CTA operator members had a successful event at the recent routeone Awards 2024 with Skills Holidays, Maynes Coaches, and Edwards Coaches taking prizes. Maynes Coaches won the award for Outstanding Customer Experience, with the prize sponsored by Arthur Spriggs Busworld Tewkesbury, as well as Best Use of Technology – Coach Operator, partnered by JMW Solicitors. [...]
Leger Shearings Group’s CEO Liam Race, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Oldfield and Chief Product Officer Chris Plummer have become majority shareholders in the company. The trio originally acquired a 30 per cent stake in a management buyout of Leger Holidays in 2019. Ian Henry, who led the company for over 30 years, and Kathleen Henry, [...]
CTA is very saddened to hear of the passing of Derek Easton, a director of Eastons Holidays, who died on 28 June. Eastons Holidays said that Derek fought a six-year battle with cancer but passed away peacefully at home with family by his side. The company said: “He was so proud of his legacy, both [...]
CTA member, Jason Edwards, of Jason Edwards Travel, as well as CTA Chair, Robert Shaw, were interviewed by ITV Wales and included on recent news coverage. ITV Wales made the interviews as part of a news story on the importance of coaches to the tourism economy, as well as the advantages of travel by coach. [...]
Edwards, based in Llantrisant, South Wales, has launched a coach hire booking portal to increase the ease and speed of travel arrangements for group organisers. The new My Coach Manager portal from Edwards is accessed after a booking has been made. The new portal enables customers to conveniently handle all their coach bookings and requests [...]
CTA member Johnsons Coaches is trialing a fully electric Zeelo zero-emission coach. The 50-passenger coach features front and centre passenger doors on the near side, with a centre door and floor section designed to fit a slot-in wheelchair lift. The vehicle’s electric drive line and control system are identical to those used in the E10, [...]
As it approaches its centenary year in 2025, Edwards Coaches is due to take delivery of ten Van Hool Altano vehicles in June 2024 for use on the National Express network. The new high capacity vehicles represent a significant investment of around £4.8million in fleet renewal. Edwards has also committed to purchasing 68 tri-axle Caetano [...]
CTA members A&P Travel, Heathside Travel, and Johnsons Coaches have all won titles at the routeone Awards, which took place on 8 November. A&P Travel took home the prestigious Coach Tourism Programme of the Year award from a variety of strong nominations. Meanwhile, Heathside Travel won the Small Coach Operator of the Year award for [...]
Johnsons Coaches and Hovertravel are celebrating a long partnership after the Isle of Wight hovercraft operator completed its one hundredth Hovercraft Experience flight. Hovertravel provides a unique flight across the Solent for coach operators to visit the many attractions on the Isle of Wight. Hovercraft Experience Flight customers have their own private charter, complete with [...]
Jones Holidays, part of Alpine Travel, has announced the relocation of its Flint Travel Shop, moving to a new high street location. “While online bookings are a great way to offer convenience to many, the new high street shop is the perfect location to ensure that we can offer our customers the opportunity to book [...]
Parry’s International is hosting a special public celebration of its 50th anniversary in London on Friday 3 November 2023 - and it has a few tickets left which are available to CTA members at a special price. The event is a two-night package that includes Marriott accommodation, meals, gala dinner, private charter lunch cruise on the [...]
CTA operator members are among those nominated for this year’s routeone awards which take place on 8 November in Birmingham. Johnsons Quality Coach Travel has been shortlisted for four titles at the awards: coach tourism programme of the year, outstanding customer experience, large coach operator of the year and rising star of the year; while [...]
Touromo by National Express has announced that it will be closing from 1 October this year. The Touromo website says “from October this year [we] will no longer offer holidays or day trips under any of our brands”. In a statement, the company says: “We will continue to run Touromo day trips and holidays in [...]
Woods Travel of Bognor Regis have issued a newsletter to its customers to highlight the fact that it remains independently-owned and run and has not been acquired by another business. The newsletter is in response to some customers getting an incorrect impression following a marketing campaign from a large operator that included a company with [...]
