TopDeckIn this issue. Cape TownLondonAmsterdamBrusselsOsloInvernessDubaiMoscowNew YorkLleidaChesterNaplesSharjahBerlinKazanBudapestSt Petersburg

Stage II/Issue 12

TopDeckTopDeck

/ City Sightseeing Awards/ City Sightseeing Awards/ City Sightseeing Awards/ City Sightseeing Awards

/ WTM2015 Promoting the brand

City Sightseeing Worldwide Magazine December 2015. Locally written, globally distributed

2015 City SightseeingAnnual Conference Cape Town, South Africa

01 PORTADA TD12 Ok.indd 1 12/1/16 20:20

OVER 270 OPEN TOP DOUBLE DECKER BUSES OPERATING IN 25 COUNTRIES

ALUMINIUM FRAME NOW AVAILABLE

LOW COST ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE

ROOF OPTIONS ON THE UPPER DECK INCLUDE FULLY OPEN, FOLD OPEN, FIXED SIDE, FRONT CANOPY, ETC.

UPSTAIRS SIDE WINDOWS OPTIONS: SLIDING, REMOVABLE, DOUBLE OR WITH ELECTRIC OPENING SYSTEM UP AND DOWN

VEHICLES 10,5, 12 OR 14 METERS LONG AVAILABLE

UNVI: LEADING GLOBAL SOLUTIONS FOR YOU

Approved Qualified Partner of

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

WWW.UNVI.ES · EMAIL: COMERCIAL@UNVI.ES · TLF: +34 988 980 600

UNVI CARS & BUS DIRECT www.unvi.fr

UNVI BUS & COACH LTDwww.unvibusandcoach.co.uk

UNVI NORTH AMERICA, LLC

View of a removable roof and window solutions: Light transparent polycarbonate roof with aluminum frame and sliding windows.

NEW

2014

Anuncio City Sightseeing 2014.indd 1 03/02/14 16:33

The City Sightseeing Annual Conference has gone and we still remain good memories of the marvellous city of Cape Town,

the much we learnt from our keynote speakers and operators, the news from our sponsors Great Guide and UNVI, and, of course, all

the great job made by Claus, Wendy, Christine and their team in South Africa.

The main topic of the conference was Quality Service Plus Brand Recognition Equals Success, and I have to say that it

couldn’t be more appropriate in the current situation. The travel industry has become a key player in the Global Economy, many new

destinations have opened and have invested in tourism, creating jobs, companies and building new infrastructure, making tourism

also a key factor in the development of their economies. Currently, tourism contributes 9% to the World’s GDP, also 1 of every 11

jobs are created by the Travel Industry.

Despite the occasional conflicts that we have been living in the past years the Travel Industry keeps growing non stop. It

has had a continued growth of over 4% for the last 5 years. International tourist arrivals have grown from over 500 million in 1995 to

1,133 million in 2014. Many new destinations have emerged in addition to the traditional favourites of Europe and North America,

mainly in Asia and the Pacific. In this situation, we all have enjoyed a passenger increase and new business opportunities have emerged.

On the other hand, such a big growth has call to competition. That is why we wanted to stress the quality of service and the power

of the global brand as the way to remain leaders of the sightseeing sector.

You will find more about that in the following pages as well as about the conference and other interesting topics within the

travel industry.

I would like to thank you all for the brilliant work done this year 2015 and I am sure 2016 will witness even greater

achievements for the City Sightseeing Worldwide network.

With my best wishes,

03

Dear friends,

Message from Enrique Ybarra / President & CEO City SightseeingWorldwide

ResumeSeville, Spain. The home of the first ever City Sightseeing operation which started on the 31 March 1999

03 WELCOME TD12 def.indd 1 13/01/16 18:53

/ Staff / Staff

04

TOP DECK has now entered into Stage II, with a new design and content layout. There have been 52 issues of Top Deck over the last 18 years.

Editor Antonio M. Ortega. press@city-ss.comAssociate editorsRichard Morgan & Mandy Gaughan.Contributing writersSergei Lavrentyev, Zakarya Hamdan, Isaac Flores, Elisabeth Tasker, Inge Heath, Claus Tworeck, David Chien, Athena Papareskou, Alex Dochy, Jessica Rebstock, Malika Gharred, Marcos Ybarra.ProductionAntonio M. Ortega and Juancho Gonzalez. DesignJotaQuKAs

PublisherCity Sightseeing Worldwide

We welcome your views about TOP DECK and any stories you might have. Please send any suitable items for inclusion to: topdeck@city-sightseeing.com

Printed by:Egondi Artes GráficasThis edition of Top Deck has been printed on CREATOR STAR FSC paper, where the virgin fibre comes from forests with strict criteria towards environmental protection. This FSC certified paper also incorporates other environmental standards such as chlorine-free bleaching. The FSC logo identifies products from well managed forests which are certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Views expressed in the pages of TOP DECK are not necessarily thoseof City Sightseeing Worldwide, their Franchisees, Associates andPartners or the Editors.

TopDeckIn this issue. Cape TownLondonAmsterdamBrusselsOsloInvernessDubaiMoscowNew YorkLleidaChesterNaplesSharjahBerlinKazanBudapestSt Petersburg

Stage II/Issue 12

TopDeckTopDeck

/ City Sightseeing Awards/ City Sightseeing Awards/ City Sightseeing Awards/ City Sightseeing Awards

/ WTM2015 Promoting the

City Sightseeing Worldwide Magazine December 2015. Locally written, globally distributed

2015 City SightseeingAnnual Conference Cape Town, South Africa

01 PORTADA TD12 Ok.indd 1 29/12/15 12:38

06/07Report: UNWTO to boost public/private partnerships

08/09External Interview:David Martin – Arriva

10/15Front cover article: 2015 City Sightseeing Annual Conference

16/17Destination: City Sightseeing Amsterdam

18/19Special Feature: Overview of the year

20/21The world of City Sightseeing

22/23Destination: City Sightseeing Brussels

24/25Special Feature:WTM 2015

26/27Internal Interview:Martin Miodownik – Head of Technology Innovation

28/29Suppliers:Great Guide / UNVI

30/31Gallery / Corporate News

32/33Gallery / Tour News

34/35Gallery / Staff stories

36/37Gallery / Customers

38The Wall

City Sightseeing AwardsBest CS Operators & Personalities of the Year

New generationmulti-lingual System

MULTIMEDIA&ENGINEERINGwww.meingenieria.com

TLF +34 93 3208221info@meingenieria.com

M&E MULTI LINGUAL SYSTEMS

C. Tanger 51 - 08018 Barcelona

Retrofitting plan!

With more than fifteen years of experience in tourist sector and presence in 35 countries M&E launch the ultimate design of multi-lingual systems.

Audio modules protected against dust and water. USA and European EMC automotive regulations.

Easy to operate, install and maintain.

Special price to renew your old systems.

Contact us at our sales department:Mr Edgar Boixe-mail: sales@meingenieria.com TLF +34 93 3208221

/ Contents/ Contents

05

New generationmulti-lingual System

MULTIMEDIA&ENGINEERINGwww.meingenieria.com

TLF +34 93 3208221info@meingenieria.com

M&E MULTI LINGUAL SYSTEMS

C. Tanger 51 - 08018 Barcelona

Retrofitting plan!

