Chemistry's Spotlight On…
July 2011 - Bus Travel
Spotlight on Bus Travel
In Chemistry’s Tourism Bulletins we report monthly data from BC Ferries related to the number of buses that travel between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. These buses include charter, commuter (e.g., Pacific Coach Lines) and tour buses.
Anecdotal feedback that tour bus traffic has been declining over the last few years led us to compile annual BC Ferries bus count data for the last decade.
The results, as shown below, confirm what is apparent to people working in the tourism industry – bus traffic to and from Vancouver Island is down…by 44% over 10 years!
The obvious questions that arise when looking at this decline in longer distance and tour bus traffic are “Why” and “Is it just us”?. Without more comprehensive research, we don’t really know why bus traffic is declining although assume that a decade of decline in international travel by Americans, a weak economy, and the changing interests and characteristics of older travelers (historically a key market for bus tours) are all playing a role.
We do have some evidence that it isn’t just us. By way of example, the graph above shows a steady decline in the number of buses that stopped at Visitor Information Centres throughout BC between 2004 and 2009.
Likewise, statistics compiled by the American Bus Association show that total motorcoach passenger trips in the U.S. and Canada dropped in 2009 relative to 2008 and 2007 (earlier data is not available).
Although this is just a very limited snapshot of the long distance/tour bus sector, it appears to confirm that the sector is struggling. More research is required to better understand why travel by bus has been declining and whether or how the sector can be reenergized. Alternatively, we risk the further erosion of the employment and spending impacts associated with this sector.
In the meantime, if your business is currently heavily dependent or focused on the tour bus market, you may wish to rethink this strategy, broaden your target markets, and/or take steps to better understand your existing tour bus customers so that you can protect your market share.