Roland Eglinton, managing director of CTA member Chalkwell Coaches is in training for the London Marathon in aid of Wellchild. The event takes place on 23 April and will involve around 40,000 other runners as it returns to its traditional April slot following Covid-related disruption. A keen runner in his spare time, Roland has completed [...]
Parrys International is holding its popular open day this coming Sunday 15 January from 11am until 3pm. There will be the usual trade stands from the UK and Europe, as well as a German wine producer, members of Wolverhampton Speedway and the UK Coach Rally coach of the year will be on display. There will [...]
Bakers Dolphin provided eight coaches to support Weston Hospicecare’s Mendip Challenge, which is now in its 31st year. The event involves hundreds of people walking across the Mendips to support the charity, which provides palliative care for people living with life-limiting illnesses in and around Weston-super-Mare. The challenge raises tens of thousands of pounds every year. [...]
For coach operators looking for secure overnight parking in Liverpool, CTA member Maghull Coaches/City Explorer is offering a rate of £20 per night and £10 for all day parking. Maghull offers a flexible system, and as an example, if a coach arrives Friday early evening and departs Sunday am, with the coach not used on [...]
CTA chair Robert Shaw reports that his company, Harry Shaw, has recently brought tourism home to its base in Coventry. To mark UK City of Culture 2021, a group of GTOs were hosted at the luxurious Coombe Abbey Hotel and visited a host of attractions including The Charterhouse, St Mary’s Hall, Cathedral and Transport Museum. [...]
CTA has established its new consumer-focussed marketing campaign under the WeLoveCoaches brand. We are concentrating on social media for the campaign and aiming to drive traffic to the newly-established WeLoveCoaches website which includes a page for all CTA operator members with direct links to their websites and social channels. Initial reactions and responses to the [...]
Coach holidays are back! The world’s first Covid vaccine recipient, Margaret Keenan, is one of the first passengers to enjoy setting off on a coach holiday with the lifting of restrictions on 17 May. Margaret Keenan, with her daughter Sue and son-in-law David, joined other passengers for family-owned firm Harry Shaw’s first coach holiday to [...]
Parrys International was featured recently on BBC Midlands Today including coverage of one of its first day trips that took passengers keen to get away on a visit to Shrewsbury. The film was a very positive bit of PR for the coach tourism sector and featured interviews with Dave Parry as well as his driver [...]
CTA member Grand UK Holidays has reported a strong increase in bookings on the back of an expected Staycation boost this summer. Sales and marketing manager, Sally Hubble-Button, says: ‘In a recent survey we conducted, the majority of our customers told us that they would feel more confident holidaying in the UK than going further afield, [...]
Edwards Coach Holidays is looking forward to restarting their holiday programme on 17 May after a long eight months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With more than 300 coaches parked in the depot and a loss of holiday revenue amounting to approximately £12million the company is excited to be transporting customers again on their well-deserved [...]
Jones Holidays, part of Alpine Travel, has launched a new programme of day excursions. Re-starting in May 2021, the day excursion programme was originally operated by Jones Motor Services until late 2017 following the acquisition of Jones Holidays by Alpine Travel earlier that year. The day trips complement Jones Holidays’ existing coach holidays programme which [...]
CTA member Long Mynd Travel is working to support the local community in Shropshire where it is based by kindly offering a free of charge service for the county’s residents over 70 and in the vulnerable category, with transport to and from vaccination centres. Long Mynd is offering free travel to vaccine centres in Shropshire [...]
One operator reporting that customers are booking holidays for later in the year in large numbers after receiving their vaccinations is CTA member Bakers Dolphin. The company believes that confidence is returning and the tourism market will bounce back after Easter with online and telephone bookings rocketing in the past week. Amanda Harrington, sales and [...]
The Coach Tourism Association has appointed a new Chair, Robert Shaw, who has now taken over from outgoing Chair John Wales. Following a board meeting on 09-December-20 the CTA has also announced the appointment of two new board members, Emma Russell from Alfa Travel and Lucy Osborne from Leger/Shearings. Robert Shaw was the Association’s previous [...]