With more than fifteen years of experience in tourist sector and presence in 35 countries M&E launch the ultimate design of multi-lingual systems.

Audio modules protected against dust and water. USA and European EMC automotive regulations.

Easy to operate, install and maintain.

Special price to renew your old systems.

Contact us at our sales department:Mr Edgar Boixe-mail: sales@meingenieria.com TLF +34 93 3208221

04_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 504_05 SUMARIO.indd 5 29/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:1029/12/15 13:10

06

Tourism/ Public-Private Partnerships

There is an African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” There are many forms of partnerships and some only involve the private sector. However, successful tourism projects often need to include local/regional/national governments among the players.

Developing tourism will often require the involvement of governments as they have control over essential resources such as public lands (i.e., beaches, mountains, national parks, lakes) and also the responsibility for activities such as regional economic development, planning, security of borders, and social and environmental protection. In the sightseeing sector, public administrations have a key role in our activity as bus and boat tours concern public areas and transportation.

In this context, it is specially interesting for our industry the call made by the UNWTO for boosting Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) as it is clear that understanding is needed for the success of tourist projects and destinations.

The UNWTO’s Affiliate Members Programme in partnership with Griffith Institute of Tourism of the Griffith University have prepared the ‘Global Report on Public-Private Partnerships: Tourism Development’, a document which

include 17 case studies of successful public-private partnerships from Samoa to Japan. These experiences demonstrate that administrations, companies and other institutions working together are able to improve business competitiveness, economic sustainability, capacity building and environmental conservation in their respective territories.

As the Global Report concludes, “successful PPPs are those that provide a benefit to all stakeholders involved. Demonstrating tangible outcomes is not only important in encouraging participation but also for maintaining momentum and ensuring the sustainability of the project. PPPs are collaborations between many different stakeholders who come together for mutual economic benefit from providing memorable experiences to tourists. These stakeholders cannot achieve their individual objectives on their own and so voluntarily form partnerships that enable them to do so. The combination

“PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (PPP) HAVE PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN EMERGING ECONOMIES”

TALEB RIFAISECRETARY-GENERALUNWTO

07

2017, the Year ofSustainable Tourism for DevelopmentThe United Nations (UN) General Assembly has approved the adoption of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The resolution, adopted on 4 December, recognizes “the importance of international tourism in fostering better understanding among peoples everywhere”.Source: www.unwto.org

3.5% growth in Global Travel & TourismAccording to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) annual autumn update to its Economic Impact research, GDP growth of 3.5% is forecast for the sector in 2015, despite numerous challenges that have already taken place this year. This is slightly lower than the forecast at the beginning of the year, mostly due to weaker domestic spending.Source: www.wttc.org

Middle East is world’sfastest-growing outbound travel marketThe Middle East outbound travel market was actually the world’s fastest-growing market in 2015 with a 9 per cent increase in outbound trips over the first eight months of this year, according to preliminary World Travel Monitor results from IPK International. These are among the findings in the ITB World Travel Trends Report,.Source: www.itb-berlin.de

Small news Tourism industry

of stakeholders’ actions can achieve what they cannot do individually.”

We can see within the City Sightseeing international network valuable examples of public-private agreements. First of all, some countries like Spain remain offering city tours as concessions from the authorities. In the other hand, city councils like York have worked together with City Sightseeing operators to pioneering in this sector. That is how one of York’s renowned City Sightseeing buses became the first double-decker bus in the world to get an electric makeover, thanks to a successful bid for funding by City of York Council.

In Berlin, the City Sightseeing operator has been developing the “Retrofit-Kit” that will shortly make true the dream to use electric buses in sightseeing operations. They have just presented their first MAN fully electric SD 200 double-decker bus in cooperation with the “Land” (State) of Berlin, the Senate and Visit Berlin.

The point is that it is not only a Berlin achievement but an European goal as the institution involved are ready to provide financial assistance at the EU level, so that other City Sightseeing locations in Europe can benefit from the CS Berlin developments.

Learning from successful PPPs is possible by downloading the UNWTO Global Report, but also by catching up many of the City Sightseeing operations worldwide. Partnerships and strategic alliances are a key concept in the tourism industry, something we do know well as experiences like Sharjah, Moscow, York or Berlin prove.

Download the ‘Global Report on PPP: Tourism Development’ here

1After ten years as the CEO of Arriva Group, it is time to leave the top position in

spite of remaining in the board of directors. How has this time been working in such a successful company?I have enjoyed a tremendous 10 years as chief executive of Arriva, I have also been fortunate to work closely with an exceptional leadership team and have enjoyed every minute working with colleagues from across all of our businesses – helping them to develop, innovate and grow.

I know I am stepping down with Arriva positioned perfectly for further growth as we look to maintain our position as Europe’s leading transport and mobility provider.

2International arrivals have grown by 4% in 2015, the travel industry is beating

its own records. How do you see the tourism panorama from a transport company, a leading transport company?It’s obviously good news for us all that the tourism industry is growing. That means big opportunities for projects like Teatro Bus as more people are keen to learn about the history and culture of specific cities and countries. We operate buses and trains in many of those cities so that growth is good news for Arriva too as it will hopefully stimulate passenger journeys.

3What upcoming challenges do you see for the travel industry? And what about

opportunities? How tourist

David Martin joined Arriva in 1996 and has headed the company from 2006 to 2015, including the take over of Deutsche Bahn in 2010. Now Martin steps down leaving the group with 55,000 employees and revenues of £3.3bn across 14 European countries.

David Martin/ CEO of Arriva Group – Deutsche Bahn

08

“IT IS OBVIOUSLY GOOD NEWS FOR US ALL THAT TOURISM INDUSTRY IS GROWING. THAT MEANS BIG OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROJECTS LIKE TEATRO BUS”

08_09 DAVID MARTIN.indd 8 29/12/15 14:16

companies can take advantage of technology, visa facilitations, and economic recovery to expand business?The transport sector needs to continue to innovate and look at new ways of attracting customers and delivering for clients bodies. As technology advances, whether that’s in vehicles, ticketing or customer information, we must be ready to lead. The economic recovery is still fragile in some countries but it’s good to see positive recovery, especially in countries like Spain and Portugal where Arriva has a long-term presence.

4 What do you think about the City Sightseeing brand? Our service, our global

expansion, etc.I think that like Arriva, City

09

Sightseeing is a strong brand with excellent credentials in the tourism sector. We each have a pan-European reach and that makes us an excellent partnership for the Teatro Bus project.

5Now we are working together in the project Teatro Bus. How do you see

this product in the next years?Led by the drive and enthusiasm of Javier Fuentes, Teatro Bus has a bright future and continues to grow and study opportunities across Europe. The partnership between Arriva and City Sightseeing represents a superb opportunity for growth and the immediate development of innovative products. We are delighted to be part of the project and involved in taking it to the next level.

