Videobustour – 2011 coach tourism innovation champion
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International Jury declares the German company Videobustour winner of the IRU Coach Tourism Innovation 2011 competition for coupling traditional sightseeing tours with modern multimedia tools.
Kortrijk – The IRU Coach Tourism Innovation Award 2011 international jury* declared Videobustour, Germany’s “better city sightseeing tour” company, this year’s winner for its innovative coach tourism service: “Discover a new form of city sightseeing – unique multimedia tours on buses with on-board video screens”, which couples a traditional sightseeing coach tour with modern multimedia tools.
In addition, the international jury highlighted Videobustour’s modern approach to reach new target audiences, by using the latest multimedia technology, including historic film footage, photographs and audio material presented on video screens throughout the bus during the tour. The combination of experienced tour guides and rich content offers a wide range of tours attracting, among others, a younger, local and well-off public. Coach tourism has seen an increase in regions where Videobustours have been used.
Receiving the award, Andreas Dahrendorf, Managing Director of Videobustour said: "This award is a wonderful and important recognition for our work that motivates us to keep developing our successful concept for Videobustour and to introduce new ideas. In the future our guests will not only experience multimedia on video monitors, but we will also introduce on demand services for tablet computers. Location, guest, and coach will be able to actively communicate with each other in real time, exchange ideas and select individual content. That is the future for Videobustour, and we believe that is one crucial trend for coach tourism."
The international jury also commended the runner-ups, Salaűn Holidays (France), for its continuous improvements in the comfort of their fleet, namely with its new coach Impérial Space, representing a new, innovative and attractive way of coach travel, as well as Fun Cars (Belgium), for its initiative to place greening coach travel at the centre of its company’s promotional efforts, and for linking it with the global Smart Move campaign.
IRU Vice President, Graham Smith, said: “By launching this new global company award, we want to encourage companies, like Videobustour, to proudly display the wealth of innovation and service excellence that is abundant in our sector, not only to their customers, but also to policy decision-makers at international, national and local level, and to contribute to the creation of the much needed pro-coach societal and political mindset.”
The IRU Coach Tourism Innovation Award is awarded biennially. It acknowledges and rewards companies active in coach tourism across the world that implement exemplary innovative policies favouring sustainable group tourism by coach. This is the first edition of the award.
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* Members of the IRU Coach Tourism Innovation Award 2011 international jury are: Erik Goethals, President Coach, Belgian Bus and Coach Federation, FBAA, Nikolai Borovoy, President, Byelorussian Association of International Road Carriers, BAMAP, Claudio Nelson C.R. de Abreu, Gruppo Santa Cruz Transportes, Brazil & Member of the Board of the Brazilian Bus and Coach Association, ABRATI, and Michel de Blust, Secretary General of ECTAA, the European Travel Agents' & Tour Operators’ Associations