A gap in Bermuda's tourism market is to be filled by Bermuda Tours and C Travel joining forces to create a new company to provide guided bus, taxi and boat tours for hotel guests and other on-Island visitors.

Cruise ship tourists have been well catered for when it comes to booking tours during their stay in Bermuda, but for land-based visitors it has been a different story for years.

"There has been a void. There has been no place for them to book escorted land tours. We are starting a distinctly new business for land-based tours," said Carl Paiva, chief executive of C Travel.

The new company, which is called C Tours and Shipping Limited, will use buses and taxis to take groups of hotel visitors and others who are staying on-Island around Bermuda on guided tours.

It is also likely to pick up some of the opportunities left behind by the demise last month of well-known provider of tours and boat excursions Bermuda Island Cruises.

Corlette Schuler, president of Bermuda Tours, said: "Our new venture will extend beyond our core business which is presently primarily the handling of shore excursions for the majority of the cruise ships calling at Bermuda. There has always been interest in our services from land based tourism and locals. This is a service expansion that is beyond just the cruise ship market. We are simply filling a need that has existed for sometime now."

Both C Travel and Bermuda Tours have decades of experience designing and operating shore excursions for cruise ships that visit the Island.

The new tours aimed at land-based visitors and locals can also be booked online.

"We will be embracing technology and also keeping it simple with bus, taxi and boat tours," said Mr. Paiva.

The company is developing an on-line booking tool where a visitor can go online to book any tour that is available either before or after they arrive in Bermuda.

Mr. Paiva has experience with such technology, having successfully launched the online Quickertix.com service for C Travel.

"This facility will also be given to hotels and guest houses the facility to book tours for their guests using our centralised booking feature," said Mr. Paiva.

C Travel already provided tours for major groups and is now expanding that, through the link-up with Bermuda Tours, to hotels and catering for air arrival visitors.

Of linking up with Bermuda Tours, Mr. Paiva said: "Corlette and I have known each other for over 25 years. In the past we have been friendly competitors and have greatly respected each other for our individual talents and drive."

He added that the new venture will offer incoming visitors the option to purchase all the local tours at a one stop shop without need to go anywhere else.

"By accessing our services, clients have many options, whether it is small groups, or individual itineraries. We have everything centralised and can customise according to their individual taste, interest, and budget."

The closing down of Bermuda Island Cruises (BIC) a month ago has also left a gap in the excursion tour market, which the new company will look to pick up opportunities.

Mr. Paiva said: "The launch of this company, as BIC closed, was not intentional, we did not know that Bermuda Island Cruises was going to close. However, there is business that they were dealing with that does not now have a destination management company."