“THE TRANSPORT SECTOR NEEDS TO CONTINUE INNOVATE AND LOOK AT NEW WAYS OF ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS AND DELIVERING FOR CLIENTS BODIES”

08_09 DAVID MARTIN.indd 9 29/12/15 14:16

2015 City Sightseeing Annual Conference/ Quality Service & Brand Recognition to Remain Market Leaders

10

From 27 November to 1 December the City Sightseeing family gathered once more to catch up and share experiences from their operations around the globe. Brilliantly organized by City Sightseeing South Africa in the marvellous city of Cape Town, it was truly productive and draw the corporate strategy for next months.

Over 100 delegates, up to 50 destinations, brilliant keynote speakers, inspirational panels, much networking and some interesting news from our suppliers & providers wrapped out a significant professional event, together with fun, historical visits and the most important attractions of a wonderful destination, a paradise like Cape Town.

After four exciting days of sightseeing and social activities throughout the Mother City, the business sessions started in The Venue, in the Cape Town’s V&A

Waterfront, with the Minister of Tourism of the Republic of South Africa, the Honorable Derek Hanekom, opening the sessions.

This year our keynote speaker, TJ Sassani, brought us his inspirational history of entrepreneurship, as an example of technology developed to provide with a number of activities, excursions and attractions to a global public. ZOZI is a B2B SaaS platform and B2C marketplace for the $125B global activities market. For businesses, ZOZI Advance is the fastest growing online reservation, payment, and customer management software used by thousands of businesses across nearly 90 countries. For consumers, ZOZI.com helps customers discover and book thousands of activities.

Nicole Rademacher, Director of Sales & Marketing for TUI Destination Services Worldwide, gave us an insight into the to a

The 2015 City Sightseeing Annual Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa gravitated around two basic elements of the global brand operations: high standards of quality service and the valuable brand recognition.

THE BUSINESS SESSIONS WERE OPENED BY THE MINISTER OF TOURISM OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE HONORABLE DEREK HANEKOM

10_15 CS CONFERENCE.indd 2 29/12/15 11:44

11

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS, CORPORATE PRESENTATIONS, INTERESTING PANELS & NETWORKING IN THE MARVELLOUS CITY OF CAPE TOWN

huge activity that provides rep service, entertainment and childcare in TUI hotels, excursions and transfers for more than 11 million TUI customers in 109 destinations around the world. Nicole leads the Sales & Marketing team in charge of maximising the sales of excursions and in destination ancillaries, with a clear vision to make destination experiences special. She is also responsible for driving the online sales of these products and developing new channels. That is why her experience of 20 years in TUI was very valuable for everybody in the conference.

Finally, Grant Holmes made an introduction to the cruise ship industry. Due to the growth of this sector and the renowned area within the CS Global Sales Department, cruise ships reveals as a key sales channel for the upcoming months / years. In this context, the 30+

years of experience in Cruise Ship/Hotel Operations, Tour Operations, Marketing, Sales and Training of Grant Holmes with an impeccable track record of successful performance was very useful for us.

In the Corporate presentations, the President & CEO of City Sightseeing Worldwide, Enrique Ybarra, together with the Deputy Managing Director Mandy Gaughan, the Head of Global Sales Oliver Nicholls and the new IT manager Martin Miodownick made an overview of the work done for the promotion of the global brand and the operations under the umbrella of City Sightseeing, as well as the presentation of the new plan for 2016.

The operators had the opportunity of share their own initiatives and experiences through the four panels included in the official program, regarding Quality Service, the importance of branding properly, cruise ships and up-selling.

On this occasion we had again the chance to know more about the services of two of the most important preferred providers within the City Sightseeing network. South African Great Guide had much presence not only with its own presentation in the conference, but fully involved in social activities and, of course, in the fantastic multi-lingual commentary of the City Sightseeing Cape Town routes. UNVI offered the advanced and comfortable buses from the exhibitors’ area and on the night Javier Gonzalez, representative of the sightseeing bus manufacturer UNVI kindly handed out an award at the Gala Dinner to the Best New Operator – that had one of the most impressive launches in our history.

It was once more a very productive event for everybody, this time in such a paradise like Cape Town.

12

1 Wendy Volkel in a session of traditional face painting during the dinner at Africa Cafe. 2 Magician performance in the Welcome Dinner. 3 City Sightseeing Cape Town bus tour. 4 Visit to the Table Mountain. 5 Picnic at Clifton Beach. 6 City Sightseeing Football Tournament participants. 7 Golf Maestro next to Cape Town Stadium. 8 Enrique Ybarra, the keynote speaker TJ Sassani and Oliver Nicholls at Maestro’s on the beach on Milnerton Beach.

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

13

9 Excursion to Cape Point. 10 The Minister of Tourism of South Africa Derek Hanekom in his welcome to the CS operators. 11 Great Guide and UNVI stands in the exhibitors area. 12 Mandy Gaughan presentation. 13 Monopoly Cape Town special edition. 14 Sergei Lavrentyev during his presentation. 15 CS International Football Tournament champions: Isaac Flores, Jose Maria Sanchez, Jessica Rebstock, Nikolai Bragin, Daniel Vidal and Luis Miguel Labrado with Oliver Nicholls. 16 Enrique Ybarra hands over the host trophy to Claus Tworeck.

9 10

11 12

13 14

15 16

10_15 CS CONFERENCE.indd 5 29/12/15 11:44

14

Once more, the Gala Dinner celebrated on the first professional day hosted a very special event for all the City Sightseeing operations. Every year we recognize the good job done by the different operators and their staff, and this year at The Reserve in the Taj Hotel it was a very stunning and emotional moment. The Awards for last year’s work gathered in the picture to City Sightseeing Amsterdam as the Best Operator of the Year, Alex Dochy from City Sightseeing Brussels as Ambassador of the Brand, City Sightseeing Oslo in the category of the Best

Customer Service, Neil Renilson from City Sightseeing Inverness as Personality of the Year and City Sightseeing Dubai as the Best New Operator of the Year.The presentation of the nominees was received with enthusiasm by the City Sightseeing operators and the announcements was celebrated by the crew after brief speeches of the awarded managers.Congratulations to everybody and thank you very much for all the fantastic work done for taking the City Sightseeing service and brand recognition to the highest!

“I was very surprised that Oslo won the award for Best Customer Service. The award means that we are doing the right thing in Norway, and this is a recognition of all the hard work we are putting into the operation. I must also give a big thanks our good business partner and co-owner Strömma. Together with Strömma we have built a good operation here in Oslo. This award means a lot to us, and we are very grateful to have won this prize. We really appreciate to be a member of this great organization. I have always thought that the City Sightseeing trademark is a strong and well known. Therefore we must all help each other to create good experiences in every CS destination, so that the customer next time also select City Sightseeing wherever you go around the world.”

/ CUSTOMER SERVICE - CS OSLO

/ CITY SIGHTSEEING AWARDS

15

“I have been involved in City Sightseeing right from the start. When I was in Edinburgh back in 2000 we were the 3rd operator to join the fledgling City Sightseeing business, and it has grown out of all recognition since, to over 100 cities. What is unique about City Sightseeing is the breadth and depth of its spread, reaching from the small 2 bus seasonal only operations like Inverness, to the huge all year round Big City operations like that in Cape Town. Its one of the very few businesses where the mom & pop business with 2 buses can sit down with the capital city operators with over 50 buses, and talk, and everybody is treated as equal – that’s one of City Sightseeing’s strengths – if you’re prepared to play by the rules everyone is welcome, a sort of United Nations of the Tour Bus World.

/ PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR –NEIL RENILSON

“This award is honestly a reflection of my team and the hard work, long hours, but more importantly drive and enthusiasm they have placed into this new Dubai start-up from day one together with the people from dnata/Emirates Group. It’s has been just over a year since we started and we believe what we have achieved in little over a year is tremendous. No team is perfect and we have all learned a lot over the past year, especially as Dubai is such a unique place to start an operation. The team consists of over 20 nationalities and I feel this diversity alone makes for a great workforce. Although we are all from different ends of the world the one thing the team has in common is passion for City Sightseeing Dubai, passion for this beautiful city and the aspiration to keep client happy by offering excellent quality and customer service. I have always believed the true City Sightseeing strength to be our presence all over the world with unique experience professionals constantly innovating in our industry. Through these years, I have learned a lot from all our colleagues around the world and that has made me better in my job. To this I have to add that each city/country is different in its own way, adapting our business to these changes forces you to improvise and think out of the box quite often.”

/ BEST OPERATOR OF THE YEAR – CS AMSTERDAM

Pages 16/17.

/ AMBASSADOR OF THE BRAND– ALEX DOCHY

Pages 22/23.

/ BEST NEW OPERATOR – CS DUBAI

1How do you feel as the CS Operator of the Year?In the past years we invested

a lot in the improving of the service, including a new staff training program, the introduction of a quality control system, and fully new and enhanced audio content in 18 languages. Last but not least we launched an app with a lot of service-related features like actual time schedules, finding exact points of departures and locating vehicles. Early 2015 we introduced a second route; we added a boat line to the existing bus route. This way we managed to more then double our capacity and cover a bigger part of the downtown area. Winning the Operator of the Year award really means a lot to us. It proves that we are coursing in the right direction and motivates us even more to keep on doing our utmost in the future. I am proud of this achievement of our whole team!

2What projects do you plan to undertake in 2016?In 2016 we will continue with

our quality control program, and hopefully it will result in a nomination for the best customer service award… Furthermore we have ordered a new bus, which will enable us to extend our current bus route. Following the success of the recently hop on-hop off boat line, we will brand 5 more boats in the CS style and introduce a second boat line. We will also triple our fleet of 35-seated electric open boats to no less then 12 and open our fourth CSA-store in town.

3How do you see the brand helping your operation? We see the CS brand as one

of our flagship activities. Thanks to its strong and reliable reputation, it creates a great spin-off for our other services, like outbound excursions, our Amsterdam-based attractions, canal cruises and ticket sales.

The future of the brand“We have full trust in the CS brand, which we will keep on developing in the future. We have a strong believe in creativeness, innovation and strategic partnerships”

Lessons from Cape Town“I was very impressed by CS Cape Town. They off er a great sightseeing experience and the whole operation runs extremely smooth and professional. There were certainly a couple of things that we can learn from and which will help to improve our service in Amsterdam”

In his words/ Erik de Visser – City Sightseeing Amsterdam

16

Erik de Visser is happy to share the Best CS Operator Award with his team in Amsterdam and advances important additions to the operation in order to take City Sightseeing Amsterdam to the excellence in terms of customer service. Certainly a model of how to manage the global brand.

Erik de VisserCEO

CS Amsterdam

Amsterdam

17

>The city in fi guresAmsterdam, The Netherlands830,000 inhabitantsSpeak Dutch and English4.6 million tourists

Amsterdam is a vibrant city, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe and a dynamic trading port. The craddle of the famous painters Van Gogh or Rembrandt, among others, as well as historic characters like Anna Frank. Founded in the 12th century as a dam of the river Amstel, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age (17th century). The renowned and canals were built then and remain nowadays as one of the iconic landmarks of the city. Museums, bars, shopping and the red-light district are among the most demanded attractions of the more than 4.6 million tourists that Amsterdam welcome every year.

City Sightseeing AmsterdamStart Point: Stop 1 - Central StationDuration: 70 minsFrequency: Every 15/20 minsSeason: All Year Round excluding 27 April 2015. From March till November: Daily 09.10 - 18.15 h. In august till 18.40 hTicket Length: 24 hours

/ Destination

/ Highlights

CS Amsterdam ticket office

> The commercial and cultural capital of the Netherlands> One of the top financial centres in Europe> Van Gogh, Anna Frank, the Canals, shopping...

/ Amsterdam/ AmsterdamVenice of the North

Photo / Sira Ananwong

Review of 2015/ Expansion, promotion& partnerships

18

The year 2015 has been another successful period for City Sightseeing as our network has reached more destinations ever, up to 110 in the five continents, more presence than ever in trade shows and new strategic alliances.

In terms of promotion of the brand and the over 100 destinations operating in the City Sightseeing network, never before the brand has been so exposed in the major trade shows around the world, from not-to-miss events like ITB Berlin, WTM London, FITUR Madrid, ATM Dubai or IPW USA to other specific regional shows. This year we also have disembarked in such a big showcase like the cruise ship industry is, with presence in sea trade events.

The brand has acquired positive outcomes not only in these shows which represent large investment but also in media events. The Red Bull Jump in Amsterdam and the City

Sightseeing New York Ride of Fame are good examples.

This year 2015 has also been the year of partnerships, continuing to the strategy launched in the previous years. This allowed us to work on new exciting City Sightseeing destinations in key markets like Europe, Middle East and America. The agreement signed with the ex CEO of the Arriva Group, part of the giant of transport Deutsche Bahn, David Martin, with the Ministry of Culture of Barhain, and with the Arabian Al Hokair group will spread our international network.

Following from this, we hope to close the year with more than 15 million travellers enjoying a City Sightseeing tour around the world.

In addition of the business, City Sightseeing Worldwide confirmed itself as a responsible brand with new co-operations and funds with charity and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

As the year goes by in City Sightseeing we look back, to summarize the work done in the past 12 months to take the global brand to high level of recognition and to deliver customers to our over 100 operations worldwide.

