In what seems a clear sign of the times, overland bus operator Oz-Bus has reached out to an older demographic by offering them a product to suit their maturer years.
The adventure travel operator is known for its bus trips to Sydney, Kathmandu and New York full of hardy gap-year students determined to see the world authentically.
But now it has spotted a trend for slightly older customers buying tickets – perhaps those 30-somethings who have found themselves with rather more time on their hands than they might have expected following recession-era redundancies and enforced sabbaticals.
The new product, Comfort Trips, offer those not so keen on sharing a hostel dorm upgraded accommodation (private twin share rooms) and more creature comforts as they traverse the globe.
Oz Bus studied its books in the last year and concluded that 60% of bookings are now made by over-30s while a quarter are made by the over 60s.
It cites the oldest passenger it has carried as an 82-year-old grandmother who travelled from London to New York via Russia and China.
Oz-Bus owner Alastair Chrystal said: “While I was initially surprised by the numbers of older people wanting to travel on Oz-Bus, I am delighted that we should hold such all-round appeal, and ultimately the demand has given us the flexibility to develop our product and offer much more complex and culturally-oriented itineraries, such as the London-New York trip.
“Having listened to our passengers’ feedback, however, it became clear that many of the older passengers were keen to upgrade their accommodation. The younger adventure travel market is still very important to us and we recognise that this market is highly price sensitive so we have kept the budget trip and just added another level of product.”
by Dinah Hatch
