With the cost of international air travel set to increase further through creeping taxes, European coach travel has seen a boom in recent years that looks to continue, with over 2 million Brits choosing coaches to travel abroad last year alone. The tightening of airport security in recent years (i.e. restricting liquid quantities in cases) has resulted in flying experiences eating into more holiday time and providing a stressful scenario we all want to avoid. With the greater push for greener living and transport a prevalent media theme in the last 5 years, this has also awakened consumers to more environmentally friendly forms of travel, being lighter on emissions and the finances!
The standard of coaches has improved tenfold in the last decade, with stereotypical clichés of sweating travellers cooped in a cramped seat now an experience of the past. Fitted with air conditioning, tinted windows and on board facilities that rival any alternative form of transport, coaches offer more leg room than economy flights for a snip of the price.
The social experience that comes with European coach travel can be rewarding, enjoying the sights with new friends and drinking in the scenery, not just to and from the destination. Often with modern coaching, excursions are provided through the travel company, ending the need for additional hassle and expense on arrival, keeping you in the holiday mood!
Coach travel provides the safest form of road transport, contributing only 0.4% of EU fatalities compared to 46% from cars (source: EU Care Database 2011). Perhaps more surprisingly, coaches statistically provide a safer form of transport than trains. Greater competition in the coaching industry has added extra benefits to safety through improving regulation and standards.
Fuel prices have remained at a record high for years now and avoiding the painful steps of filling up numerous times when venturing abroad are a welcome relief. One of the greenest forms of transport, coaches are 6 times less polluting than an aircraft and four times as clean as a car (source: European Rover). By carrying more passengers per litre of fuel consumed, the enviro-conscious travellers are opting to ditch the airport transfers and head directly to the European sun. This trend is set to continue.
