Tour planning: Are you acting responsibly | British Tourism & Travel Show 2025

well a very good afternoon and welcome to the btts keynote theater once more for uh another one of our keynote sessions uh I'm Stuart render of freelance Group Travel consultant Travel and Transport writer and facilitator for today's uh today's sessions now you may know the picturesque Village of bbery in the cotswalds and this charming village with its picturesque instagrammable cottages on Arlington Row attracts thousands of visitors each year but the residents aren't happy it seems that coaches bringing in 50 people at a time giving them 15 minutes for a quick nosy around before heading off to another destination is of course delivering no benefit at all to the local visitor economy to be fair I doubt anyone here today organizes a tour or a day trip that doesn't include time not only for a toilet stop but also to visit a coffee shop or indeed a souvenir shop so if you're a destination or do you simply take a a group booking and look forward to look forward to welcoming the coach or are you working with the GTO or tour operator to deliver a sustainable and responsible visit that does indeed benefit the local visitor economy well all of that and I'm delighted then to introduce three experts in their respective fields to explore these topics that's what they tell me they are anyway um Wendy Harley scarf on the end is chief executive of acto the association for Group Travel organizers representing coach operators in the middle here is Roland Eglington managing director of Kent based chalkwell coach hire and acto partner member and highlighting the issues from a destination's perspective is cheral oen groups organizer with visit essic another agto partner now I'm going to ask each of our panelists to say a few words who they are where they're from what the shoe size is that sort of thing and then we'll open things out for a question and answer session so Wendy over to you thank you Stuart I'm not sure where the expert is um as uh he quite rightly said I'm the chief executive of of um Association for Group Travel Executives we're a membership Association uh where we have in excess of 350 Group Travel organizers who are members and in the region of 200 supplier members uh which are now called Partners um so we facilitate um the interface between the two uh parties or two two two fragments of the association um I've been in the travel industry [Music] for probably about 35 40 years in different elements of My Life um and I wear a sh size six shoe you hi uh my name is Rand eglon um as Stuart said so we're we're anme coach operator based in Ken um there's around 2,500 coach operators in the UK many of which are smmes like ourselves familyowned and which for destinations who work with us adds quite a lot into their Corporate social responsibility using local suppliers and smmes um if I if I could sort of impart one message to to the broader audience here is to appreciate the benefits of coach and not to see them as an inconvenience um coach tourism adds about4 billion to the UK economy that is a lot of money being spent in cafes and Gift Shops and and going through the turn styles of different places and um they enable travel to these places um that people might not otherwise make they might have the confidence to go somewhere or they might not find places particularly easy to access so recently I was up in the Northeast and I made a trip to the the northwest of the Lake District and that's not a journey you can make easily by public transport or by rail it's probably easier to coming to Birmingham than it is to go to kria so um coach gives you an ideal means of getting from one place to another and have the operator or the group organizer take the the hassle out of the travel so yeah that that's me that's what coach operators do and um over to you hello I'm Cheryl I represent Visa Essex um Visa Essex is one of those little known counties really but we do want the groups in Essex and I think people sometimes say what what is there to do in Essex there are so many things to do in Essex with the a12 is really accessible and what we do is we work with the burs and the districts to find coach parking so when we produced a group brochure we have put where the coaches can park to make it easier for them and some of the um districts also do an incentive for a coach driver so they will offer a cup of coffee and and and they really go out of their way to make coach groups welcome um I mean little known fact about Essex is that um second to Cornwall it's the longest coastline so and very rural so coaches we've got the a12 which makes it accessible but you've got all these other roads off of the a12 that go down to the coastline down Essex is so big so it goes Crossways from say south end over to Saffron Walden and then you've got from Brentwood right up to tendering harage way so there's a lot of lot of in between places for coaches to go and we all of we're sort of membership based and all of our members they do welcome the coaches so um they would go out of their way um and if you want itineries we can put itineries together and we can work with the coach operator we can work with the GTO to to ensure that everything is in place and going together I have to say it doesn't always go together you could have I took a f trip out last week we had a a couple of incidences but you know what it didn't didn't matter the the day went splendidly so and I'm a size six too thank you Cheryl um that sets the scene I think do you be thinking about questions you'd like to put to our three panelists but I think this is a this is a a session about acting responsibly and I'm going to ask Roland first of all how things are changing we hear about over tourism from a coach operator's perspective I feel that when a GTO or a tour planner um comes to you to want to to to hire a coach they'll probably be saying this is where we want to go but as a responsible coach operator are you first of all noticing any change in the way that people are are are programming tours and indeed knowing that coach coaches themselves after B after walking and cycling are one of the most sustainable forms of Transport then you know there is a role now to to to to be talking up coach travel but my question I guess in in all of in all of that is are you seeing a change in the in in the way that people are approaching you or is it same old same old I wouldn't say same old same old we noticing a change in the way that our customers interact with us we we're doing more online less