18_19 REVIEW OF 2015.indd 18 29/12/15 11:33

19

18_19 REVIEW OF 2015.indd 19 29/12/15 11:34

The World of City Sightseeing

Hollywood/LASan Francisco

San Antonio

New Orleans

Toronto

New YorkDublin

London

BelfastEdinburgh

Glasgow

Cardiff

Miami

Prague

Brussels

Paris*

BerlinTrier

Luxembourg

Potsdam

Rome

Seville

Oslo

TallinnAmsterdam

Stockholm

Copenhagen

Reykjavik

BarcelonaPalma de Mallorca

Santander

MalagaGranadaBenalmadena

Aveiro IlhavoPorto

Albufeira

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Florence

Milan

Naples

La SpeziaPisa

Palermo

Cape Town

Malta

AmericasEurope

Funchal

Gozo

Lima

Cartagena

Inverness

CadizJerez

BergenAlesund

Stavanger

Livorno

PaduaRavenna

TriesteVerona

TurinGenoa

BournemouthBath

Bristol

Belfast

Brighton

Bute

Cardiff

CambridgeChester

Eastbourne&Beachy Head

EdinburghGlasgow

Inverness

Llandudno&Conwy

London

NewcastleGateshead

Oban

Oxford

Stratford-upon-Avon

Windsor & Eton

YorkDublin

United Kingdom

Norwich

Panama

Johannesburg

Cordoba

Lleida

Rotterdam

Geiranger

Toledo

Gothenburg

20_21.indd 24 29/12/15 15:07

The World of City Sightseeing

Athens

Prague

WarsawBerlin

Potsdam

Rome

TallinnAmsterdam

Stockholm

Copenhagen

SingaporeFlorence

Naples

Blue Mountain Explorer*

Perth

Oceania

EuropeAlesund

Paphos

Messina

Sorrento

PaduaRavenna

Trieste

Kiev

Sharjah

Moscow

Johannesburg

BakuTbilisi

Melbourne

Sydney & Bondi Beach*

*Act as agents

Dubai

Budapest

St. Petersburg

Kraków

Kazan

Gothenburg

20_21.indd 25 29/12/15 15:07

1How is the situation of tourism in Brussels? Have you experienced the

financial crisis in any way?The brussels operation in 2015 was very successful. The weather was quite nice all year long. The mild winter had a very positive effect on our numbers. So that tourism has experienced a recovery in central Europe.

2As the seat of the European Parliament and thus the administrative capital of

Europe, what kind of tourist use to visit the city?It is clear that the EU calls a lot of business and political travellers but we also believe that Brussels as a tourist destination is becoming more and more attractive. Of course the European headquarters can be visited on our line 2, we have a stop right at the entrance of the European Parliament.

3What are the challenges of CS Brussels for 2016?We have some important

challenges for 2016. Some parts of the centre of Brussels are becoming pedestrian. This means that we have no more access to the stock market area. We have to reroute our itinerary. Luckily the city of Brussels granted us a new very important stop between the grand place and the Manneken Pis (one of Brussels tourist attractions). In addition we are now working on new commentaries in different languages.

4How do you see the City Sightseeing brand in five years time?

We are very proud to be part of city sightseeing. It is very clear that the brand became very strong and recognizable. It will keep growing as more cities will join City Sightsseeing and more and more people will travel to our tourist destinations.

The City Sightseeing brand“We are very proud to be part of City Sightseeing. It is very clear that the brand became very strong and recognizable. It will keep growing as more cities will join CS and more and more people will travel to our tourist destinations”

Challenges for 2016“Some parts of the centre of Brussels are becoming pedestrian so we have to reroute our itinerary. We are now working on new commentaries in diff erent languages”

In his words/ Alexander Dochy – City Sightseeing Brussels

22

Alexander Dochy manages the City Sightseeing brand in the heart of Europe – Brussels, known as the capital of the European Union, a transport hub and a vibrant tourist destination where the global brand acquires big exposure.

Alexander DochyCEO

CS Brussels

Brussels

23

>The city in fi guresBrussels-Capital Region, Belgium1.8 million inhabitantsSpeak French and Dutch3.3 million tourists (2013)

Brussels is the capital and largest city of Belgium and the ‘de facto’ capital of the European Union (EU). Apart from its political importance, Brussels is a nice and famous tourism destination thanks to landmarks like the Manneken Pis, Cinquantenaire Arch, Art Nouveau and Victor Horta, the Grand-Place and the Atomium. The city abounds in architectural monuments, from the Renaissance to modern times and discovering this heritage is full of surprises. Visitors looking for a spot of culture might want to pay a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, The Royal Military Museum or the Museum of Musical Instruments. Or the Chocolate Museum and Beer Museum might be more to your taste.

City Sightseeing BrusselsStart Point: Stop 1 - Central Station (Main terminals for both lines)Duration: Line 1- Atomium: 75 minsLine 2 - Europe: 75 minsFrequency: January/February/December - Every 30/45 minsMarch/November - Every 30 minsApril - October - Every 15/30 minsSeason: All Year RoundTicket Length: 24 hours or 48 hours

/ Destination

> Founded in the 10th-century by a descendant of Charlemagne> A major centre for international politics> The famed Atomium was built for the world fair in 1958

/ Highlights

CS Brussels bus at the Atomium

/ Brussels/ BrusselsThe capital of the European Union

City Sightseeing was again present from 1 to 3 November at the latest edition of World Travel Market. As the Global Sales Department promotes the global brand and over 100 destinations in every major trade show in the travel industry, WTM is a must in our annual calendar with sixteenth attendances in a row this year.

In 2015, City Sightseeing featured the portfolio of destinations with six new exciting cities launched this year – St Petersburg, Rotterdam, Budapest, Helsinki, Gothenburg, Krakow, Jerez and Lleida.

At the ExCeL Exhibition centre the CS staff met key personalities within the travel industry, including agents, institutions, partners and the media. Some CS operators also visited us in the stand UKI 250 – Martin Curtis (CS Bath), Antonio da

Silva (CS Portugal), Alex Dochy (CS Brussels), Jane Marshall (CS Oxford), Kami Farhadi (CS Hollywood/LA), Henrik Bendix (CS Scandinavia), Christian Watts (CS San Francisco), Ahmed Al Qaseer (CS Sharjah), Henk Philip (CS Amsterdam) and James Heng (CS Singapore), among others.

WTM 2015 was a phenomenally successful event surpassing the average attendance of the previous five events with the number of qualified buyers remaining at a record high. Average attendance for WTM London from 2010 to 2014 stand at 48,888. WTM London 2015 saw an impressive 49,275 participants, according to unaudited figures. Visitor numbers – including buyers from the WTM Buyers’ Club – jumped 20% from WTM London 2010 – 2014, with an average over the period of 29,408.

Once more, in November, London was the meeting point for the global tourism industry. In this edition World Travel Market gathered the most important destinations, companies and buyers of the sector around the globe. And City Sightseeing was there.

Special Feature/ World Travel Market London 2015

24

5

1

25

1 View of the stand UKI 250 of City Sightseeing Worldwide at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London. 2 Christian Watts (CS San Francisco), Alex Dochy (CS Brussels) and Henrik Bendix (CS Scandinavia). 3 Mandy Gaughan and Martin Curtis (CS Bath). 4 Kami Farhadi (CS Hollywood/LA) and James Heng (CS Singapore). 5 The CS stand in WTM. 6 Marcos Ybarra, Jeronimo Cardenas and Enrique Ybarra with the President of the Andalusian Government, Susana Diaz, and the Councellor of Tourism of Andalucia, Francisco Javier Fernandez. 7 Geoff Woods from dnata and Jeronimo Cardenas

2

3

4

6

7

1Tell us something about you, how do you arrive at City Sightseeing with so

much experience at only 32?I have always been related to technology and business, probably what everyone calls a tech entrepreneur right now. When I was 12, I convinced my parents to buy me a cd burner (they where really new back then in Uruguay), and set a business to sell music compilation cds. This is the time when you connected to the internet through a modem you could hear dial, and your connection broke if someone picked-up the phone.

