BRISTOL, Vt. (AP) – With a new owner in place, Vermont Bicycle Touring will be touring Vermont again this summer.

Gregg Marston of Charlotte bought the company last fall from Grand Circle Corp., which had suspended any domestic cycling tours.

“The first thing I did was reintroduce Vermont tours,” Marston said.

Marston wanted to buy Vermont Bicycle once before. He’d been interested in creating a business combining the outdoors and travel. He made an effort to buy Vermont Bicycle in the late 1990s, losing out to Grand Circle, a Boston travel firm.

Marston helped with that sale and began working for Grand Circle in 1999, running the Vermont Bicycle and two other divisions.

In 2004, though, Grand Circle decided to consolidate the other two divisions into Boston and said it would no longer offer any tours in the United States. It focused, instead, on Europe.

Then last year Grand Circle agreed to sell to Marston and he laid plans to return the company to domestic markets. Besides Vermont, he’s offering group tours in California, Maine, and North Carolina while maintaining routes in Europe, New Zealand and Vietnam.

“It’s like an investment portfolio. You don’t want all your eggs in one basket. To me the USA is the soul of the company. It also diversified my business,” Marston said.

The company is expecting 5,500 guests this year. The company maintains a staff of 15 in Bristol and 10 in offices in Italy, France and England. during the touring season, its employment level rises to 100.

Inns along the route are happy to see the return of domestic touring.

Lang House On Main Street innkeeper Kim Borsavage said the Vermont Bicycling groups would book her 11-room in one night a week from mid May to mid October.

“It’s predictable business and some guests have such a nice time on the way they come back and stay with us on their own,” she said.