Edinburgh Bus Tours has been in operation since 1989, providing open-top, hop-on hop-off bus tours in the capital city of Scotland. Since 2002, the company has been owned by Lothian Buses, dedicated to continuously developing the brand. In 2016, they upgraded their entire fleet by introducing 30 new eco-friendly tour buses, becoming the first fleet of their kind in the UK. This upgraded fleet reduced carbon emissions by 40% and other harmful emissions by 95%-99%, compared to the previous buses.
Edinburgh Bus Tours offers a variety of tours that cater to different interests. These tours explore various aspects of the city and its surroundings. Some tours are guided by knowledgeable guides, while others offer pre-recorded commentary in a choice of languages. All tours are hop-on, hop-off. The company also provides a Day Tour of Loch Ness and the Scottish Highlands.
Check out Edinburgh Bus Tours’ most recent addition – the Regal Tour – exploring areas of the city customers might not find on their own.
Edinburgh Bus Tours and Lothian Buses’ relationship with Palisis began several years ago. From the beginning, the relationship has been strong, noted Sales Manager Elaine Green.
“Getting set up with Palisis was very straightforward, and they gave us a lot of help creating our products,” says Elaine. “There are articles on the system for common questions, an email helpdesk and our account manager is always on hand.
The features in the booking software have helped them elevate how they operate their business. Customisable reporting for finance, operations, agent sales, ticket commissions, etc., allows them to make strategic, data-driven decisions regarding the company.
Implementing QR codes has facilitated their partnership development with various businesses in the city. This allows for a smooth integration process for partners, even those with less advanced systems. Edinburgh Bus Tours can streamline the ticket validation process by incorporating QR codes on vouchers. Additionally, QR codes offer convenient joint ticketing opportunities.
“With Palisis, there is no over-booking”
Elaine Green, Sales Manager at Edinburgh Bus Tours
The API connections update automatically, so even when a tour is closed, that can be communicated to all points of sale immediately. If customers need to be contacted about a cancellation, all their information is in the Palisis booking software, and emailing is quick and easy.
Using Palisis and TourCMS has made many processes function more smoothly for Edinburgh Bus Tours. For hop-on hop-off tour bus bookings, their goal was to increase pre-sales.
Since working with Palisis, Edinburgh Bus Tours has been pleased with their pre-sales, especially, as travellers typically wait to purchase these tickets until the last minute to ensure good weather. Elaine attributes this success to the channel management connections they get through TourCMS. “OTAs choose how they display your product–for example, for our Royal Edinburgh Tour, they lead with Edinburgh Castle and hop-on hop-off–they are very analytic-aware, which again is a reason to work with them.”
Working with a number of selected OTAs helps them reach key markets and demographics they wouldn’t be able to reach by themselves. For example, Edinburgh is hugely popular with Chinese tourists, but their marketing budget would never allow them to reach the whole of China. By working with OTAs in China, they can reach this lucrative market.
Using the travel tech provided by Palisis and TourCMS for day tours with the Loch Ness tour has also made the business run more smoothly. Different from the three open-top hop-on hop-off tours in Edinburgh, this tour is an all-day excursion through the Scottish Highlands in a luxury coach with a dedicated live guide, encompassing historical and geological points of interest across the country, including, of course, the famous Loch Ness. The combination of devices and the API connection makes booking to boarding for this tour a breeze. Elaine explains, “We can manage capacity easily, even when travellers book from various points of sale, such as devices and channel management partners. They are simply checked in using a device when they board.”
Summarising the relationship with Palisis’ travel tech, Elaine says: “We find Palisis is a one-stop shop for our needs.”