I have kept this spirit through my life always looking to do new and exciting things. While I was studying, I worked for a company trying to do mobile payments. In 2006 the smartphone wasn’t here

yet, the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, we where too early to the market and the company failed. Innovation and challenges have always been at the center of my career, I like to aim at the impossible and make it happen.

This same spirit brings me to City Sightseeing. I see a huge opportunity to change the way our customers travel today and I’m looking forward to work together with you through this journey.

2What did you know about City Sightseeing before joining us and what have

you learnt about us in your first days here?Before joining the company I only knew about a great brand that was growing every year in importance and locations. Now I know that behind the brand there is an

Martin Miodownik comes from Uruguay, studied there and in Spain and was the first non-founder employee of GetYourGuide in Germany. Now he is joining the City Sightseeing family in Spain and working to develop the new IT strategy of the company.

amazing team of people all over the world. I am happily surprised how each team in every city lives the brand and how the whole company resembles more a family, with everyone helping and supporting each other.

3 What could we expect from 2016 as the year of technology in City

Sightseeing? The year of IT is a big title, however IT is never a one time thing. Every year from now on will be an IT year, with new and exciting developments. This first year, though, we are going to define a strategy that will guide us forward. Soon we will be sharing with you the next steps and I encourage you to share your experiences and feedback with us. Every franchise has

Martin Miodownik/ City Sightseeing Head of Technology Innovation

26

Who’s Martin Miodownik?Born 17 December 1983 in Montevideo (Uruguay).Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, in ORT University of Uruguay

International MBA, Strategy and Marketing in IE (Instituto de Empresa)Head of Sales & Operations in GetYourGuide AG (February 2011 to March 2015) – GermanyVP New Ventures in Tokai Ventures (as from August 2015)Head of Tecnhology Innovation in City Sightseeing Worldwide as from January 2016Based in Seville

27

done a few things on technology independently, which is not very cost-effective and learnings are lost. We have a great opportunity to leverage what has been done and use it as a base to create best-in-class solutions together.

4From your point of view, where is the industry going?All analysts agree the

industry is clearly going towards mobile, online and last minute. We will see customers which are more informed and independent, looking to buy and use now without hassles. The customers want to get involved with the brand, while looking for a great experience they can share with their friends and family at home. The boundaries between online and offline will blur and customers will be online

“THE INDUSTRY IS CLEARLY GOING TOWARDS MOBILE, ONLINE AND LAST MINUTE; WITH A MORE INVOLVED CUSTOMER DURING THEIR TRIP”

all the time enabling mobile local interactions. The customer will be more involved during their trips.

5Where do you see City Sightseeing in 5 years time?

City Sightseeing its in a great position to be a market leader. It’s an established brand customers recognize and associate with quality and a great experience. On top, we have a unique opportunity in the industry to reach the customer in destination, they are on our bus! This combination of brand + local presence will allow us to be a hub for travelers and connect with them during their whole journey mixing online and offline interactions.

“Cities are books you read with your feet”. Inspirational start point for Logan’s Universe, the new service of our preferred provider GreatGuide that we could test in Cape Town during the CS Annual Conference.

Suppliers news / GreatGuide presents...Logan’s Universe

28

The idea of Logan’s Universe is at least a century old. Walter Benjamin described how the city could whisper in a walker’s ear. Its intimate nearness gives him hints and instructions… with each step, the walk takes on greater momentum; ever weaker grow the

temptations of shops, of bistros, of smiling women, ever more irresistible the magnetism of the next street corner, of a distant mass of foliage, of a street name. This inspiratation came true with the latest technology travel app launched by GreatGuide, a preferred

City Sightseeing multilingual tour guide systems supplier, with brilliant performances like the excellent CS Cape Town commentary.

GreatGuide describes travelling with Logan like the option for people whos travel styles are based on exploration and freedom. That is why this new app feature the hottest GPS technology – Logan knows where you are, so you can walk at your own pace, no following a group. Simply stop, shop, browse, take photos and then resume the tour.

With this GPS guided walking tour the visitir is able to discover the secrets of the city, untold stories through this new, exclusive experiences launched via this amazing new way of touring.

And what is even better, simple to use. When you arrive in the city you get your device, switch it on, plug in your headset and Logans voice sets you off on the your journey of choice.

The City Sightseeing operators and staff could experience Logan’s Universe during the CS Annual Conference held in Cape Town. The app guided us from the hotel to the dinner venue, taking us throught the V&A Waterfront and shopping centres.

29

30

Gallery / Corporate

> AL HOKAIR AGREEMENTThe agreement signed with Al Hokair Group, the biggest hotel company in Saudi Arabia, will allow to launch new exciting operations in the Middle East. Riyadh is the capital and largest city of the country and a major tourist destination within the Arab region. Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and receives more than 6 million visitors every year.

> 5 NEW DESTINATIONS IN GERMANYOur CS colleagues from Germany are developing an expansion plan that will spread the global brand up to 5 new destinations in the country, in addition to the existing ones in Berlin and Potsdam. Stunning launches to be launched in 2016 include cities like Cologne and Hannover, among others. Germany is a fantastic market for us to explore.

> SUPPORTING THE UK NATIONAL DIVERSITY AWARDSCity Sightseeing is one of the brands supporting The National Diversity Awards, a skyfall of diversity talent, alongside renowned companies like Microsoft, Barclays, The Army, Financial Ombudsman Service and Liverpool City Council, among others. Charities and Role Models from across the UK will gather at the breathtaking Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool on September 18th, 2015 for awards ceremony. The Best of British Diversity will celebrate the outstanding achievements of those who have demonstrated their devotion to enhancing equality, diversity and inclusion in today’s society.

> BIG EXPOSURE IN ITALYIn July, City Sightseeing Italy launched an advertising campaign in the friendly football game between the Italian national team and Portugal with bright U TV presence in the Stade de Geneve, in Switzerland.

> A SIGHTSEEING BUS AS A HISTORY FACT IN KAZAN“A red double decker is now featured in a school book in Tatarstan, about the history of the capital of the region, Kazan” says Sergei Lavrentyev from City Sightseeing Russia.

30_31 CORPORATE.indd 30 29/12/15 12:24

31

> WISE MEN VISITED CHILDREN HOSPITALEnrique Ybarra and Isaac Flores took part in the tradition of the Wise Men visiting to children hospital and delivering some presents between sick children that could not spend Christmas at home.

PEQUEÑO DESEO IN SPAIN“Pequeño Deseo” (Little Wish) is an NGO that is dedicated to making true the wishes of sick children. Intending to raise money for their charity activities, on 29 December City Sightseeing Spain allocated to this foundation the whole revenue obtained with domestic travelers on their buses.

> CS CAPE TOWN SUPPORTS MOVEMBEROne more year, City Sightseeing Cape Town buses wore bright moustaches in suppor of Movember. By this special livery the South African operation help to aware about prostate cancer.

> SHAUN IN BRISTOLFollowing in the footsteps of the hugely popular Gromit Unleashed trail which transformed the streets of Bristol in 2013, an even bigger spectacle took place in the city in August to support and improve the lives of children in hospitals throughout the UK. The “Shaun in the City” trail featured 70 5ft sculptures of Shaun the Sheep, decorated by celebrities and artists. CS Bristol off ered special tours and raised money.

