Excursion company Yard Tours Jamaica Limited has one objective and that is to give clients a once-in-a-lifetime, pre-packaged travel experience as they journey to some of the most beautiful attractions across the island.

The company, which mainly serves the tourism and hospitality sectors especially along the north-western end of the island, not only arranges transportation packages for customers but also, through specially crafted packages, help their clients to book and engage some of the country’s most famed attractions during their time on the rock.

Based in Montego Bay, St James, the tour operator’s primary business focuses on airport transfers, tours and excursions, private transportation and the chaperoning of nightlife experiences. With Wi-Fi equipped vehicles and a team of drivers having vast knowledge of the local landscape, the company aims to fulfill the transport needs of customers.

“We are a private transportation service which seeks to offer a real authentic experience to our clients. Through our highly professional driving staff, we not only get clients to their destinations in fine style, but we also ensure that they feel like they are in Jamaica as we show them a good time. Upon entry customers are greeted with a warm welcome and a cold Red Stripe beer.

“From providing guided road tours, to facilitating lunch and chill stops along the journey, our customers are offered some of the best experiences while outside of their resorts. We not only do transportation, we do everything — from booking adventures and providing lunch we ensure our customers get the best value for their money,” said Kimmarley Whyte, CEO of the company.

The company, which blossomed from Whyte’s love for country, was also conceptualised following his close interactions with tourist over the four years he spent working as a lifeguard and having to respond to constant queries from them wanting to know how to get around the island outside of the more arranged resort packages.

Identifying a gap in the market and capitalising on the network, he has built up overtime, the entrepreneur pooled together his savings to invest in the start-up of the business, which today, he said, has started to trend positively.

“The feedback from our customers have so far been great and we are grateful for all the support we have been getting. We have also been racking up a lot of five stars on Google business,” Whyte said.

The business, which now sees some eight-10 bookings on average daily, the CEO said was not greatly impacted by the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, since the full resumption of tourist activities locally, earnings have seen noticeable improvement.

“Our revenues have grown by approximately 30 per cent since the easing of restrictions and the gradual return of tourism. With more people travelling again, this has really started to benefit YardTour’s bottom line. As the demand and desire for travel increases, we have not only ramped up our offerings but have also gotten very aggressive with our marketing strategy as we push to further expand operations,” Whyte told the Sunday Finance.

Despite being a small unit with just over four years of operation, the CEO said the business has been steadily crafting out its place in the travel market, a position he hopes to strengthen in the coming years.

“We are proud to be one of the leading tours and excursion company in the Montego Bay area. For the next few years my hope is to become the number one travel agency on the island. I also want to expand our travel fleet to include boats and catamarans. There are also plans to grow my staff complement as we work to build the brand and craft out more personalised client experiences,” Whyte said.