25 years ago, Celine Dion and Cher were number 1 in the charts with My Heart Will Go On and Believe, Google Search was founded, Apple unveiled the iMac, France won the World Cup, and the construction of the International Space Station began.
However, that same year, something infinitely more culturally and historically significant than all of that happened right here in Edinburgh - Timberbush Tours was founded.
On April 6th 1998, two people wanted to explore the beautiful seaside town of Oban with husband and wife team Gary and June Voy, and just like that - Timberbush Tours was born, named after the area of Edinburgh that they both lived, Timber Bush in Leith.
Gary and June had a vision and wanted to show the very best that Scotland had to offer.
That vision has always revolved around 4 key themes:
We always strive to show off the greatest spots in Scotland. Both the places you will have no doubt already heard of through film, tv, and stories from Scotland's history, but also some special off-the-beaten track spots and hidden gems. All on routes that are specifically timed to keep you comfortable throughout and ensure that there is beautiful scenery throughout the journey.
Our driver-guides are some of the very best around and love sharing their passion and knowledge to all our guests from around the world. Each of them has their own unique personality and expertise meaning that even if you did the same tour but with a different driver-guide, it could be a totally different experience! The scenery wouldn't have changed much though...
We always want to ensure your journeys with us are as comfortable as possible. That is why we always purchase the most comfortable and modern, air-conditioned coaches. As well as this, we replace them around every 4 years to ensure that they are always in the best condition for you, whilst also being as safe and fuel efficient as can be. We also have our own on-site garage where our expert mechanics are able to regularly inspect and maintain our coaches and ensure they are always good to go, meaning you can feel that extra bit safer when you are out on tour with us.
We have made it as easy as possible for you to book your tour and always aim to offer you the best possible price, as well as negotiating discounts for you at some of Scotland's best attractions. We also strive to give the best possible customer service and experience while on tour, leading to us currently having a 4.9* score on Trustpilot and over 2,000 5* reviews!
We are also proud to offer one of the most generous cancellation policies around. If you cancel a 1-day tour with 24 hours' notice before the departure time, you will get a 100% refund. If you cancel an extended tour (2-3 days), with 7 days' notice before the scheduled departure, you will also get 100% of your money back.
Since 1998, we've grown from just Gary and June to a team of over 75, but have never stopped delivering what we have always planned to and continue to give our customers the best possible experience every day. Now, we are one of Scotland's longest running tour operators, and no matter how much we have grown since the start, we are still a family run business.
That being said, the world has changed a lot in the past 25 years. You have the entire internet in your pocket, the Spice Girls have broken up (and got back together, twice), and you can listen to your favourite song in an instant rather than searching for a tape or a CD.
This means that the way that bookings are taken has changed. Back in the day, all of the bookings were taken in a massive book by hand. Now, you can book a ticket from the other side of the world on your couch from the palm of your hand. Marketing was done by pounding the streets of Edinburgh and spreading the news of our tours, ensuring that they were so good everyone would want to tell their friends. That being said, we still want to make sure we give you a fantastic tour that you want to tell all of your friends about.
The past few years have been a bit different, and I'm sure we were all united in recovering from the pandemic, it was tough to not be able to do what we all love doing. Seeing everyone come back from it and back out on tour with us so that we can all enjoy our beautiful surroundings has been brilliant and really means the world to us.
It is also much easier to get to Scotland now from wherever in the world you are, and we are so pleased to welcome you all. In 1998, Edinburgh Airport only handled around 4 million passengers, whereas in 2019 it reached nearly 15 million, and is on track to get even stronger as we all recover from the pandemic. This growth in the popularity of Scotland has allowed us to grow too, having gone from one 16 seat coach and one tour, to a fleet of over 30 modern coaches - that means over 800 seats departing from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.
The way we live has also changed. We now need to be more eco-conscious than ever and help protect our planet. This is especially important for us, as Scotland is our office, and we need to preserve her natural beauty for years to come so that we can all continue to explore and enjoy it responsibly for years to come.
As the years have gone on, we have adapted our business practices to become more eco-friendly, and will continue to do so in the future. If you want to learn more about how we have done this and how we intend to improve our eco practices going forward, you can read our Corporate Social Responsibility Report here.
We also work with Trees for Life, a Scottish conservation charity who are dedicated to the regeneration and restoration of the Caledonian Forest in the Highlands of Scotland. When you book with us, we encourage you to select the option to donate £1 to this worthy cause as it is a way that you can get involved yourself in keeping Scotland as beautiful as it is now for future generations.
We have been recognised for our efforts, having been awarded a Gold Green Tourism Award and a 5* rating by Eco Stars Fleet Management Scheme, who are a scheme that aims to help fleet operators like ourselves improve efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and reduce emissions.
Recently, we took delivery of a brand new 53 seat coach, continuing our goal to replace our coaches often and ensuring they are always as modern and fuel-efficient as possible - and it's already looking snazzy dressed up for the 25th anniversary.
Going forward, we are going to continue to adapt our practices to ensure we are providing the most eco-friendly service we can. We will also continue to pick the very best places in Scotland that we can take you to, so you never know what new tours you might see one day!
This is while ensuring that we continue to deliver the 4 key themes that we always strive to deliver: the best tours, the best coaches, the best guides, and the best customer experience.
Who knows where we will be in the future - electric coaches, floating coaches, Cher might be number 1 in the charts again after her 7th farewell tour, taking bookings through micro-chips in our brains, robot driver-guides?
To join our journey, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about anything exciting we have going on!
And, wherever we end up, we hope you come along with us.
#AdventureAwaits