Following the latest national lockdown in England, CTA member Roadmark Travel took a tour to Dunster with a group from Horsham and the surrounding area of West Sussex to the Yarn Market Hotel of Dunster in Exmoor. Antony Brunt, proprietor of the Yarn Market Hotel, says “We believe it is much safer for us to [...]
Another CTA members’ zoom meeting saw an inspiring discussion about adapting to the current realities, and preparing plans for the recovery. A series of short presentations from members kicked off the meeting with operators Jason Edwards and Kevin Mayne accompanied by Matthew Coulter, Historic Royal Palaces and Mercedes Picard, English Heritage. Jason Edwards spoke about [...]
The plight of the coach industry was laid bare in the House of Commons yesterday (10 November) in a powerful speech by Emma Hardy MP as part of a debate on support for SMEs during Covid 19 - see video of debate below. Hardy, Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, called for [...]
Tony Johnson of Johnson Bros Tours has passed away at the age of 77 following a battle with cancer. Alongside brothers Harry and Barry, Tony helped establish Johnson Bros - originally known as Dukeries Coaches. Founded in 1954, it started running coaches at the end of the 1950s with a 41-seater Bedford. Over its 66-year [...]
CTA members have already been putting new social media techniques into practice following a series of training sessions delivered for us by Justine Perry of Cariad. The sessions on facebook and instagram were very well received and participants received all the guidance notes and their own playbook following the webinars. One member who attended, Geoff [...]
It is great to see some coach tours and excursions getting under way again. Parry’s International had two trips running on the first weekend in August and the passengers loved it! Following the trip, Dave Parry received the following message from a satisfied customer: “We have just returned from our one night Mystery Weekend and [...]
CTA operator members were out in force during the Honk for Hope event in London on 20 July. The campaign has aimed to highlight the plight of operators with a large majority having been unable to get access to any of the Covid rate support grants and now facing challenging finance repayments for vehicles that [...]
CTA member Acklams Coaches has donated a second coach, through a local charity Jacob’s Well Appeal, for a new life in Burkina Faso, where it will be used for transporting school children in and around Bobo-Dioulasso. John Beynon (CEO of Jacob's Well) is pictured accepting the keys to the Plaxton Excalibur coach from Managing Director, [...]
Johnsons Coach Travel has been actively surveying its customers to find out their responses to the re-starting of tours and excursions, having published a new set of operating procedures to account for new Covid safety measures. John Johnson is happy for other members to see the results in case it helps them in their planning [...]
Following its acquisition of the Shearings brand and website and social media assets, Leger has moved quickly to put new Shearings UK and continental tours on sale. Lucy Osborne, UK product manager, Leger Holidays, describes it as “the start of a new chapter for the iconic brand of Shearings!” For anyone interested in partnering with [...]
The Guardian has highlighted the need for urgent government support for the coach tourism sector in an article published online following an interview with CTA. The article includes extensive quotes from CTA chair John Wales who argued for coach tour businesses to be treated the same as other leisure industries that have received state fiscal [...]
The collapse of Specialist Leisure Group Limited, including its leading coach holiday brand Shearings, which has a history stretching back around a hundred years, is a tragedy for its dedicated staff across the country, its many suppliers across the country, and of course for its customers, says CTA. Coach customers of Shearings who have booked [...]
CTA member Johnsons Coaches has published new safety measures for coach travel during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic for group leaders and school groups. The new safety measures are designed to aid local businesses in safely transporting employees who cannot work from home. Johnsons Coaches are implementing social distancing measures and rigorous cleaning procedures aboard [...]
CTA communications director Helen Bowron took part in the recent Fáilte Ireland Fam Trip which proved to be a cracking event with visits to some fascinating attractions and destinations that would love to welcome your groups. Read Helen’s account of the trip: CTA members know that Ireland is a great destination for coach tour holidays [...]
Edwards Coaches has rebranded its school tours operation from École School Tours to Edwards Education and Youth Tours and aims to widen its product portfolio with bespoke tours for schools, youth organisations and sports teams. A new website will be launched in March. The rebrand follows market research which showed that the Edwards brand had [...]
