CCB MEDIA PHOTO
American Bus Association President Peter Pantuso.
BARNSTABLE – The American Bus Association has been meeting on the Cape this week to talk about the latest industry issues and trends.
Nearly 60 board members and almost 50 tour operators have spent several days visiting local sites, including the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum, John F. Kennedy Memorial and the Cape Cod Maritime Museum.
The ABA, which is based in Washington D.C., is the largest group travel and tour association in North America. It represents bus companies, tour companies and the travel industry and has about 3,800 members with the majority coming from the U.S. and Canada.
Cape Cod has been a hot destination for group travel, according to American Bus Association President Peter Pantuso.
“Buses and groups are coming here from all over the country because there is so much that you have to offer. So much history,” Pantuso said. “You’ve obviously got the ocean, you’ve got whaling and other maritime aspects.”
The tour bus industry is critical to the Cape’s shoulder season economy.
“We have thousands of motor coaches a year, times 50 per coach. You do the math,” said Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce Vice President Patti Lloyd. “They spend lots of money. They usually spend three to four nights here. They are buying souvenirs. They are eating in restaurants. They are seeing the National Seashore and taking in everything we have to offer here.”
Lloyd said the typical tour bus seasons are from April to June and then September through October.
“We are seeing more and more summer coaches and they obviously pay different rates but they want to come all year round,” she said. “We have a group coming in at Christmas too.”
Lloyd said the board members that have made the trip to the Cape have liked what they have seen.
“They’ve loved every minute of it,” she said. “We have the ‘wow factor’ here,” she said.
ABA president Pantuso agrees with Lloyd and thinks the Cape is a unique destination.
“All of things you’ve got just make a great experience for the traveler,” Pantuso said. “When you think about bus groups and tour groups coming together they are looking for those one-of-a-kind experiences that they can’t get wherever they came from and there is nowhere else like Cape Cod and nobody can replicate it.”
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com Reporter
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