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Kirk Tours Names, Launches New Website

Kirk Tours, Purveyors of Fine Travel, Celebrates 14th In the New Year

‘Blind faith’ sees couple to success, Natt, Ted M. Jr, Sandhills Business Times, February 24, 2004

Know More About Moore, David E. Williams, Impact, May 2004.


NEWS RELEASE

For More Information, Contact:

Marva Kirk, Kirk Tours (910) 295-2257

KIRK TOURS NAMES LAUNCHES WEBSITE

August 25, Pinehurst, NC. – Kirk Tours has launched a new website – www.KirkTours.com. Kirk Tours, a locally owned and operated transportation and tours company brings its “World Class Service” to the Internet Community. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, www.KirkTours.com features the company’s current tour and transportation services, charters, local tours and information on the company and staff, all in a user-friendly format. Kirk Tours’ commitment to the community is clearly visible in its online presence. Kirk Tour Guests will be able to catch a glimpse of themselves on the site in the gallery of photos and recaps of past events. Users can easily view the upcoming tours and current services available with just the click of the mouse. Complete company address, email address, phone/fax numbers, and a management staff listing are readily available. Kirk Tours has been in operation for thirteen years and takes pride in “Creating Excellence in Tours and Transportation” by offering “World-Class Service.” “We’re very pleased to be known in this region as the Premier Receptive Tour Operator and Destination Management Company,” said Marva G. Kirk, President of KIRK TOURS. “This addition to our advertising and services will improve our commitment to the tourism industry and will aid us in better serving our Customers as Purveyors of Fine Travel.”

Kirk Tours statement:

In 2003, we are celebrating our 13th year anniversary “Creating Excellence in Tours and Transportation” for our customers. Over the last 13 years, we have effectively and efficiently managed groups from 1 to 999 people. Kirk Tours is the Premier Receptive Tour Operator and Destination Management Company in the Sandhills and surrounding region. This company enthusiastically supports the tourism for this region as well as delivering “World Class Service” for local and non-local customers. The growth of the Carolinas has been exceptionally strong during the past thirteen years and Kirk Tours has contributed significantly to that growth. Kirk Tours offers a wide variety of tour and transportation services for personal and business needs. Kirk Tours’ website is www.KirkTours.com.
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NEWS RELEASE

For More Information, Contact:

David E. Williams, Marketing/Administration (910) 295-2580

KIRK TOURS, PURVEYORS OF FINE TRAVEL,CELEBRATES 14th IN THE NEW YEAR


January 9, 2004; Pinehurst, NC. – Kirk Tours announces the beginning of their fourteenth year of World Class Service.

Kirk Tours (www.KirkTours.com) is now in their 14th year of providing outstanding transportation and tour services to Moore County residents, numerous schools’ staff and children, businesses, and visiting government officials, businesses and their employees, and tourists. Kirk Tours is a locally owned and operated transportation and tours company. In 2004, Kirk Tours is celebrating its 14th year anniversary in “Creating Excellence in Tours and Transportation” for their customers and community. Over the last 14 years, Kirk Tours has efficiently managed groups from 1 to 999 people. The company has an extensive list of references. They are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2003, Kirk introduced their new website (www.KirkTours.com) which features the company’s current tour and transportation services, charters, local tours and information on the company and staff, all in a user-friendly format. Kirk Tours’ commitment to the community is clearly visible in its online presence. Kirk Tour Guests are able to catch a glimpse of themselves on the site in the gallery of photos and recaps of past events. Users can easily view the upcoming tours and current services available with just the click of the mouse. Complete company address, email address, phone/fax numbers, and a management staff listing are readily available. Marva and Tommy Kirk, owners of Kirk Tours, explain, “In the beginning we had a vision. That vision included providing others opportunities to explore and learn about Moore County’s rich heritage. We wanted to become the best we could be at what we do and provide our services in the way we would want services to be provided to us. When someone needed transportation or needed to travel to or from Moore County, their first thoughts would be to call us.” Fourteen years later Tommy, who oversees all the operations of Kirk Tours, gave an overview of where the company’s journey has evolved to today, “We provide Executive Airport Limousine service to the five surrounding international and local airports: Raleigh/Durham, Fayetteville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Columbia, SC and Moore County. Furthermore, our vehicle fleet consists of Luxury town car sedans, Limousines, plush vans, and motor coaches equipped with VCR/TVs and restrooms. Our equipment and professionally attired drivers provide your executives, customers, and guests with the comfort and extravagance they deserve.” Marva Kirk, President of Kirk Tours, stated, “Kirk Tours and Transportation is the Premier Receptive Tour Operator and Destination Management Company in the Sandhills and surrounding region. We arrange tours for non-golfers or guests visiting our area for business or pleasure. These tours consist of our area’s “attractions,” e.g. Seagrove and northern Moore County pottery workshops and galleries, historic homes, horse country, including farm facilities, barns and dressage demonstrations, antique town and more. We can meet your group’s size, time restraints, and interests by custom designing their outings. Also, our guides are very knowledgeable and provide educational and anecdotal narratives.” Further Marva adds, “Our experienced Charter Service offers creative designed tours, which include day, overnight theatre trips, and pre-selected destinations for our local residents, Garden Clubs, Civic Clubs, Schools, Hospitals, non-profit organizations and Business groups.”

