9-11 Reprise: Are We Repeating History? (by Larry Plachno

9-11 Reprise

Are We Repeating History?

by Larry Plachno

This photo shows several buses lined up near George Washington’s Mt. Vernon waiting for their tour groups to return. Travel slowed down following the 9-11 tragedy as people feared more terrorism. Some suppliers broke the ice and got the industry moving again by inviting bus tours and other travelers. NBT.

Back in 1905, Spanish philosopher George Santayana came up with one of his most famous sayings: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ” Lately there has been some discussion over the fact that history may be repeating itself. What caused the extended downturn after the 9-11 tragedy is now also holding back the industry and prolonging the problems of the pandemic. If you give me a few minutes of your time I will try to explain how both are connected.

Both the aftermath of the 9-11 tragedy and the pandemic carried on for months but for different reasons. One was a fear of terrorism while the other was a fear of the COVID virus. In both situations, the return to normal was slowed because of the lack of encouragement and buying invitations from sellers.

It is interesting that while fear of terrorism remained for months following the 9-11 tragedy, the actual incidents were over in a matter of hours. It could be said that by the time that action was taken to increase safety or mitigate the situation, the need for it was past. Admittedly, this is hindsight years later but in the chaos and confusion at that time it was not so obvious.

One major impact on the bus industry was that the ongoing Buscon show in Cleveland was shut down. We here at NATIONAL BUS TRADER were also involved in a minor way. Our bookkeeper was scheduled to fly out of Boston that same day and found that the flights had been cancelled. As a result,

she ended up renting a car and driving back to the Midwest with her daughter. althoughtheterrorismwasoverinamatter of hours, the fear and concern remained for months. there was a significant decline in both business and personal travel. as is typicalinthesesituations,therewasmoreof an impact on business travel. the reason for thisisthatasubstantialpartofbusinesstravel iscommunication–meetingwithcustomers or attending conferences and trade shows. Much of this can be replaced by phone calls or video meetings. In comparison, more of personaltravelisbasedonexperience.Visitingmomanddadismuchbetterthanaphone call and actually going on a tour is more fun than watching a video.

What ended up happening is that as the impact of 9-11 eased, more and more people were willing and interested in joining a bus tour again. However, the industry suppliers wereslowinprovidinginvitations.Hence,the aftermathofthe9-11tragedywasprolonged. the experts say that suppliers should continue to advertise during a downturn. they offer several reasons, but I am not sure I can remember all of them. • Continued advertising lets buyers know you are there for them. • Continuedadvertisingtellsbuyersyou are inviting them to buy. • Continued advertising supports the industry you are part of. • restarting a business in a downturn is likestartingoriginally.Youneedtoletbuyers know that you are there and invite them to buy.

Whathappenedwasthattheaftermathof 9-11wasneedlesslyprolongedbythelackof invitations from industry suppliers and sellers.thiswasresolvedwhenafewofthesuppliers listened to the experts and jumped in withtheirinvitations.Mymemoryisthatthe primary leaders of this movement – who deserveapatontheback –includedWisconsin Dells and st. Louis. their efforts were so successfulthatothersrealizedtheimportance ofadvertisingandinvitingbusinessthatthey jumped in too. the result was an end to the downturn and a return to normalcy.

Fastforward20yearstotodayandweare findingthatwearefacingmuchthesamesituation. numerous groups are working towardseasingthesituation.Peoplearegetting vaccinatedandwanttotravelagain.byMay, more than 50 percent of the U.s. population had been vaccinated and we were beginning toseethestartofwhatiscalledherdimmunity. the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said it was okay for vaccinated people to travel domestically. they were even waiving the requirementformasksinsomesituations. travel and tourism were trying to make acomeback.someofthenationalparkswere inviting bus groups for the summer of 2021. several bus tour planners were already running bus tours and were looking for invitations on where to bring the bus tours they are now planning.

Meanwhile the United states treasury is giving away two billion dollars to motorcoach and passenger boat operators to help return things to normal. the bus operators will have only one year to spend this money so there will be a huge infusion of cash into the bus industry. they are already looking forinvitationsonwheretospendthismoney.

Unfortunately, it appears that we are in the same situation as 20 years ago in the aftermathof9-11.toursplannersarelooking for invitations on where to run bus tours while bus operators are looking for where to spend their Certs money. the suppliers are slow in getting out their invitations for bus tours and for invitations for buses and bus industry equipment and supplies.

What we need at this point are industry suppliers that follow the recommendations oftheexpertsandgettheirinvitationsoutfor bustoursandforbusequipmentandsupplies. the bus tour planners are looking for places toplantours,andthebusoperatorsarelooking for invitations to spend money. nowisthetimetotalktotheindustrysuppliersandaskthemtogettheirinvitationsout. everyone else has done their part to head things back towards normal. It is now their turntogetonthebandwagonanddotheirpart togettheindustrymovingagain. q

Government facilities have been helpful in getting tourism and travel back running again. Several national parks have been inviting bus tours in the summer of 2021. Many other government buildings and facilities are also again welcoming bus tours and other visitors. nbt.

The new CERTS funding provides two billion dollars in grants for motorcoach and passenger boat operators. Since this money must be spent in one year, it will pay for a lot of activity in the bus industry. Shown are two Setra coaches picking up a group in Atlanta. setra.