Sales & Marketing Dossier
2
Contents Who Are We? Why City Sightseeing? Our Philosophy Our Service The World of City Sightseeing The One Stop Shop Key Agent Information Working Together City Sigtseeing and Groups Facts & Figures
Contact Details
1
WELCOME TO CITY SIGHTSEEING
2
Who Are We? CITY SIGHTSEEING IS THE LEADING WORLDWIDE OPERATOR OF OPEN TOP HOP ON - HOP OFF BUS TOURS. WE PROVIDE INFORMATION IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES ON THE HISTORY, CULTURE AND POINTS OF INTEREST ALONG THE TOUR ROUTES.
City Sightseeing operates in over 90 locations across 5 continents which includes key cities such as London, Rome, San Francisco, Edinburgh, Istanbul, Seville, Sydney and Singapore.
Our bright red, cheerful buses are now a well-known sight in key cities and towns around the world, we have created a brand which is well liked and instantly recognisable.
We are the world’s leading open top double-decker bus, town and city tour operator. Established in 1998, City Sightseeing Worldwide has grown from just four operations in 2000 to over 90 tours in 2012.
With around 8 million passengers travelling with us each year, City Sightseeing offers sales opportunities for Wholesalers, Agents and Affiliates Worldwide, whether you’re interested in the FIT or Groups markets.
4
Over 90 locations across 5 continents
Why City Sightseeing? Commission Levels
Account Management
One commission level for ALL of the tours regardless of the location, meaning you can earn an equal percentage from each tour. This allows for easy and fast accounting procedures.
A specified account manager to look afterall of your Sightseeing tour needs.
Updates
Training
Monthly newsletters updating you on: new tours introduced, future tours, value added deals, introduction of new languages, changes to routes and anything else that we feel could be helpful to you.
All training needs are addressed in the form of webinars, conference calls ,online e-learning and global call centre training for ALL of the City Sightseeing tours.
Content And Images Our support team can supply you with the most up to date route information, rates and images. These can be supplied location by location, in CD format giving a complete list or via a direct API feed to our website. Updates, changes and other information are all sent by e-mail to a nominated contact address. If you are purchasing by linking to the City Sightseeing website and our booking engine the tour information and pricing is taken directly from there. We are also able to arrange a direct XML feed into your website to a generic home page or to individual locations by deep linking.
5
6
Our Philosophy
Our Service
Our Purpose
Informative
City Sightseeing delivers an innovative, enjoyable, flexible tour which provides a high quality service.
With many of the tours offering a wide range of languages and several UK locations having a live guide the tours really do excite the imagination. Key destinations have tours that operate all year round, meaning you have more to offer your customers in the quieter season, and with commentary in several languages you may want to venture into outbound markets that you haven’t been able to do so before.
We are committed to the improvement of quality in the tourism industry in each city where we are represented, as well as endeavouring to achieve complete customer satisfaction.
Our Vision
Freesale
To be the first choice of tourists in each city where we operate and, on a Worldwide basis, to continue being the first choice for Sightseeing tours.
The tours are “freesale� which means there are no complicated booking procedures or time constraints on arrival at the destination. All your customer needs to do is turn up with the agreed ticket on the bus.
We endeavour to achieve this vision through excellence of service, environmental sustainability and social responsibility, commitment within our community and the creation of a suitable framework for the professional development of our employees.
Our Brand
Flexible
Our Corporate image is one of the strengths of the company, globally recognised as a World leader by tourists looking for open top sightseeing tours. We are identified by our renowned red buses throughout the World. They have become an internationally recognised tourist attraction since the brand creation in 1998 and our first tour in Seville, to our many tours today which now operate on 5 Continents.
Passengers have the flexibility of a hop on / off ticket meaning they can explore a city on both bus and on foot and simply get back on the bus at any time. The ticket is usually valid for either 24 or 48 hours so they can visit places of interest as they wish.
Confirmed by our customer market research results, the values that City Sightseeing manages to transmit through its brand include: • Freshness • Dynamism • Enjoyment •
Fun and amusement
• Entertainment • Quality • Reliability
Fun The tours are structured to be “entertaining” with several of the tours also providing children’s commentary. An open top double decker bus is a great vantage point with excellent photo opportunities.
7
The World Of City Sightseeing ents In 5 contin 90 cities more than untries. over 27 co
North America U.S.A. · Los Angeles · Hawaii · New York · San Antonio
South America
· San Francisco · Washington DC*
Colombia:
Canada
· Cartagena
· Toronto
Peru:
· Vancouver
· Lima
Panama: · Panama City
Europe Spain:
United Kingdom
· Seville
· Bath
· Eastbourne
· Newport
· Barcelona
· Belfast
· Edinburgh
· Norwich
· Benalmadena
· Blackpool
· Felixstowe
· Oban
· Cadiz
· Bournemouth
· Glasgow
· Oxford
· Granada
· Brighton
· Heart of Warwickshire
· Stratford-upon-Avon
· Malaga
· Bristol
· Inverness
· Windsor
· Las Palmas Gran Canaria
· Bute
· Ipswich
· Woodbridge
· Palma de Mallorca
· Cambridge
· Liverpool
· York
· Santa Cruz de Tenerife
· Cardiff
· Llandudno
· Santander
· Chester
· London
· Colchester
· Newcastle/Gateshead
8
*Non City Sightseeing franchisee
Asia
· Singapore
Africa
Oceania
South Africa
Ocean
ía
· Cape Town
Australia · Perth · Sydney · Blue Mountains Explorer
Italy:
Germany:
· Florence
· Berlin
· Genoa
· Frankfurt
· Livorno
· Munich
· Messina
· Potsdam
· Milan
· Trier
· Naples
Portugal:
· Padova · Palermo · Pisa · Rome · Sorrento · Trieste · Turin · Verona
· Albufeira
Netherlands · Amsterdam
Ireland: · Dublin
Norway:
France:
· Stavanger
· Paris*
· Bergen
Others Cities:
· Oslo
Cyprus:
· Malta · Gozo
· Paphos
· Luxembourg
· Porto
Denmark:
· Reykjavik
· Funchal
· Aarhus
· Prague
· Aveiro
· Copenhagen
· Brussels
· Lisbon
Turkey:
Greece
· Istanbul
· Athens
· Warsaw · Tallinn
9
The One Stop Shop
Making your administration process easy
10
City Sightseeing Worldwide offers almost 100 tours through one sales channel. By contracting your sightseeing through City Sightseeing Worldwide we ensure our agents receive the very best rates with ease. Instead of having 100 contracts and 100 contacts you have just one. Making your administration process easy and in the unlikely event of something going wrong for your customers, we will work to get the problem resolved as soon as possible. Also by contracting through the sales and marketing department, you will receive added value tours and discounts that are exclusive to us.
