By Danielle Nelson

*This article is posted on The Express Times website.

Trans-Bridge Lines is based in Bethlehem. (Express-Times File Photo)

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The best of the Lehigh Valley is now on showcase for everyone to see.

Lehigh Valley Receptive is specializing in planning, pricing and operating group trips to the Lehigh Valley. They will package and sell tours to areas like Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton to tour and bus companies, as well as other groups outside of the area, to highlight local attractions.

“We feel the greater Lehigh Valley area offers so much to do and see,” Tom JeBran, president of Trans-Bridge Tours, said in a news release Tuesday announcing the new company.

It is an initiative of Trans-Bridge Tours, an affiliate of Bethlehem-based Trans-Bridge Lines.

The Lehigh Valley Receptive handles all the planning as far as dates, attractions and hotel accommodations. They customize tours to fit tours for students, seniors and other special-interest groups.

“People are surprised with what great attractions, shops, museums and restaurants are located here,” Janet JeBran, general manager of Trans-Bridge Tours, said in the release.

Trans-Bridge Tours offers single- and multi-day trips to places such as New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Niagara Falls. But since the Lehigh Valley Receptive started in January, the company has worked with businesses in the Lehigh Valley to organize tours to places such as the Crayola Experience in Easton, Martin Guitar in Upper Nazareth Township, Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, Historic Bethlehem and the America on Wheels Museum in Allentown.

Mike Stershic, president of the tourism-promotion group Discover Lehigh Valley, called the Lehigh Valley Receptive an important resource to help draw visitors.

“I am happy that Trans-Bridge Tours stepped up to the plate and is offering this,” Stershic said.

Janet JeBran said the Lehigh Valley Receptive was started after it was requested by Discover Lehigh Valley, ArtsQuest, Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites and Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.

“We are doing this to give back to the community we live in and help to increase tourism in the area,” Janet JeBran said.

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