ALL ABOARD: Charter bus operators report a return to the road.

• Author: Mason, Anna
• Position: NCTREND: Travel

Almost as much as any industry, the pandemic slammed BFA North Carolina's motorcoach business. After all, a central message of the crisis was simple: "Stop getting together in large groups," says Jonathan Moody, an executive at one of the state's largest operators.

Two and a half years later, COVID-19 restrictions have eased, and the industry is mounting a strong rebound. Access to vaccinations and less fear of proximity to others has customers getting back on the bus.

The motorcoach industry is more than a blip on the radar. Before the pandemic, North Carolina bus operators employed about 2,000 people and had a direct economic impact of more than $326 million, according to an industry study. The downstream impact for suppliers and others nearly doubles that total.

Nationally, the industry provided more than 500 million trips annually, before the virus forced a shutdown.

Traveling by motorcoach is about more than dollar signs, industry officials say. They cite an incalculable effect as a cornerstone of community activity because chartered buses provide transportation for schools, athletes, churches, military, conventions and other groups. The industry also calls itself the greenest form of transportation because it gets so many cars off the road.

Four motorcoach companies that charter buses for short trips and multiday tours are dominant in North Carolina: Christian Tours of Maiden, Randleman-based Holiday Tours, Young Transportation and Tours of Asheville, and Academy, a Hoboken, New Jersey-based chain that has Charlotte and Durham offices.

Nancy Thompson, the co-founder of Holiday Tours, started in the motorcoach business as an agent for an Asheboro operator. One of the drivers, Dwight Thompson, told her that if she bought a bus for her own service, he'd drive it. That was in 1978. Since then, the couple got married and two later generations of family members have built a business that had more than 300 employees in early 2020.

Jonathan Moody is a vice president and grandson of Nancy, who is now retired but takes periodic tours. He joined in 2011 after earning a master's degree in management at Duke University. CEO David Brown is Nancy's son.

When the pandemic struck, Holiday canceled its spring and summer seasons in 2020 and furloughed virtually its entire...