“It was sobering and life-threatening,” Werner and Wolfgang Wiesinger say about the Corona period. Schwertberg’s travel specialists spoke to the “Krone” about declining sales during the pandemic, the lack of bus drivers and its consequences, and the desire for safety.
Six days on Lake Garda with visits to Verona and Trento! Tomorrow the Schöner Reisen bistro bus will leave on this journey with Wiesinger. “Until the end of September, he is on the road almost continuously,” says Werner Wiesinger. Together with his brother Wolfgang (37), the 39-year-old runs the family business in Schwertberg, which combines travel agency, city flights with specially chartered planes and bus trips.
They describe the pandemic as “sobering and life-threatening”. “We had a drop in sales of 98 to 99 percent,” says Werner Wiesinger. In the late summer of 2022, three of the four coaches were taken out of operation and only one bistro bus is now part of the fleet. The ever-increasing shortage of bus drivers fueled the decision.
Driver Gernot drives a custom-made vehicle from the North Cape to Sicily: fourteen and a half meters long, four meters high, 510 hp, 36 seats on the upper deck, one meter seat pitch, an onboard bistro with 14 seats, refrigerator, dishwasher , freezer, convection oven, extractor hood. “We have a lot of regular customers,” says Werner Wiesinger, who describes the demand for bistro bus travel as “good to very good”.
“People want security”
What do customers find important when travelling? “People want security. They appreciate it if they book the entire trip with a travel agency and have one contact person.” So there is again more demand for packages – whether for a holiday in Greece, Egypt or Turkey.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
