Reconciling sustainability and operator’s profitability imperatives: the travel agent’s perspective

by Joe Borg Olivier, President,United Federation of Travel Agents' (UFTAA)

Your industry, ladies and gentlemen, is a particular beneficiary of the evolution of the wheel. One might safely assert that no bus or coach should leave home without at least seven attached to it, counting the one the driver likes to think is his own.

On a more serious note, man has been making use of wheeled land vehicles since the dawn of history and your tool of the trade, the luxury coach and bus, represents a state of the art form of road passenger transportation, well equipped to meet the exigencies of the 21st century.

In the main, when one mentions Coach Tours one thinks of a ‘packaged holiday’ that includes several other elements offered in combination. Be it airport transfers, local tours, overland holidays, special interest travel or any other form of surface transportation with a specific purpose, the common factor is the use of a coach. Like air travel, cruises, trains and car, coach travel and coach tourism are on the increase. With countries, particularly in Europe, opening up their borders, it is becoming easier and more attractive to travel overland.

The operator of coach tourism is in it, quite clearly, to make a profit. One of his challenges is the environment. Industrialisation has played a key role in creating the environment in which we find ourselves, today. Accusing fingers are quick to point out culprits. Whatever the cause: industrial plants, the airlines, the buses or, indeed, any machinery that depends on fossil fuel, we cannot escape the fact that our planet is ailing from their effects. Governments are putting their heads together to find solutions that use less oil and scientists are working intensively to try to minimise the deleterious effects caused by fossil fuel emissions. Things seem to be improving as we are becoming increasingly sensitive to the tragic consequences that such a state of affairs would bring on in the future, unless it is checked.

Coach operators must be on the alert to the requirement to minimize the environmental damage caused by operating their machines, even if costs may rise in consequence. They simply must work in tandem with the environmentalists to find a workable solution to live in harmony.

In this connection, we all know that the airline industry has tended to dominate the travel and tourism debate probably, for very good reasons. It is, however, high time that the coach tourism and coach transportation industry are brought to the fore.

Throughout the world, coach tourism plays an important and integral part in the tourism product. Hardly any travel is accomplished without, at some stage, coming in contact with a coach, be it:

• Transfer to/from airport, harbour or station
• Sightseeing/local excursions
• Overnight coach tours
• Cross border tours and/or transport
• Long haul coach operations

Although it is true that coach operations are important within the EU, in some other countries such as Turkey, Philippines, Thailand, and the USA, there is more usage. It is perhaps so that we take the bus or coach for granted, since they are so integrated into our daily life that we do not pay attention to their importance?

Compared to railways and major airlines, which enjoy various forms of subsidies, the coach operating industry does not have a comparable degree of protection or support by authorities and the general public. Nevertheless, coach transportation offers many advantages.

Travel by coach relieves road traffic congestion. It reduces the pressure on our environment – carbon emission per capita is very low. Coaches diversify the tourism offer by opening up new areas for tourists to explore and it is a very cost effective mode of transport.

Coach tourism is, moreover, also highly beneficial to other tourism activities such as hotels and restaurants – statistics show that 68% of coach passengers stay in hotels as compared to 61% of airline passengers.

Despite of all this, proper recognition of the coach tourism does not yet exist. With all the problems assailing the airline industry – congestion, carbon emissions, safety, security, airport hassle, etc, authorities are still not giving due and fair attention to the interests and concerns of road transport in general and to coach tourism passengers in particular.

There is no clear transport policy or strategy within the EU – a region ideal for developing coach tourism but also one criss-crossed by national borders and awash with un-coordinated rules and regulations. We have different formality requirements, document controls-both for the coach and for passengers, frequent identity controls, driving limitations, city obstacles etc.

There is still a lack of political recognition of the importance of collective passenger transport by coach (and bus), despite the fact that in many economies coach tourism accounts for about 2 % of the nation’s GDP.

Let us have a glimpse at the benefits of coach travel

• The role of the coach is vital as more passengers move by coach than by air
• It is typically an SME business which creates jobs in other industries – hotels, restaurants, souvenirs – around the tourism product
• It is a safe mode of transport with a fatality rate much lower that of air, rail and private cars
• It is the most environmentally friendly mode of transport, measured in carbon CO2 emission per capita
• It is a congestion friendly mode – one coach can replace 30-40 private cars
• It is a cost effective transport – in terms of price per passenger km and fuel consumption
• It is a relaxing way of travelling –little hassle, no stress – well suited for an increasing 3rd age clientele with money and time to spend
• It is a mode of travel that readily opens up new destinations – off the beaten track
• Nowadays, it offers much better standard and comfort to the passenger than most airlines, including big legacy airlines, in economy class. Some tourism coaches are offering a standard only seen in some business class cabins
• It takes you from door to door, with space for luggage, without passenger screenings, luggage restriction – you can even take your own bottle of water on board.
  However, despite of all these positive aspects the coach transportation industry is not treated with due respect by the authorities.
• Some destinations are introducing or applying discriminatory taxes and charges (Rome and Venice are examples)
• Taxation is discriminatory. Long-haul coach operators pay tax on fuel and also VAT on turnover – increasing the end price to the consumer. This compares with the airlines that pay neither –and railways that often enjoy subsidies. Why discriminate against an environmentally friendly transportation mode?
• A recent slight to coach tourism was the introduction of the EU driving and rest rules. Whilst we do not underestimate the importance of safety, it is unbelievable that a coach tourist coach should be treated in the same way as a container. The human dimension must surely come first.
• While the “container” has to be moved safely with minimum delay from A to B – this is not the case with the coach passenger. The coach passenger is on vacation, at leisure and wants to stop and see things without endangering any safety rules, but be treated in a flexible way. Lunch and coffee breaks, sight-seeing – after arrival perhaps again back on the coach to be taken to a concert or dinner outside the hotel. The news rule adds costs and unpleasant rigidity, without corresponding safety or other benefit.
• Parking facilities are not always available close to places of interest and tourists are made to walk a long way to the site. Consideration of the senior citizen should also be kept in mind by the authorities.

The coach and tourism industry needs to lobby for derogation from the present rules, so that they can better serve the requirements of the coach tourism and its passengers. We need more flexibility, without, however, compromising any safety imperatives.

I am aware that IRU has vigorously lobbied and continues to lobby energetically for a more realistic approach – but as long as the EU is lacking any Strategy or Policy for tourism, it is an uphill task of daunting dimensions.

Perhaps it is time to inform and activate consumers and users – who now are paying a high bill for ill conceived regulations.

On a final note, it is also time for coach companies to persuade travel agents to make more use of coaches by offering attractive rates and/or commission, - at a time when agent commission is vanishing from the airlines’ agenda. I urge all concerned to work even more closely together with the travel agents. They are the people with their finger on the pulse of the needs and aspirations of the travelling public and they share the coach operator’s aim of achieving sustainability in the tourism industry.

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