Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

Liselot Caura reveals how she took her brewery tour business BeerSecret from a side hustle to a full-time business and outlines some of the challenges she faced.Liselot joins us today to share the story behind BeerSecret. She describes her beginnings in the brewery industry and reveals what led her to switch from sales and promotion in breweries to leading beer tastings and tours.She discusses how long it took her to take BeerSecret from a side hustle to a full-time business and outlines the challenges and lessons she learned along the way.Liselot also provides advice on building relationships with bars and breweries as a food tour operator and underscores the value of knowing your customers. 

The Tour Operator Start Up series is back, Simon Burke joins Nikki Padilla Rivera today to discuss starting a tour business, in fact, a sidecar motorcycle tour company during the COVID-19 pandemic.He explains the hoops, logistics, and licenses when starting a tour vehicle business in Paris. He describes how Brexit and the pandemic impacted his start-up and explains how he came up with the concept of Txango Tours.Simon also underscores the value of taking yourself out of your comfort zone and highlights the role of passion in running a tour company.

Ryan O'Grady, founder of Fotaflo, shares how tour businesses can boost bookings and reviews with photo memories. He highlights the power of 'memory marketing' and sending personalized photos to guests. The podcast discusses the benefits of using photos to enhance customer engagement and brand connections in the tourism industry.

Lauren Hefferon, with over 30 years of experience in bike tours, shares her journey of building Ciclismo Classico from the ground up. She discusses the importance of personal connections with customers and traditional versus digital marketing strategies. Lauren emphasizes the power of tailored experiences, navigating customer trust in online bookings, and engaging event marketing. She also highlights utilizing Zoom for virtual events during the pandemic and the significance of effective public relations to enhance visibility.

Jamie Robinson joins us today, he divulges his tactics to effective, authentic marketing on a budget. He describes his journey to being a tourpreneur and explains how an episode of the show, Top Gear, inspired him to start his experiences business based around two iconic cars, a London Cab and an Indian Taxi.He explains how to engage with a community without sounding like a pushy salesperson and discusses how he uses social media to promote his business.Jamie also explains why Tourpreneurs shouldn’t be afraid to give away free experiences or services and underscores the importance of remembering your mission in business.

From Navy cryptographer to successful tour business owner.  Renee Ventrice of Cork and Keg Tours joins us today to discuss how she built a luxury winery and brewery tours business. She walks us through how she created local partnerships with breweries and wineries and outlines how she designed her tour business from the ground up.Renee also discusses why evaluating and reevaluating friction points in our tour business’s process is key to growth.She describes how community partnerships and nonprofits could be tour businesses' best marketing allies.Renee highlights the importance of executing detailed market research and underscores the value of differentiating and elevating yourself from other tour operators.

Join Brian Cain from Crawl New Orleans, first-time attendee Jarrod Riddle of Spirit of Arizona Tours, and returning guest Heather Fortes of Sactown Bites as they reflect on their eye-opening experiences at Arival San Diego. They delve into the value of networking and problem-solving, share actionable strategies for growing their businesses, and discuss the latest marketing trends to attract Gen Z. Brian also reveals insights from collaborating with Viator accelerate, sparking a vibrant conversation about community support and new strategies in the tour industry.

We are receiving more and more questions from tour operators who want to learn Instagram Reels but are unsure where to start.These questions have inspired Shane to dig into Instagram Reels for Tour Operators starting next week where he will try an experiment at Arival San Diego to see if he can learn Instagram Reels (and overcome his camera nerves!)Shane's plan is to record a quick Instagram Reel after every session/workshop, he will share his #1 learning from each session. Follow Tourpreneur Instagram to watch Shane's insights from Arival and feel free to give him feedback on the reels, #AlwaysBeLearning right?In 2022 we will be bringing you lots more content and Instagram reels tips for tour operators.

In January, 11 tour operators shared the critical skills they aim to master this year for business growth. Strategies focused on partnerships and leveraging technology to enhance efficiency. Unique experiences and storytelling emerged as vital components to attract high-end travelers. The discussion also emphasized improving engagement through better interview techniques. Lastly, insights into future advancements in the tour and travel podcasting community were shared, fostering a spirit of collaboration and continuous improvement.

Evan Tipton from TOMIS shares insights on AI chatbots while Billy from Arkansas River Tours reveals how he's leveraged this technology to boost his tour business. They discuss the transformative impact of AI on customer interactions and booking processes. Billy highlights how his chatbot generates over $60k in bookings, improves efficiency, and enhances customer engagement. Together, they emphasize the importance of continuous learning and collaboration in adopting AI to stay competitive in the tour industry.