Re: The high cost of steam

John,
Part of the problem was the per person price that the TUT had to set. For a one week tour the price got to be about $3,000. That would be mostly on the mountain section between Zacapa and Guatemala City. Then add on El Salvador and Honduras and the price got higher. To attract enough of the hardcore and older clients it is neccessary to have something new or the return to steam, etc, to get the interest. After 9/11 several tours had to be canceled due to lack of sales and reservations. Also the cost hurt sales on several tours.
Why did you return to the G&Q last year? Had you not done the G&O before? Also the costs for G&Q are lot lower and you get much more variety of scenery. Travel time from Hotels to the trains are very short. In Guatemala it is often several hours to get to the train from a good hotel that can handle a large crowd.
I don´t see the European tours continuing to return to South and Central America after a few years. The cost for some of the tour companies trips are very high. Also many are not hardcore train photographers like TUT tour groups tend to be. They are much more into a travel experience or just train travel, than a rail photography experience. Not all groups are like that, but some are and they are the most active.
Dale Brown