less brocher based stuff um in terms of the destinations that people want to go to not particularly seeing any great shifts in the market what we we do have to consider is where people want to go how easy is it for us to get there get in and out so our demands for a destination demands sorry our requirements for a destination is can we get in and out pick up and set down without too much trouble and is there somewhere for us to park if either of those are problematic then we have to look at an alternative or or taking people somewhere else entirely and there's there's coach operators that have had to change their PR programs simply because a local Authority or a counselor has had an issue with coaches in an area and think big vehicle causing all these problems in the off we don't want them here and as I said at the start you know think about the benefits the coach operators bring not appreciating those benefits so a as well as the spending power of the people that the coach brings in that coach could be taking 50 cars off the the road um so next time you sat behind a coach thinking that's in my way it could be a lot worse that that's 50 cars it's also taking pollution out of the environment so buses uh sorry buses and coaches account for about 3% of Transport carbon emissions in the UK whereas private car and taxi is about 60% we don't need a massive shift from people going from car to coach to and I'm talking taking a millions of tons of carbon out of the environment every year and that makes your your breathable atmosphere and things like that even better so I'm not sure if I've answered the question but you know access parking sustainability um that is something that we're we're having to focus on more these days and it's interesting yesterday we heard from Phil Smith from the confederation of Passenger transport about the importance of Destin ations and visitor attractions being coach friendly and that the cpt's coach friendly scheme is is helping to remind attractions and destinations of the importance as Rolanda just said of making sure when the coach arrives you know all the facilities are there not just for the group but also for the coach driver as well Wendy I'm interested you talk with gto's a lot um are you picking up any sort of understanding that this wider expectation shall we call it for trips to be more sustainable we're already there with Coach travel um but our gto's now going right I want to go there because they recognize that coach travel is good not necessarily because it's sustainable just because coach travel is the way to go but are we seeing any change at all in in the way that gto's are programming their trips um I think so yes and I think also I mean you know Roland's quite right coach travel is one of the most sustainable ways of travel um and GTO are looking more towards that but I think what I feel with the GTO is that they should take when they're when they're organizing a trip is actually speak to the coach operators and find out exactly where they're going to go because there are situations like you mentioned the the little village where coaches will turn up everybody gets out goes to Quick loose stop and then jumps back in the back in the coach I mean I personally had the experience when I was traveling in Italy and we went down down the Amalfi Coast stopped at this place beautiful gift shop coffee shop everybody got off went to the toilet nobody had time to spend any money so it brought no economic benefit to that particular stop and I think sometimes that's where the G really should be looking at the way that the trip is organized to make sure that where they do go and coaches are welcome that they bring the economic benefit to that particular area or that particular coffee sharp or stop and it isn't just because I think that's where you get the not resentment is a wrong word but you get the um the um can't remember the word now where people don't want coaches basically Absol completely forgot the word um so yeah and and I I think that that you know G's becoming more involved in in that side of things and looking at the sustainability of it yes and I think Cheryl made a very good point that when you think of Essex well this might be just me you sometimes think of the coastal Southern Essex Parts which is what Essex sort of over the years has been famous for but as you've heard and as we know in this industry there's a chunk there's a chunk more of Essex especially mid and North Essex so for for for Essex as a destination to encourage visitors to travel what is your experience Cheryl of the the destinations and the attractions in the rest of ESS as we call it so it's not just south end Pier but you know you go you're going north up to the the suffk Border are you are you finding that they are recognizing the importance of of acting responsibly and putting itineries together that give tour operators GTO the chance to put on a tour that really ticks all the boxes yeah uh you're right um there is so much than all the sort of the major um attractions if you like there are some lots of and they do want groups it's how do they know how to pitch to the groups and to the coach companies so this is where where I come in really that I I have a stand at shows and um I can tell them where where else they can go it and it's amazing really how it's not just the gardens and it's the historic um houses but there's also Vineyards there's a lot of Vineyard tours that go and and I think a lot of GTO don't realize that either and they go it's something different but it is you're you're quite right the not all the attractions know how to go about getting Group business it's not that they don't want them it's just that um they they don't know how to go about getting them so by working with adto um then you know we can get that message out there and on our website we've got we've got them all so I can't think of any one attraction that does not want a group okay it's worth probably just mentioning that being coach friendly I think Phil yesterday was saying there's some like 33 or 36 destinations around the UK that are do have Coach friendly accreditation if you want to know more do go to the CPT Confederation of Passenger transport website um and and you'll see the sort of thing that that CPT it's a it's sort of free to get the advice obviously there's a budget or a cost to implementing things to make sure that you are coach friendly um but I think that's that's one way to to to move towards attracting more people um I think what we see we see around this show um as you walk around