What you should know about the RDA

What does RDA mean?

The leading specialist federation for coach and group tourism was established as the "Reisering Deutscher Autobusunternehmungen e.V.2 in 1951 in the German city of Wiesbaden. The federation, with some 3,000 member companies from the coach and group tourism sector, has been operating under the official name "RDA  International Coach Tourism Federation e.V." since 1991. The popular "RDA" abbreviation has been maintained.

What are the tasks and goals of RDA?

The RDA aims to maintain a positive climate for the coach and group tourism sector via its active lobby work. The RDA acts in its members’ interests at all times – whether to stop coach-unfriendly restrictions, by intervening in legislative procedures or by safeguarding or developing coach and group tourism markets.

RDA federation services are geared to the requirements and needs of small- to medium-sized group tourism companies. The RDA promotes the transfer of ideas, innovations and practice-oriented B2B solutions for the benefit of RDA members and of the coach and group tourism sector as a whole.

Who are RDA members and what are RDA membership benefits?

RDA members are companies drawn from the complete spectrum of group tourism. The four pillars of RDA membership are composed of coach-/tour operators (A1 pillar); destinations, tourism organisations, cultural attractions and leisure facilities, shipping companies (A2 pillar); hotels and hospitality sector (A3 pillar) along with Coach Quality Association (Gütegemeinschaft Buskomfort) members (A4 pillar).

The RDA federation offers well-founded advisory services (in legal, taxation, tourism, marketing and sales themes) which are already included in the annual membership fee. Members receive current information about coach tourism as well as specialist knowledge available in numerous guidelines and studies. Qualified further training possibilities are available via RDA Academy seminars on diverse tourism themes. RDA membership also permits companies to exhibit at the RDA-Workshop – Europe’s leading purchasing, sales and business networking platform for the coach and group tourism sectors.

What does RDA membership cost?

RDA membership means a small membership fee and a large spectrum of services. In concrete terms this means:

A1 Members (Coach Holiday Operators, Tour Operators, Travel Agencies,
Wholesale Group Package Travel Operators and Incoming Companies) pay Euro 333.- per annum and a one-off admission fee of Euro 26.-.

A2 Members (Tourism Offices/Destination Marketing Organisations and Associations, Shipping Companies, Tourism Railways, Cultural Attractions and Leisure Facilities, Coach and Group Tourism Consultancy Firms) pay Euro 333.- per annum and a one-off admission fee of Euro 51.-.

A3 Members (Hotels and Restaurants) pay Euro 384.- and a one-off admission fee of Euro 153.-.

A4 Members (exclusively Gütegemeinschaft Buskomfort e.V. – Coach Quality Association member companies) pay a reduced RDA annual fee of Euro 233.- when they are members of both organisations and a one-off admission fee of Euro 26.-.

RDA membership is not limited in time and may be regularly terminated by written notice of cancellation per registered post (the period of notice for cancellation is six months to the end of the calendar year, i.e. by the 30th June of any given year at the very latest).