In speaking of the success of Kirk Tours, David E. Williams, Vice President, Marketing/Administration, said, “We hire talented people who deliver World Class Service and the customers keep coming back.” Williams also says that the future success of Kirk Tours will be enhanced by local decision makers and these leaders are headed in the right direction. “I believe that the leaders of Moore County and local municipal governments, and the leaders of private businesses, schools (private and public), The Chamber, Partners In Progress, Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Moore County Airport are all working with synergy to ensure that our local citizens’ needs, as well as the hospitality and tourism industry’s needs, receive the attention and support to improve and grow.” “This partnering is critical for the quality of life that we now enjoy to survive and even improve”, says Williams. Williams stated that, “Over the past 13 years, our customers have given many positive comments about the service they receive and about the people at Kirk Tours.” A few comments include:

Debbie Bureau, Vice President of Sales, Pine Needles and Mid Pines: “I have worked with Kirk Tours for the past 7 years. Our guests continue to rave about their service and professionalism. We will continue our relationship with Kirk Tours and look forward to them taking good care of our customers. Marva is superb at communicating with the client. Thank you for all your help through the years!”

Judy Middaugh, of the organization Getting to Know North Carolina, Newcomers of Pinehurst and recent tour guest to the company’s Cinderella Christmas at The Inn on Biltmore Estate: "David and Marva, Thanks so much for all your work on our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed it and had a great group, including your Kirk team. It's been a pleasure working with you again. We're looking forward to our future trips with you."

Philip Cheatwood, Russ, Worth, Cheatwood & Hancox, P.L.L.C. Law Firm, Fayetteville, NC: "Dear Marva, I am writing to thank you for the excellent transportation services that your company provided my family, the wedding party, and our guests for my daughter's wedding on October 18 [2003]. You and your excellent staff accommodated our needs and schedules with courtesy and in a very professional manner. Your drivers were always at the correct place at the correct time. We simply could not have been in better hands."

Terry Rowe, recent tour guest to the company’s Cinderella Christmas at The Inn on Biltmore Estate: "Maryann and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the mountains. Your organization did a very professional job coordinating the arrangements and your detail to customer satisfaction was very evident."

Beverly Stewart, Director of Sales, Convention & Visitors Bureau: "Kirk Tours has been a valuable asset to our Convention & Visitors Bureau and Moore County for many years. They provide excellent tour opportunities for meetings & conventions as well as individual travelers. Marva and Tommy Kirk have proven that a small tour company can have a huge impact. Their services offer the citizens of Moore County an avenue for adventure, culture and much more. Kirk Tours provides our visitors as well as convention attendees a wealth of tour options within Moore County including history, pottery, antiques, etc. From these the visitor takes with them an appreciation and understanding that there is golf but so much more!"

Kirk Tours statement:

KIRK TOURS is the Premier Receptive Tour Operator and Destination Management Company in the Sandhills and surrounding region. This company, Purveyors of Fine Travel, enthusiastically supports the hospitality and tourism for this region as well as delivering “World Class Service” for local and non-local customers. The growth of the Carolinas has been exceptionally strong during the past thirteen years and KIRK TOURS has contributed significantly to that growth. Tommy Kirk, Executive Vice President, Operations credits the company’s ability to stay competitive with the high quality of their work staff and the continuous improvement in the services offered to the customers. “We have the most highly motivated people in this area working for us,” he said. “We couldn’t have made the growth strides we have without the team work and pride in company values that everyone takes personally.” KIRK TOURS offers a wide variety of tour and transportation services for personal and business needs. KIRK TOURS’ website is www.KirkTours.com.
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‘Blind faith’ sees couple to success

PINEHURST – Marva Kirk was shopping for Christmas presents in pottery country in 1989 when she got the idea for Kirk Tours.

