AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTERCITY BUS TOUR PASSENGER MARKET

In the wake of deregulation of the bus industry, intercity bus managements have sought to develop charter and bus tour markets. Knowledge of demographics and psychographics of these market sgements has been minimal, as researchers have focused most of their attention to date upon bus passengers using scheduled, regular-route intercity service. This paper reports the initial findings of a mail survey project designed to establish a profile of the intercity bus tour passenger. Information was obtained regarding demographic and psychographic characteristics, travel habits, bus tour purchasing habits, sources of information used in making vacation decisions, and satisfaction levels of bus tour passengers participating in the tour program of a bus firm in the western U.S. Findings indicate those variables which appear to be pertinent in developing a profile of bus tour participants and show how those bus passengers differ from scheduled, regular-route passengers.