Post Falls Works To Attract Shoppers, Tourists By The Busload

A handful of Kootenai County businesses and tourism promoters have adopted a new rallying cry:

“Bring ‘em in by the busload!”

“It’s really an untapped market in North Idaho,” said Nancy DiGiammarco, executive director of the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Convention & Visitor Bureau. “We plan to aggressively go after that business in the coming year.”

About a dozen representatives of hotels and attractions met last week to learn how to do just that.

Much of their education came from Kay Riplinger, marketing director for Factory Outlets at Post Falls. The 46 stores in the outlet mall, as well as another 18 shops in the nearby Post Falls Factory Stores, are a draw for tour groups passing through on Interstate 90.

“We expect about 170 bus tours in 1997, compared with the 150 we had in 1996,” Riplinger said.

The mall stores look for another 10 percent increase in bus tour traffic next year.

When the buses roll in at a pace of about one every other day, the marketing director climbs on board with a bag of discount coupons for each passenger and incentives for the bus driver and tour leader.

While passengers shop, the driver and guide partake in a complimentary meal or cash in a coupon for a free pair of shoes.

Although Riplinger has no figures for what a bus is worth in dollars spent, outlet proprietors paint a positive picture.

“When they’re dropped off in a certain area, I know those stores do better than they’d done in the past,” Riplinger said.

Karen Fitch Ballard, a tourism development specialist with the Idaho Department of Commerce, said bus touring is shifting from a traditional base of senior riders to a younger clientele en route to activities like float trips and hiking excursions.

“It used to be that people on the buses were afraid to fly,” Fitch Ballard explained. “Now we’re finding they’re way more interested in flying to their destination and then getting on the bus.”

The trend toward rolling tourism is gaining speed and leaving money in its wake.

In 1996, more than 642,000 tours pulled out of various points of origin in the United States and Canada. The economic impact of those tours was $11.6 billion, up nearly 12 percent from the year before, according to the Commerce Department.

The benefits may be obvious, but Riplinger warned against expecting quick results from bused-in customers.

“It’s not instant gratification,” she said. “It takes years of working and developing.”

The Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Convention & Visitor Bureau, however, has had instant response to its fledgling outreach program for pulling in bus tours.

“It’s already paying off for us,” said Mary Lien, director of sales for the bureau. “In just one print ad in Western Group Tour Magazine, we got 50 leads in one week.”

Fitch Ballard said attractions such as Silverwood Theme Park and Schweitzer Mountain Resort have become regular stops on bus tour itineraries.

Hotel operators who want to snag the large groups must prepare for a new set of demands, including lower room rates for a service-intensive clientele.

Some of the demands are even more basic.

“If you don’t have a place where you can park a bus, you probably shouldn’t pursue this kind of business,” the tourism specialist said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: EASY RIDERS Bus touring is shifting from a traditional base of senior riders to a younger clientele en route to activities like float trips and hiking excursions.