Volvo Buses
Global
Global Travel started operating in Hungary in 2010 as a subsidiary of Italy’s Global Travel. The company specialises in coach trips for passengers primarily from the USA, Canada and Australia. “We offer trips all over Europe together with our tour operator, although most of our routes cover Central and Eastern Europe, from Denmark in the north and Istanbul in the south,” Marco Mercatali relates. All told the company has nine high-class long-distance coaches, six of which are Volvos.
In 2016 Global Travel Hungary plans to purchase another three Volvo 9900s. “We will continue working closely with Volvo Buses and VFS. We’ve established a good relationship and we trust one another. This isn’t always so easy to achieve being a fairly new company,” he says.
He explains that he has examined the market and Volvo Buses and VFS have been proven to offer the best service. “It’s a great benefit that we only have to conduct negotiations with one party. Everything is at one place. All told it’s good value for money, I reckon, although I wouldn’t mind if the interest rate was a bit lower bearing in mind the general interest rate situation.”
Global Travel’s bus fleet must meet the high demands of the company’s passengers. Marco Mercatali relates that the company sometimes has problems finding subcontractors in Hungary that offer a sufficiently high standard in their long-distance coaches. The solution is instead to expand the company’s own vehicle fleet.
“Our main tour operator recently hosted independent safety inspectors from London to check out the general conditions of our buses. The vehicles got the highest rating, 100 per cent. We are in the absolute top class in Europe for comfortable and safe vehicles,” says Marco Mercatali.
