Fears of airport delays, the cost of the Euro and a demand for green holidays is helping to fuel demand for coach holidays in the UK, says the Coach Tourism Council (CTC), the industry body that promotes touring by coach on behalf of more than 150 UK coach operators. More than five million people take a short break or holiday by coach in the UK each year and this figure is expected to pass the six million mark within the next three years.Now the CTC has launched a new website www.coachtourismcouncil.co.uk to provide information about coach travel with simple navigation links to coach operators across the UK and how they can book tours for UK and Ireland Holidays, to the Continent and Worldwide.

For example someone living in Yorkshire can quickly find a choice of coach companies providing tours from their region, with most providing door to door pick-ups from their home. The site also provides information on late availability coach holidays, coach hire, theatre breaks, tourist information, attractions, hotels and ferry companies.

“While the majority of UK households have been hit by the credit crunch, the high cost of fuel and the weakness of the £ against the Euro, coach passengers are generally older, mortgage free, empty nesters with savings,” said CTC chairman Sean Taggart.

“They like the value of travelling by coach where holidays are fully inclusive, with their travel costs, hotel accommodation and entrance tickets to attractions paid in advance. They don’t have the worry of driving or queuing at the airport either wand they like the security of having their own driver.”

Two independent studies in 2007 revealed that coach travel uses six times less energy than planes, six times less energy than cars and two times less energy than trains. Coaches are also seven times safer per mile than a car while a gallon of fuel will pro-rata, take two people travelling by coach six times further than by car. Gone are the days when an old bus took people to the seaside for a day trip - today passengers travel in modern, air-conditioned coaches - many with fewer seats to provide extra leg room - costing as much as £250,000.
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