The
Party Bus
The other day I was touring in the Sonoma Valley in a 36
passenger bus for Beau Wine Tours. It was a birthday celebration and the group
was a multi-generational mix of family and friends. As we toured the valley I
noticed something odd, there were more mid-sized buses than limos or Towncars.
What’s going on?
Maybe I should offer some perspective about the industry.
The desire and intelligence of clients to not drink and drive is what send
fleets of limos out on the road in Napa and Sonoma. There are many more limos
than buses garaged in this area. So what is the reason for the shift?
Partly it’s the economy. The price of a limo bus spread over
a large group makes a ‘driving free’ trip to wine country reasonable and fun
for a group of friends. A big part of it is demographics and the advent of the
Millennial Generation. The 20-somthings are a tremendously social group who
love to work and play together in large numbers. Fortunately for wine country
they also love wine!
While I was waiting for my clients at the Kunde Family
Estate, they did the cave tour, I was chatting with the driver of one of four
buses that were there. There was only one limo, from Beau coincidentally. Most
of their limo fleet was probably at the small, private wineries that they excel
at finding. This city driver told me that the demand for small buses was
booming in San Francisco.
I know that one of the Napa success stories has been
Platypus Tours. Dave has gone from a couple of mini-buses to a veritable fleet,
putting together tours for a mix of clients picked up at a variety of hotels
and B&B’s. At the next level up, Beau has developed a wonderful daily tour
using limos for the individuals and couple who are happy to share a car for the
chance to visit more exclusive wineries.
One of the things that this demonstrates, besides some
frugality, is that wine tasting is a social event. People often enjoy sharing
the day with others who were previously strangers. You know that you have
things in common, a love of travel, wine, and shopping. You’re going to buy
some wine, right?
We’ve been getting increasing numbers of returning clients
requesting larger vehicles. I don’t think that the demand for private tours is
going down, but I do think that the continuing travel boom that wine country is
experiencing is reaching another group of travelers. Too Cool!
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery
Guides, and owners of Amicis Tours. They are authors of over twenty books on
health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine
Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful
area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products
can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com
|