City Sightseeing Oxford has been a part of Oxford’s visitor experience for years, offering an easy way to explore the city’s famous dreaming spires. As part of the Go-Ahead Group, they focus on improving customer experience and future-proofing their operations.
Their latest milestone? A £4 million investment in fully electric open-top buses has made them one of the first sightseeing operators in the UK to go fully electric. While this shift transforms their business, running a successful sightseeing operation takes more than just greener buses.
Behind the scenes, Palisis keeps ticketing and sales seamless, helping City Sightseeing Oxford spend less time on admin and more time on the bigger picture.
“We’re here to support the business and help it grow—whether that’s through new vehicles, shifting technology, or finding better ways to sell.”
– Chris Reeves, Commercial Ticketing & Systems Manager, City Sightseeing Oxford
The challenge: Outdated systems slowing things down
Before switching to Palisis, City Sightseeing Oxford struggled with a ticketing system that was not built for tourism. They needed a solution to keep up with their growth plans, improve customer experience, and reduce manual work.
Challenge 1: A system designed for buses, not tourism
City Sightseeing Oxford initially used local bus ticketing machines, but they weren’t designed for the unique needs of a hop-on hop-off sightseeing tour. The system didn’t fit their operations, making processes more complicated than they needed to be.
“We first acquired the business and found it had some quite outdated ticketing technology. We moved it onto our standard bus ticketing machines, but it always felt like a square peg in a round hole.”
Challenge 2: Too much manual work
Managing online travel agency (OTA) sales was time-consuming. Every transaction involved paper forms, manual reconciliations, and back-office admin—slowing down the business and leaving room for errors.
Challenge 3: Scaling sales was difficult
Expanding partnerships with local attractions, hotels, and resellers was possible but hard to manage. Without an easy way to track and process external sales, growing their distribution network required too much manual oversight.
Challenge 4: Customer expectations were changing
After COVID, travellers expected a smoother, digital-first booking experience. From contactless payments to instant ticket validation, visitors wanted more flexibility and convenience than their old system could provide.
With major plans ahead—including electrification, new partnerships, and expanded visitor offerings—they needed a tourism-focused ticketing system that could support their future.
The solution: making ticketing and sales simple
Palisis helped City Sightseeing Oxford modernise its ticketing system, reducing manual work and improving efficiency. With a system designed for tourism, they could expand sales channels, improve the customer experience, and focus on growing their business.
Solution 1: Expanding distribution and sales
City Sightseeing Oxford needed a way to sell more tickets without adding complexity. By integrating directly with TourCMS, they connected with OTAs effortlessly, removing the need for manual processes.
Additionally, the box office solution allowed hotels and attractions to sell tickets with minimal setup, making local partnerships easier to manage.
“Having the plug-in to City Sightseeing Worldwide and opening up all of those channels via TourCMS has been huge.”
Solution 2: A better experience for customers and staff
With cashless payments and a more seamless booking process, customers could board faster and enjoy a smoother experience.
For staff, GPS-based insights helped position ticket sellers where they were needed most, improving efficiency and reducing long queues. By eliminating time-consuming admin, the team could focus more on customer service and operations instead of back-office tasks.
“It meant that when people came back [post-COVID], it was a much better customer experience. Even just enabling chip and pin payments where we previously had contactless limits made a big difference.”
Results: Supporting a greener future
A fully electric sightseeing fleet
In early 2024, City Sightseeing Oxford introduced a fleet of 100% electric open-top buses, making their operation greener than ever.
- 104 electric buses will save 6,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
- New features include on-board screens, glass staircases, and real-time updates for visitors.
Having a smarter ticketing system meant City Sightseeing Oxford could focus on sustainability and the customer experience instead of admin-heavy processes.
More growth, fewer bottlenecks
- Expanded into foreign-language walking tours and other new experiences.
- Strengthened local partnerships with simple, digital ticketing options.
- No more manual reconciliations or paper-based processes slowing them down.
“We’ve done a lot more local partnering, and it’s easy for them to onboard. They don’t have to have loads of infrastructure because they can use it on their existing PCs. That’s been a big change for us.”
Looking ahead
Oxford is moving toward an all-electric urban transport system, and City Sightseeing Oxford is leading the way.
With Palisis handling ticketing and distribution, their team can focus on what’s next—whether that’s sustainability, new experiences, or making sightseeing even better for visitors.
“We definitely have to work harder than we did before. People expect more from customer service and their product now, and we’ve had to make sure we’re keeping up.”
By using the right technology, they’re staying ahead of the curve—while making sightseeing in Oxford greener, smarter, and more seamless.
Don’t let outdated technology slow down your business – embrace the future! Get in touch with Palisis to learn more about what our ticketing solutions can do for you.