> CORDOBA FOR CHILDREN AND SENIORSFrom December to March, schoolchildren and seniors associations will be able to see Cordoba from a privilege point of view using for free the CS Cordoba double decker buses thanks to an agreement with the Cordoba city council.

Gallery / Charity

CS BELFAST CONTRIBUTES TO MAKE-A-WISH CHARITYThe staff of Noonan hired one the CS Belfast buses for a charity treasure hunt in October. Proud to contribute to third party initiatives!

32

Gallery/ Tour stories

> CS CAPE TOWN TOUR OFFICE EXPANDS81 Long Street (stop 5) – the home of the biggest CS Cape Town tour offi ce and the Travel Depot Long Street – has expanded and now includes a You and Yours Café. Over the last couple of weeks, there’s been a hive of activity at their corner tour offi ce – from hammering and painting to the installation of lights and air conditioning. On Friday, 6 November 2015, the café opened its doors for the fi rst time.

> CS RUSSIA BIG EXPOSURE IN THE MEDIACity Sightseeing Russia achieved big exposure in one of the most popular fashion and lifestyle magazines in the country with a brilliant work of designer Sasha Pokhvalin, who prepared an illustration of the iconic red bus and some of the most famous monuments in Moscow, St Petersburg and Kazan. Good job from Sergei and his team!

> CS BAKU BIG SUCCESSThe number of tourists enjoying service of double-decker excursion buses of City Sightseeing Worldwide Baku has grown few-fold. The Ministry of Culture & Tourism of Azerbaijan reported that last June the number of tourists using a city bus tour increased by 2.2 times (155%) compared to June 2014.

> CS LLEIDA REPRESENTS THE GLOBAL BRAND IN NATIONAL TRADE SHOWIn October, CS Lleida attended the trade show Municipalia, a big opportunity for companies of diff erent sectors to show their products and services to city hall representatives from Spain, a country where local governments manage concessions for public services. Together with the exhibition of the sightseeing trains of the operation, Marcos Ybarra from CS Palma came to support the strong presence in the show and made a presentation of the company and global network.

> CS NEWCASTLE TOUR FOR RUGBY FANSCity Sightseeing Newcastle Gateshead gave the Chronicle newspaper three sets of family tickets for celebrating the Rugby World Cup coming to the area and to mark the New Zealand vs Tonga match at St James’ Park on 9 October.

> CS PALMA SPONSORED THE PALMA MARATHONThe Palma de Mallorca Marathon (PMM) is experiencing an amazing growth thanks to the wide range of tourist opportunities for the runners. The race is also linked to tourism with the support of CS Palma, which sponsored the marathon and achieved big impact.

33

> CS SHARJAH EXTEND SERVICESAs from November, travellers who hold a 48-hour validity ticket purchased in Dubai or Sharjah for either CS Sharjah or CS Dubai have been able to access any of the these tours for the duration of the ticket. In addition, ticket holders can also make use of a free shuttle service running between the Central Souq in Sharjah and Deira City Centre in Dubai. Customers holding the Explorer package ticket are eligible to use the shuttle bus as an extra facility to visit Dubai.Together with this, CS Sharjah signed an agreement in May to expand its services to the emirate of Ajman.

> FREE TOURS FOR THE UAE NATIONAL DAY

> SMALL VISITOR ATTRACTION OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR CS CHESTER

> GREEK TOURISM EXPOFrom 4 to 6 December, our colleagues from City Sightseeing Greece attended the GREEK TOURISM Expo in Athens. See below the Minister of Tourism, Mrs Kountoura in the City Sightseeing stand at Metropolitan Expo.

> CS DUBAI CELEBRATED THEIR 1ST BIRTHDAYOne successful year has passed since dnata and City Sightseeing Worldwide launched a new hop-on, hop-off service in Dubai. City Sightseeing Dubai was inaugurated on 1 October 2014 and to mark their birthday, they celebrated with a 1.6m cake, giveaways ranging from magnets to helicopter tours.Each guest that took the tour on the day received a magnet souvenir as a gift and selected winners received prizes from helicopter rides, AquaVenture passes, dinner dhow cruises, and hotel stays.

For its very first time, CS Dubai gave all UAE residents complimentary tours on its hop-on hop-off tour buses on 2 December to celebrate the 44th National Day of the UAE.

In November, City Sightseeing Chester was one of the winners of the 11th Marketing Cheshire Annual Awards, which were announced at a glamorous awards ceremony held at Chester Racecourse. Our colleagues were recognized as the best Small Visitor Attraction of the Year. The awards celebrate excellence and outstanding achievement by local businesses and individuals with many of the winners going on to represent Cheshire at the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2016 which will take place during English Tourism Week, 5/13 March 2016.

www.city-sightseeing.com

32_33 TOUR STORIES.indd 33 29/12/15 15:27

34

> ST PETERSBURG STEWARD IN LATE SHOWIn September, City Sightseeing St Petersburg steward was interviewed on ‘Vecherny Urgant’, the most popular TV night show in Russia. About 10% of Russian TV viewers watch this program. “Tie and pin all in place” remarks Sergei Lavrentyev from City Sightseeing Russia.

Gallery/ CS Family

>THE CS FAMILY MEETS UMLANI The 2015 CS Annual Conference held in Cape Town was a long, long meeting with six busy days, plenty of excursions and activities. At the end of the conference a bunch of CS operators wanted even more experiences and got on an excursion to Umlani in a safari. Wild, wild South!

>CS BUDAPEST CELEBRATE CHRISTMASChristmas is all around our colleagues from Budapest. The staff celebrated on their Santa Claus suits and hats when working on the streets of the capital of Hungary. What a great atmosphere to go to work, don’t you think?

35

>WAS THE GREAT GASTBY INVITED TO THE CS CONFERENCE GALA DINNER? After an hilarious –as well as informative– presentation in the fi rst business day of the 2015 City Sightseeing Annual Conference, Sergei Lavrentyev surprised us in the Gala Dinner with an impressive look wearing the same suit of Leonardo di Caprio in The Great Gatsby fi lm. Congratulations Leonardo... I mean, Sergei.

> DARIO & RUBEN, FROM CADIZJaime Ruiz from CS Cadiz is the busy father of this couple of kind and smiling babies. Be patient Jaime, and congratulations!

> NIKOLAI, THE INVINCIBLE ONEThree championships in a row. Nikolai Bragin have won the three editions of the CS International Tournament in which he has taken part. Every CS Annual Conference, the City Sightseeing Family had a great time; Nikolai not only have good memories but three medals. He is “the invincible one” on the grass.

> SEAN MCCOMB, CS BELFAST HEROSean McComb, ‘Super Sean’, is two-time senior Irish boxing champion at 60kg, as well as a European bronze medallist, working as part of CS Belfast. In September he had a morning to remember after twice springing into action in Belfast city centre, recovering a woman’s purse fi rst and then a man’s mobile phone. Unbelievable!

> DIRK POGUNTKE’S NEW BABYOur colleague from Berlin Dirk Poguntke has been father for his fi rst time right after the CS Annual Conference. What a wonderful news as soon as he got back home in Germany. Congratulations Dirk!

