ARRIVA’S THE ORIGINAL TOUR INVESTS IN MORE NEW BUSES
Just over 12 months after introducing a second £1.6 million fleet of new buses, The Original Tour is now set to make a third £1.6 million investment in new vehicles for 2007.
Arriva’s The Original Tour will have one of Europe’s most up-to-date fleets at a time when it is predicting major growth in business from Continental visitors –as well as from the home market - in 2007. Full details of the new fleet will be available at The Original Tour’s stand at the British Travel Trade Fair.
Said commercial director Colin Atkins: “Business from Europe has been strong in 2006, and the domestic market has also shown a real return to form – both helped by the excellent weather which definitely lengthened the tourism season.
“In virtually every major European city new sightseeing vehicles with disabled access are entering into service. London is a world-class city and, having invested nearly £5 million in our fleet in the last 24 months, we are ensuring that visitors to London can enjoy a truly world-class sightseeing product. There is no doubt that the quality of the fleet we introduced in 2005 and 2006 has encouraged more business and we believe this trend will continue throughout 2007 as our new fleet hits the road”.
However Colin Atkins warned the industry to expect a downturn in US visitors given the likelihood of a continued high rate of exchange.
He added: “It is entirely possible that once the dollar breaks over the psychological $2 to the pound in 2007 it could quickly leap as high as $2.20 and that will inevitably result in fewer US visitors to London”.
The Original Tour’s fleet of ten new buses, the first of which will be introduced in June 2007, means that over one third of the company’s vehicles will have wheelchair access, an important factor given the huge influx of tourists that will be coming for the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.
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Editors notes.
· The new buses will have Volvo B9TL chassis, with Euro IV compliant engines and East Lancs’ Visionaire bodies. They have 51 seats on the top deck with 31 underneath, as well as a wheelchair bay, low floor and manual ramp.
· The Original Tour will be exhibiting on BTTF stand L434
· Founded in 1951 at the time of The Festival of Britain, The Original Tour is now the largest single sightseeing operation in the world. The hop-on hop-off service allows customers to board any of its tour routes at over 90 different stops. Services operate daily with a ‘live’ commentary in English or a wide choice of digitally recorded languages. A free river cruise is included with every ticket and the Kids' Club provides an educational but fun alternative for 5-12 year olds. For more information you can visit their web site www.theoriginaltour.com
· Arriva is one of the largest transport services organisations in Europe with operations in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. With over 30,000 employees, Arriva provides more than one billion passenger journeys every year through an extensive range of public transport services including buses, trains, commuter coaches and water buses. In the UK, the Group is also engaged in bus and coach distribution.
Ends.