First Feelers For Facts

I'm ready to start gathering information on our tour destination. First, you'll have to decide on how many days the tour will take. Since I live in the San Diego, California area, I'll plan the tour from here. You will do the same from wherever you live. The quickest way to find out about an area is to locate the local convention and visitor's bureau (CVB), or local equivalent(chamber of commerce, merchants association, etc.).


I will send an e-mail to various CVBs asking for referrals for businesses that accept groups. In the e-mail I will say that I am planning on operating a bus tour into their area and needed information on various suppliers who could help me in terms of: lodging, restaurants, attractions, step-on-guides, and bus servicing.

Here is what I am looking for from the suppliers:
Lodging - Minimum requirements are that the hotel, motel, or condo have at least 25 rooms. A full bus will usually take 22 rooms. It works out this way: If I sell 44 seats, most of the sales will be to couples. This means that I will need at least 22 rooms. In addition, the place I select must either have a restaurant on their property or very close.

Restaurants: Must be able to take a group of 46, feed them and get them out within an hour. The restaurants must offer a conventional American menu (though this may be subject to change depending on the area and the attractions in the area).

Step-on-guides: While your tour manager may be very good, it is probable that he or she doesn't have in-depth knowledge of every area that the tour will operate in. For example, a lot of local knowledge is required to be able to best show off a city or parts of national parks.

I will be giving you tips to make your tour successful as we go along. Each tip will be highlighted this way - (Tip)

OK, I've done it, I've committed to a tour. This tour will begin and end in San Diego (K on the map). We will first go to Laughlin, Nevada (B) and then to Grand Canyon National Park (C) and then to Page, Arizona (D) and then to Zion National Park (E) and then to Bryce National Park (F) and then to Green River, Utah (G) and then to Blanding, Utah (H) and then to Flagstaff, Arizona (I) and then to Yuma, Arizona (J) and finally back to San Diego (K).

Look at the map below. Notice that the route forms a 8. If you're not coming out of southern California, you should include the top part of the 8 at a minimum. In this part you would see: The Grand Canyon, Page, AZ, Bryce National Park, Zion National Park and the Canyonlands National Park.



The total mileage on this tour is about 1,977 miles. I set up the route on MapQuest. MapQuest is free and can be easily found on the Internet by typing in MapQuest.

(Tip) While on tour it is advisable to not exceed 325 miles a day. The concept is not to drive but to see things.

Now, for your homework - Figure the mileage for each day. Use MapQuest or any other method that works best for you.

(Tip) Assume that a bus will average 50 miles per hour when traveling on a major highway, less when on two lane roads.

(Tip) Assume that the tour will leave at 9:00 AM every morning and should be at the lodging site by no later than 5:30 PM each evening.

(Tip) Assume that it will take at least 10 minutes for all of the tour members to get off of the bus.

In the next installment I'll get into more detail about getting the exact route set.