> AMBRA, FROM SORRENTOAnother new arrival for City Sightseeing Sorrento & Amalfi Coast. Ambra is the fi rst daughter of Silvia Cacace, the English mother tongue hostess in CS Sorrento, in Italy.

36

New fl eet in CS NaplesGreat enthusiasm of

Neapolitan in July that they could enjoy the

beauties of its own city doing the inaugural ride

free on board of the new bus engine red with

ecological euro 6.The Novelty of air

conditioning, Wi-fi and canopy in case of rain.

Visiting Portugal with City Sightseeing

Danielle Swart enjoying some sightseeing in Portugal.

Sightseeing weekend with friends in South

AfricaSoemie Koen shared with

us this lovely picture when hopping on the City Sightseeing Cape

Town bus in her weekend with friends in the city.

Sightseeing tours are not only a privilege way to

discover a destination but an opportunity to have a great time at your leisure.

/Customers/Customers/Customers/Customers

37

Misses hop on CS Palma bus

In September, the candidates to Miss

Tourism Balears Islands discovered Palma

from a privilege view point on board the CS bus during their participation in the

Andratx Fashion Week and the beauty contest.

Instagramer in Colombia“The traditional red bus,

everywhere. For those who have little time and does not care to photographic stops, it is a good option to get an overview of the city” says

Evandro Melo in Instagram during his visit to Cartagena

de Indias, Colombia.

CS New York welcome USA misses

In July, Miss USA 2015 Olivia Jordan took a ride on the City Sightseeing

NYC bus. In August, City Sightseeing New York

managed to gather Miss USA, Miss Teen USA

Katherine Haik and Miss Universe Paulina Vega

for a ferry cruise so they could explore New York City’s most iconic sites by sea. The fantastic CS New York Ride of Fame turned in this occasion on CS New York Ride of Beauty, don’t you think?

MSU Cadets from Kerch state

In November, a group of cadets of the Maritime

University of Technology (MSU) of Moscow visited

us. The MSU is one of the biggest maritime

universities.

Bloggers visit DublinCS Dublin were delighted to

welcome Mangetout Food & Travel Blog on board. Hurricane Barney

was no match for Bella & her Wingwoman Enya! Festive Fun in

�Dublin.

NYC FC Stars in the top deckIn September, New York City FC players Villa, Lampard and Pirlo took part in the Ride of Fame of

City Sightseeing New York.

38

stockportRoxi – New York. I We purchased the hop on hop off bus as part of a New York Pass. I would definitely recommend both. The narration on the buses is very in formative. It made the journey enjoyable as well as being knowledgeable.

Jennifer Jayne Careaga. We took your tour in Palermo, Italy last summer and loved the tour!

The wall!/ Social stories

roger_pfiffner — Copenhagen. Special Combo bus all lines & boat for 48 hours, great deal by City SightSeeing Copenhagen.

Twitter, Facebook or TripAdvisor anyone? We have collected some social media feeds from our industry.

@Roaree. I was basically a tourist in my own city. Did the #citysightseeing red bus tour for the first time and it was so, so WONDERFUL! GLORIOUS!

Paola Santana Baez. Last September I have been in Dubai and I love these Tour. It’s perfect to visit any city: it’s very confortable, the information of the city is very interesting to know about the traditions, customs ... while you visit a new place in your holidays. The weather in Dubai it’s too hot and you can’t go for a walk. The city Sighteeing got air conditioner and it’s perfect!!!! You can enjoy the tour without this problem!!!

@CitySSWorldwide. City Sightseeing wishes you a Merry Christmas! #WeShowYouTheWorld https://t.co/L5BoZ6mzAN

Anne Mader. Very impressed with your tour of Berlin - excellent way of seeing the major sights in as little or as much time as you like. The commentary was informative and entertaining at the same time. Keep up the good work.

Emily Mkp. I love these tours. In every city I visit, the red buses are always the first thing I look for.

Jo E – Cape Town. I was only in Cape Town for 3 days and this was a great way to be able to get to a lot of the tourist attractions and to get an overview of Cape Town. It offered very good value and was good for all ages. If I were to go back to Cape Town I would take advantage of this again as I ran out of time to be able to go on the purple wine route and to visit Kirstenbosch gardens which is a stop on the blue route as well as get off and spend more time at some of the other locations on the routes.

@OnTheTownNOLA. #Lookin good! RT @HopOnHopOffNOLA: Departing @BasinStStation in style! #FollowYourJOY #TravelTuesday #CitySightseeing fb.me/26qwzoP4m

Kirscha Sloan. I took the Panama, Panama City tour. The tour was great. You see all sorts of different things, old city new city, out the flamingo island, Panama canal and course you can get to some malls. The best was the getting off at certain places. Doing what you want and then getting back on the bus. The price was great too.

Aleksandr Pak – Moscow. The best excursions in the city.

@RijkeEsth. City Sightseeing Amsterdam verkozen tot beste Hop on-Hop off tour in de wereld http://knack.be/s/r/c/635325 via @knackweekend

@VisitCadiz. Have you ever hop on the “City Sightseeing” Bus? A wonderful way to visit Cadiz http://fb.me/26qwzoP4m

BennyBH — Oslo. The Hop on Hop off bus Oslo is undoubtly an excellent way to know Oslo since it covers all the main attractions in the city. There are 28 stops and the frequency is really each 30 minutes as announced.

Social media really is the new phenomenon so on this page we hope to feature the best feeds from our Franchisees, some of our customer comments and also from leading industry ‘tweeters’. Send your social media name to

topdeck@city-sightseeing.com and we’ll follow you. You can start with following us @cityssworldwide

@zoidoalcalde. Preciosa iniciativa de @CitySSEspana y @FPDeseo. Súmate que las ilusiones viajan sobre ruedas. https://t.co/VTSNaB4K7L

Val Allsworth – Athens. Well worth the Money, great to be able to hop on and off...

@ViatorPartner. #City Sightseeing Bristol Hop-On Hop-Off Tour! Book now: https://t.co/TflujhJmVF #Bristol

38 THE WALL.indd 41 30/12/15 11:48

Ilertren – a company with over 20 years’ experience in the industry, which gave us with the knowledge and expertise to begin to build our own trains in 2011. These many years of experience provided the insight to know the real needs of both passengers and the train driver which now enables us to produce a safe, high quality and unbeatably priced product.

Euro 5 Toyota Hilux engine trains (Euro 6 to be released in 2014), with a choice of 144 hp or 171 hp engines and Automatic or Manual Transmission and slope surmountable of 10% or 16% depending on the engine.

In 2014 we will present the new Hybrid model with Mitsubishi engine capable of climbing slopes of 25% at full load stop. A revolutionary and unique train perfect for natural terrain with slopes or the streets of the historic areas of cities.

ILERTREN - Tourist Trains Pol. Ind. Les Comes. C/ Avinguda Indústria, 125123 Torrefarrera (Lleida)Mobile +34 672 593 247 / Phone +34 973 247 035export@ilertren.com / www.ilertren.com

SIGHTSEEING TRAINS

A4 Collage.indd 2 26/6/15 14:1640 P CITY SIGHTSEEING.indd 1 30/12/15 11:55