and some tour guides who sort of thought they knew how tours operate - but they were off in their guesses.

So...this blog will show you the how, why and when to plan, arrange, advertise, sell and operate group tours. If you stay with me, week after week, I will go through an entire tour from inspiration (I know, let's take a group to Branson and see the musical shows there) to the actual operation of the tour.

Tomorrow will be Day #1 of this endeavor. Tomorrow I will present an idea of where we will take a group of between 25 and 45 people.


Click here to read an article I wrote about this business