Business Spotlight: Sunnyland Tours Inc.

Stephen Brock says he has always had the travel bug. It is what inspired him to purchase Sunnyland Tours Inc. and Exec-U-Travel Inc. and help people in the Ozarks explore the world around them.

"Traveling is a wonderful experience," Brock says. "It expands the mind and gives you the opportunity to gain knowledge."

Sunnyland offers 39 tours via motor coach, four fly-to destinations and four cruises. On May 1, 2008, Sunnyland Tours purchased Exec-U-Travel Inc., a full-service Springfield-based travel agency. Rebranded as Sunnyland Tours & Travel, the company offers air tickets, hotel, car rental and an array of tour options.

"It complements the business we had," Brock says of Exec-U-Travel, a largely leisure travel agency. "Not everybody wants a tour, and not everybody wants to go on a motor coach. Now, we do it all."

70 years

Sunnyland Tours was established in 1938 by Ford Barnes as Sunnyland Stages, a transportation company with a regulation permit between Springfield and Harrison, Ark. During World War II, the company's motor coach business grew by transporting soldiers from various parts of Missouri to the military bases in the area, primarily Fort Leonard Wood. After Ford Barnes' death, his son Wayne Barnes assumed ownership.

In 1978, Wayne and his wife, Barbara, set up Sunnyland Tours to offer retirees the chance to travel the U.S. by motor coach. Transportation, lodging, attractions and meals were included in the price of the tour, a strategy the company uses today.

By the mid-1990s, costs associated with motor coach upkeep, insurance and maintenance became too expensive, so the Barneses sold off the coaches and outsourced the motor coach operation to third parties. Sunnyland expanded operations in that decade to include escorted tours to destinations reachable by cruise or air.

Brock purchased the company in January 2006 when the Barneses retired. Brock grew up in Springfield and worked as a certified public accountant in Key West, Fla., for 30 years before returning home to be closer to his parents. The Brock and Barnes families knew each other for years, and when Brock heard the Barneses wanted to sell, he made an offer. The deal was brokered by Scott Axon of The Kingsley Group.

Today, Sunnyland Tours serves approximately 2,000 passengers a year through motor coach tours, fly destinations and cruises. Motor coach tours range from one to 16 days. Tour bus clients are usually senior citizens from southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas, Brock says. The most popular bus trips are the fall foliage tour to the Northeast or the lush greenery of the Pacific Northwest.

The company markets its tours through a catalog published annually, in local papers and online.

"Our emphasis is on safe, convenient and inclusive travel," Brock says. "A Sunnyland tour guide goes on every trip."

Complex travel

The travel business has changed much in the past two decades, says travel manager Jackie Counts, who worked with Execu-U-Travel since 1987.

"People used to get dressed up to get on a plane," she says. "We were well-fed and taken care of. Travel today is much more complicated than it used to be."

While air travel has changed, the Internet also has created a very competitive marketplace for the travel industry.

"A lot of people think travel agents are a dying breed, but we can help people get the right information, and we can beat the prices online," Brock says.

"The Internet is pretty impersonal," adds Counts. "It doesn't cost anything to use a travel agent, and we offer advice and can help if things go bad."

Mexico has been a popular destination, because of its beautiful resorts and great values.

"You can get luxury there for middle-class prices," Brock says. People also are requesting trips to Jamaica, the Bahamas and European destinations.

"One of the best values right now is European river cruising," he adds.

The current economic climate has caused people to book trips less in advance and travel fewer days.

"Business is down about 10 percent, although we have seen an uptick lately," Brock says, declining to disclose revenues. "People have to get out of town, and everybody wants to get away, but they are far more careful and selective about what they are doing."

Brock's goal this year is to market the agency side of his veteran business.

"This company has been in business for 70 years as a motor coach company," he says. "We are now getting them to know that we are a full-service agency."