Key Agent Information Commission
Currencies
Commissions vary according to business modus operandi and generally reflect the volume and range of tours sold and the amount of administration required to support the account from the options chosen. Typical commissions start at 15% and then generally increase depending on the amount of tours you are selling. By having a commission structure that is based on performance it gives you the incentive to sell more tours. Commission would then be reviewed on a regular basis or every 12 months.
We contract / invoice all GBP, Euro and USD tours in the currency of origin. Invoices need to be paid in the currency of issue. The tour rates are fixed in advance and are shown in our rates document which is supplied at time of contract. For any tour whose currency that falls outside these three currencies we convert and contract in GBP unless otherwise agreed.
Travel Trade Opportunities Contracting Period Rates are guaranteed for a period of 12 months and are issued well in advance of their commencement date (in September for introduction the following April). This ensures that both Agents printing brochures and those with long lead times on website bookings are well catered for
Whilst our global sales network numbers around 2000+ agents, currently around 80% of all City Sightseeing tour tickets are purchased on impulse in the location. There are therefore boundless opportunities for agents to pre-sell our tours either as part of a package or as a stand alone activity. Which also helps your clients to budget effectively.
11
Working Together Website
Traditional Voucher Method
WE OFFER 2 WAYS OF LINKING INTO OUR WEBSITE TO MAKE BOOKINGS:
THERE ARE TWO WAYS OF OPERATING WITH VOUCHERS:
A
Affiliate link, which is a ‘white label’ pop up window embedded into your consumer website through which a consumer can book a tour and print their voucher at home, earning you a commission using the City Sightseeing booking engine.
A
Using your own vouchers to the format agreed which you load onto your own booking system which is given to your clients to be exchanged locally on the bus for a dated / timed tour ticket.
B B
Agent link, where you or your staff are given a unique log-in to the Travel Trade section of the website where they can register a booking and print a City Sightseeing branded voucher to pass on to the Client. Commission will then be deducted at source and the balance paid on booking.
Using generic or location specific vouchers supplied by us in books of 50 on either a prepaid or invoice basis. In terms of invoicing, we invoice on confirmed bookings that you would advise us of by e-mail and on vouchers redeemed, returned by the local Operators to our offices in the UK. Your Invoice is collated and sent monthly with a spreadsheet of voucher numbers.
Complete the registration form on the link found on our website. You will then be contacted with an offer of commission & contract details to set you up to sell our tours along with more details of the options available. City Sightseeing Link: www.city-sightseeing.com/registration
12
City Sightseeing And Groups WE TREAT GROUP BUSINESS DIFFERENTLY FROM THE STANDARD INDEPENDENT TOURIST (FIT), USING A VARIETY OF OPTIONS AS LISTED BELOW: Small groups (from 10 to 15 passengers)
Groups over 15 passengers
These can be generally treated in the same way as FIT as freesell, although the group should be informed that we cannot absolutely guarantee to seat the entire group on a specific departure – they may have to wait for the next bus before they can all be accommodated, especially in busy periods.
If these groups turn up without pre-booking they sometimes cannot be accommodated on one specific departure. If the group can be split into smaller groups across more than one departure and the group is happy to wait to board, they will be accommodated, however this may cause some minor inconvenience. Therefore, we need to know about these groups in advance, so that we can offer a solution from the menu below: A
We split the group into smaller numbers, give them individual tickets and treat them similar to smaller groups of 10 to 15 passengers.
B
We dedicate a bus to your group at a fixed time and departure point for a tour without the hop on hop off facility.
13
Facts & Figures
CITY SIGHTSEEING WORLDWIDE HAS GROWN FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH OVER RECENT YEARS ENSURING WE REMAIN AS THE WORLD NUMBER ONE OPEN TOP BUS OPERATOR.
14
Contact Details UK Sales Department Unit 4 Pathlow Farm Featherbed Lane Wilmcote, Stratford – upon-Avon Warwickshire CV37 0ER. UK Tel: 0044 (0)1789 299123
Oliver Nicholls
International Sales Manager - Worldwide
Mail: oliver.nicholls@city-sightseeing.com Phone: +44 7815 820316 MarĂa Molina
Sales Manager - Spain
Mail: m.molina@city-ss.com Phone: +34 954 50 20 99
2
1