“I told my husband that people ought to be able to see this beautiful pottery, so we just went for it,” Kirk says. “We kind of went on blind faith because there was no book to go by. We had to learn the business.”

Kirk and her husband, Tommy, founded the transportation and tour services company in 1990 in their Aberdeen home, purchased a used 15-passenger van and conducted their first tour that April – all without ever putting together a business plan.

“The only loan we could take out was on the van. We maxed out two or three personal credit cards,” she says. “We started it as a part-time business, and it just snowballed.” The company moved out of the house after three years, first to Southern Pines and then to Pinehurst. Today, after covering more than 2 million road miles without an accident, Kirk Tours has six 15-passenger vans, a 35-passenger motorcoach, a limousine and customers in Moore, Scotland, Hoke, Lee, Richmond and Montgomery counties.

“If it wasn’t for the faith and confidence that the local businesses have in us, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” she says.

Beverly Stewart, director of sales for the Pinehurst-Southern Pines-Aberdeen Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, says she has recommended Kirk Tours to tourists and business people since the company’s inception.

“They are a very professional, well-run organization,” Stewart says.

Lynda Carr of Coty Inc. in Sanford agrees, saying, “We’ve been working with them for 10 years now. We appreciate their professionalism. We like the way they do business.” Kirk Tours, which has managed groups from one to 999, provides charter service for individuals and companies, conducts tours of the Sandhills region and elsewhere, provides private transportation to and from the region’s airports and works closely with retirement communities, the O’Neal School in Pinehurst and FirstHealth of the Carolinas, among others.

“Our first contract for services was with the Hampton Inn for Amtrak crews,” Kirk says. “We still maintain the train station in Southern Pines, and our first office was in the old ticket office there.”

Kirk, who was the first female U.S. Deputy Marshal in North Carolina, researched the Sandhills region before launching the company and usually serves as the company’s tour guide.

“I just love people and love traveling, and I’ve always loved history,” she says. Stewart says Kirk is an excellent tour guide. “Marva does a great job. She does a complete history of the area. There’s a lot more here besides golf.”

The Kirks, who met on a blind date, have grown the business slowly – annual revenue was about $446,000 last year, a 17 percent increase over the 1999 total of $371,000 – while raising a son and three daughters, only one of whom still lives at home. “Our family always came first,” Kirk says.


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Know More About Moore

Do you know Annie Oakley's real name? Do you know how many resident horses live in Moore County? Do you know which city provided the largest number of mules for WWI? Do you know which city was considered as a location for the United Nations headquarters? Do you know who Malcolm Blue was? How many corporate tents were in the 1999 US OPEN? Which hotel bathroom has Payne Stewart's signature on the wall? Who was the ambassador to England from here in Moore County and where he is buried? Who was the Ambassador to Russia who lives in Moore County? Which American General from our area served as President Truman’s Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State? Can you name the 5 original potter families in the county? Do you know the name of the NC Governor that served 4 terms and lived in a house with bullet holes still in it today? How much did James W. Tufts pay for the 3,000 original acres that he bought to build Pinehurst? Do you know where was golf first played in Pinehurst? How many trees and plants did Fredrick Law Olmstead plant to beautify the new Village of Pinehurst? What was the original name of Pinehurst? Where was the casino building in the Village? What did James W. Tufts exhibit at the 1876 World's Fair Centennial Celebration and how much did he pay for his exhibit?

If you know the answers to each of these questions then you are either a Moore County History “Buff” or you’ve traveled with Kirk Tours on their special “Learn More About Moore” tours. Marva and Tommy Kirk both “Know” Moore County and for fourteen years have ensured that the new residents and business leaders (and sometimes long-time) and the non-golfer visitors to our beautiful community receive the best of the best tours of Moore County. When these lucky travelers take one of the Kirk’s local tours they end their day with a smile that says, “I am glad to understand how much this community has to offer its citizens and visitors. I want to share this wealth of information with my family and friends.”

Kirk Tours would like to provide this fun and important tour each and every month. Businesses, Municipalities, Organizations, Schools, and private individuals are invited to sponsor this tour for their clients, employees, guests, executives, or offer it complimentary, on their behalf, to the public. Kirk Tours recently took the current Moore County Leadership Institute (MCLI) on the “Know” tour. They have taken the MCLI on this important activity for the past six years. These business leaders not only enjoyed the tour but they also strengthened business relationships that will only improve our community.

Kirk Tours strives to provide the professional service that promotes Moore County and to ensure that all their guests either want to return or remain in this area of “The Old North State.”

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