Bus Tour Information

dvdfan

Hi,

Im looking for the best way to get in contact with bus tours that might be interested in stopping in our cafe in Athlone. We do lunches at great rates and wanted to get in contact with tours in advance of the summer to make them available of our rates etc

Last summer we were just opening and got a few tours but alot of them pre-arrange with cafes and/or hotels. Where do the people that organise these tours look when they need to stop somewhere and also where do i look to contact these tour operators, i genuinely am clueless.

Im sure its in there interest to find a place with good service and good prices as too many places charge ridiulous prices so any advice would be appreciated.

Also do they expect anything in return, if they fill your shop with a tour will they expect anything out of it or are they just happy the customers get someone with fast service, good food and good prices. Obviously youd feed the bus driver for free but is there anything else they would expect??

alleepally

I would think the best place to start is Westmeath Tourism, and the local Chamber of Commerce. How about a big sign outside saying Bus Tours welcome - special rates...

Look around you, what are others doing - where do the buses stop? You must have some clue about this sort of thing. If you are still scratching your head after one summer season and only thinking about this now you need a good kick up the behind.

dvdfan

We only opened last summer so things were pretty hectic then, were on the main road so most bus tours would pass us anyway, bus tours wont start passing through for a couple of months yet, well at least the peak bus tour season anyway.

We also have advertised on all the tourist boards that are been put up around town. Westmeath tourism board and the local commerce boards would be worth a try but i was trying to think like someone organising bus tours, do they check the golden pages, local papers or just drive through town until they find somewhere to stop.

The trouble is i dont know alot about bus tours but id imagine the drivers/and or bus tour organiser have a regular spot they allways use. I just want to make them aware that we are here now and tell them our rates. I was hoping maybe someone here has been on one of these tours or a driver maybe or organiser that would have some insight to how they choose somewhere to stop.

Ill have a look around and see if i can contact the tour operators directly by mail but im not sure whch companies stop in Athlone or not. So thanks for the info and keep any more coming

Cheers

SarahMc

I bring youth groups on tours sometimes. We would never dream of arriving on spec to eat. We would always phone ahead. If its not somewhere I know, I use the yellow pages.

You could try some umbrella groups like the Federation of Active Retirement Groups, Scouting HQ, Foroide, NYF, ICA etc and ask to put an ad in their newsletter, they might not charge you if you offer some sort of deal, free dessert or tea/coffee or something for their members.

ifah

I would try the tour companies - some of the buses I see often on the roads are PAB Tours -http://www.pabtours.com , Kavanaghs - http://www.jjkavanagh.ie/tours.asp and EIREBUS -http://www.iol.ie/~eirebus/ - I'm sure others could think of other company names - do a google and you should find more.