and it's one of the real benefits I think of of a live trade show Group Travel trade show you you get ideas and inspiration but I don't know whether if you were to speak with everybody who's exhibiting here every one of our exhibitors you know appreciates the importance of Coach tourism to to their business the fact they're here you suggests it does um but I think there was one I spotted yesterday and I asked them about the coach parking facility um and I seem to think there was a charge and it must have been a destination you know because it's not always you know they're not always in charge of of the the parking Arrangement will be the local Authority U um and we heard from Jos Croft earlier from from UK inbound talking about the need for everybody to start to pull together you'd thought by now we'd be doing this I mean Roland in terms of you know when you mentioned early when you're putting a coach hiring a coach I mean we won't talk about coming to London because that's a different Beast all together but if you're going somewhere do you do you can you influence say a GTO or a tour planner in the destination that you choose I'm thinking mostly they'll say we want to go there give us a coach but you might knowing your experience of say well the coach parking there you have to pay but the next place down the road doesn't how can you are you able to influence those choices at all yeah uh we came to a certain degree so there's organizations as well like CTA who who are helped ful with that sort of thing we do some kind of policy stuff and lobbying work through CPT that I'm I'm quite involved in so we've seen some destinations pitching their prices we think unfairly so there was um some of the markets and things know 50 to1 to park a coach for a day which on top of the cost of hiring a coach we seem as unreasonable um there was an event at Stonehenge uh for the summer solers where it was I think2 200 for a coach for the day and I I can't see how you justify that but we're having to work harder with our um group organizers to say look yes you want to go here there's this extra cost which actually isn't us do you want to consider alternative so it it is factoring into people's decision making about where they want to go um we have had some successes he thr being one where they were looking at a considerable hike in their parking charges so through our trade Association they've been able to make those more reasonable but it is a constant battle and it is something that we have to make um customers aware of and it's interesting you mentioned CTA that's the coach tourism Association indeed the next session after this one will be a panel discussion with members of the of CTA but I think CTA agto there are organizers organizations about who can have an influence in getting these messages across um but it's still a it's still a hard task I feel Wendy and you know agto obviously you just gone through a refresh a Rebrand the new branding is looking excellent um and I think members of agto and a membership organization of course are able to to talk to each other there's there are Facebook groups we have acto traveler the new magazine um or the refresh magazine um and and that's giving information but are we back to this problem that everybody wants to act responsibly and we want to make sure that when we're going going out with groups to visit places then sort of you you're you're you're acting and you are behaving responsibly but it's but it's at times really quite difficult to do is there a is is there another way we to to approach all this or do we just need to keep battling on battling on as we do that's a difficult question really um I think really sustainability is there's always going to be a cost there always will be a cost implications on on trying to be sustainable obviously for the coaches it's a sustainable way of of traveling but then you have the the um parking fees Etc um so things like that I think it is just battling on and it's associations and organizations like the CP C CTA CPT ourselves um we're members of Tourism Alliance which also um push with Parliament and and the government to try and stop it but I think each region has their own autonomy so no matter what the government says they're going to say well we you know we're going to charge you this so it's either you have to accept it to a certain point of view you can you can push back a certain amount as Roland says by offering different locations or different places to visit which doesn't incur the cost but if it's somewhere you want to go unfortunately it's something you have to pay for yes is very unfortunate do we have any questions from from the floor it's nice nicely quiet we have a ring microphone so if if you would like to ask our panelists anything but by all means do so um I'm tempted to almost yes just tell us give us your name and who you represent I'm um an Barnes um I am a member of um acto as a group travel organizer um and I find the benefits of shows like this um as a way of networking and finding out what's available are very useful and certainly contacts that I make through ago are very useful so um that's a good networking and marketing um Arena um I prefer the face-to-face contact or the telephone contact with people or when I'm organizing something because you can ask the questions uh rather than go doing a whole booking through online where you can't say I've got someone with special needs and you can't um sort of say I'll have can I book 20 tickets and then only need 15 maybe if you have to do everything online it's not great for a group travel organizer but through um so I can make the contact by telephone and uh it's a lot better I was I was going to say an Jackie so I'm going to ask an again have you when when you're talking to to a coach operator and you'll have your your regular coach operators that you will use are you is your behavior the same as it's always been in planning things or are you starting to look and see actually if we go there we need to spend longer there because you know we're not delivering an economic benefit I doubt it's a thought that crosses your mind but but is it in the way that now with over tourism in some parts of the country and and elsewhere when you're taking a group are you thinking actually you know we're bringing a group in we need really need to make sure we're giving a benefit to that local visitor economy that's um I I tend to book a trip because the people want to go there or I think it's an exciting thing um you know you can do things like the Wetland centers that