Jessica's Travel

Wyndham Smoky

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Bus Company Alliances Make the Trip

Whether you have been on a packaged bus tour or not, you probably think that the tour managers at the bus company simply pull out a map and plot out a route via interstate highways and local roadways. Trace the route in a magic marker color and give it to their drivers.

In fact, the package tours created by the bus company are very elaborate and are based upon alliances that the bus company has with a variety of entertainment attractions, restaurants, hotels and other service providers.

If you book a tour from a bus company that takes you some distance from home, then that tour needs to include restaurants where the bus can stop so that you and your group can have meals; hotels that will provide you lodging as well as meals; and even special attractions that might be a part of the tour package because they are on the way or within easy access from and back to the route.

A large independent bus company may be independent but it may have also been able to negotiate alliances or partnerships with entertainment attractions, restaurants, hotels and other service providers on their own. I feel save in saying that depending on how big that individual bus company may be may have an influence as to the reach it has beyond its headquarter city. For example, a bus company in Montreal, Quebec, Canada may have reach only into the suburbs of Montreal. So it can provide you with a great tour of Montreal taking advantage of alliances or agreements it may have worked out with restaurants and sites of attraction, but is unable to go beyond that boundary.

Other companies are large and have offices in many regions of the country so they have a longer reach and can provide you with a choice of more restaurants, special entertainment attractions, hotels and other service providers.

Then there are alliances like International Motorcoach Group. International Motorcoach Group is an alliance of 50 bus companies in Canada and the United States and each has access to the entertainment attractions, restaurants, hotels and other service providers that the alliance has been able to partner with.

Let’s face it. An alliance of many companies which can include large and small bus companies have more strength than one bus company. And it is an alliance that can negotiate partnerships with a better standing than say one large company.

What does that mean to you the traveler? It can mean stays at top rated hotels, meals at top rated restaurants, appearances at top rated entertainment attractions all across the country.

International Motorcoach Group partners with 41 entertainment attractions which include:

Andy Williams Moon River Theatre

Branson Variety Theater

Crazy Horse Memorial

Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theatre Complex

Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede

Dollywood

Graceland/Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel

Grand Ole Opry/Gaylord Attractions

IMAX Entertainment Complex

Jamestown/Yorktown Foundation

Jim Stafford Theatre

Longwood Gardens

Lookout Mountain Attractions

Newseum

Quebec Casinos

Ripley’s Aquarium

Sands Casino Resort -- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

The New England Aquarium & Simons IMAX Theatre

And more.

International Motorcoach Group has partnerships with 20 hotels and resorts including:

Allenberry Resort Inn & Playhouse

AmericInn International

Beau Rivage Resort and Casino

Best Western Oceanfront

Country Inn of Lancaster

Country Inns of America

Fairfield Inn Properties of the Smokies

French Lick Resort & Casino

Hiltons of Branson

Quality Inn Gettysburg

Turning Stone Resort & Casino

Wyndham Hotel Group

Then International Motorcoach Group has an alliance with Tour Operators who have access to entertainment and other special sites in their region. These Tour Operators include:

Branson Vacation Company/Edgewood Receptive Services

Northeast Unlimited Tours

Ozarks’Kirkwood Tour & Travel

Smokey Mountain Tour Connection

Sweet Magnolia Tours

The Maine Tour Connection

The restaurants with which International Motorcoach Group is associated include:

Branson Best Restaurant.com

Dandy Restaurant Cruise Ships

Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre/Prather Entertainment Group

Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn

Finally, International Motorcoach Group has ties to 44 convention visitors bureaus that stretch from the East Coast to the West Coast with a large number in the middle of the country too. These visitors bureaus include:

Adirondack Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau

Branson (Missouri) Lakes Area Convention Visitor Bureau

Chattanooga Area Convention Bureau

Explore Minnesota Tourism

Gettysburg Convention Visitors Bureau

Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association

Louisville Convention Visitors Bureau

Maryland Office of Tourism Development

Memphis Convention Visitors Bureau

Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention Visitors Bureau

Pennsylvania Dutch Convention Visitors Bureau

Philadelphia Convention Visitors Center

Valley Forge Convention Visitors Bureau

Vermont Tourism Network

Virginia Tourism Corporation

VISIT Milwaukee

Visit Pittsburgh

So, again the question is what does all of this mean to you? Well, regardless what your interest, you can find package tours that fit it at International Motorcoach Group. Interested in gambling? As you can see, there are connections with gambling resorts. Interested in ante-bellum housing and pre-Civil War or Civil War history, International Motorcoach Group and turn you toward a bus company that can satisfy that. Interested in good old American family entertainment? You can get that too.

Go to imgcoach.com and check out their lists of entertainment sites, resorts and casinos and visitors bureaus. Click on any listing and you will be guided to the website of that listing.

It’s a great way to hone in on a particular tour you may want to take.

About the Author

Robert Janis from IMG Coach specializes in writing articles relating to the tour and travels industry in the US. Visit his blog for interesting articles on Travel and Bus company Alliance . Visit www.imgcoach.com for taking advantage of world class tour services.

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