that's you know the ecology and nature side of things but I don't tend to think about the economy I'm afraid sorry I think it's interesting then where this responsibility lies yeah because you know if bber and the cotswalds and I haven't I haven't been to stop I've I've driven through it park the car taken a picture and carried on so I'm I'm I'm guilty but I'm not a group um well a group of one um do you know is is this an issue that is we hear about it and we hear people saying right you know you need to do you can't just turn up five minutes and after you go again I don't really think there are many group group and tour operators who do that possibly I mean you mentioned the Amalfi Coast example and you think that doesn't sound right and I'm sure you took that up with the tour operator and said just to let you know this isn't great but in the UK them I'm apart from bber and and we had this problem with the cotwolds as Roland will know that um Borton Borton on the water didn't want coaches at all because they saw them as large Vehicles causing trouble with being a vehicle and we' resolved that one slightly now I think by dropping off in the edge and parking up at a local Coach operator's yard uh garage which is very good um but are you I mean as a go on is it is it I mean from that point of view it's more of an education process isn't it that the fact that you know the destination says no we don't want that that coach it's it's basically and I still don't know whose responsibility that would be but it's the education of Roland said the coach arrives it brings all these people it is a sustainable way to travel and we deliver this economy on the turn Styles and and and what he mentioned earlier on um in this session it but I'm not sure whose responsibility that would be it's it's sort of like a something that everybody has to contribute to to actually make it work yes R yeah we find that discussion is best LED locally normally through the local operator working with their representations from the council or the local tourist board they're generally the ones that have got the contacts and know the people to talk to doesn't mean to say they're all on the all on the same page but you know then we get CPT involved with their Regional structure so the local regional manager can go out and have meetings and support the operator support the destination as well trying to find you know best practice or or what can what can work what I will say is you know a grid locked doesn't matter what destination you are a gridlocked road system um doesn't work for anybody in terms of the visitor experience so it's in everybody's interest to try and make that work be taking cars off the road or getting more people in so it's just refocusing the um intentions and the agendas sometimes rather than caving into the whims of somebody with a grievance about big vehicles yeah okay we're getting close to our time I think I'm going to ask our panel one last question and it's it's it's it's the cliche one almost if there was one thing one way well one message to get across whether it's from from from from from acto from a coach operator or from from a destination to this industry for coach tourism to say right H how do we act more responsibly and I think we know the answer but if there was a a single message Geral let me start with you what might you say oh this is uh it's quite difficult really um yeah me on the spot um talk to you I think the message is probably going to be I was going to say plan yes because you know that's why we're represented at shows like this so that gto's can come up to us we can we can plan an itinerary you can go onto our website and plan an itinerary so there are ways we've got the knowledge of the the contacts so get in contact with us and we can pass those details on to you so okay right Rand um be before I I answer that sorry I would just say if it's it's been a long time since you've been on a coach go and have a look at the one over there cuz I jumped on it early and it is absolutely fantastic it will change your mind if you're thinking about Coach travel as something rather dated but um you know as I said at the start you know think about the the benefits that coach has provide to your local area to your destination anything like that and talk to your local Coach operator as well because they've got so much knowledge and and contact as well we we're we're very good at helping other people where we can so there's there's many more benefits to coaching than than you might otherwise consider so please please do talk to us okay and finally Wendy as this is an agto session thank you um I think from I mean I'm just going to reiterate what they what um Cheryl and Roland have said is is communication is to speak to people and also I would like our members to think more about the economic benefits targeted to you um just basically think about the economic benefits that you can bring with your group to wherever it is you're going to visit I mean there some beautiful places um around the around the country and uh do please think about that side of thing but that goes with discussion talk to your operators talk to the destinations go on fam trips really discover where there are some good places to go and where you can actually benefit those places to enable them to continue to be there for future Generations I think the message that we've heard here then is in acting responsibly this industry already is the fact that coach travel is apart from walking and cycling as we said you know the most sustainable form of Transport modern coaches go and have a look at the electric coach over there um it's it's the first of the triaxle electric coach is fully electric it can go out and back somewhere in the day we haven't quite mastered the art of of charging overnight anywhere yet but it's a matter of time but at the moment that's that's state-ofthe-art coach um and that's the way to travel and I think this industry is acting responsibly um so if this was a debate I think I just sorry just one one more Point there's a real opportunity at the moment with the government rewriting uh local transport plans and things like that to think about getting coaches in there from the outset of the planning stage rather than trying to shoot horn stuff in so to your local politicians as well about that and at National level as well okay well thank you very much indeed I'm going to bring the session to a close would you thank our speakers Wendy Roland and Cheryl

2025-04-23 20:57

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