Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

Dorene Wharton, an expert in tourism marketing and content creation, shares invaluable insights for tour operators on blogging strategies. She discusses the importance of passion and conversion posts while emphasizing diverse content formats. Dorene reveals how to derive inspiration from competitors and industry trends, alongside the significance of keyword tools. She also highlights organizing blog ideas with a content strategy, using Google Analytics for effectiveness, and engaging audiences through personal stories and local insights.

On today's episode, Tourpreneur host Shane Whaley talks content for tour operators with Arival's Director of Marketing, Jessica Gregory. Arival recently announced their content for tour operators masterclass which takes place on March 24th and 25th. Jessica and Shane discuss the content masterclass program and discuss why this is not a standard event but an actual course complete with homework and follow-up learning opportunities. This Arival Master Class looks at key trends in travel content, what today’s travelers are consuming, and provides hands-on learning for content creation (websites, blogs, emails, ads, social, text, photos, videos), dissemination, and management.  Learn what to create, how to make it, where to place it, how to manage it, and how to measure whether it’s working.

This is the Story of Blue Fern Travel, the DC Tour company which tells the history of neighborhoods through food. Blue Fern Travel focuses on supporting local businesses, specifically, women-owned and minority-owned businesses. Today, Mary and Stefan share the Blue Fern Travel ethos and how they work with organizations helping those in need in the city. They share how their food tour business started and how they gained funding for their new venture. They reveal how their community reacted to their business and why it's essential to work with staff, management, and owners when securing vendors. They explain the business skills they had to learn and the methods they use to design their food tours. They discuss why they chose their online tour booking platform and how they market their tours. They also share advice for hiring people to help promote your tour business and what tourpreneurs can do to help their communities.

In today's episode of the Travel Industry Mavericks, Peter Syme and Christian Watts discuss Chris Newlands' unique business model and the journey that led to the creation of spelfie.com. We discuss how COVID has changed Chris’s business landscape and the challenges of bringing brands, events, and partners together. We discuss how Spelfie works, the unique benefits brands get when partnering with them at events, and how Spelfie can work for destination cities and in-destination supply partners. Chris highlights the first socially distanced event for Spelfie and how real-time opportunities can evolve the business's offering. We also discuss how satellite technology is evolving, both in terms of quality and capacity, the many possible new avenues it will give travel partners, and what Spelfie will be doing in the future.

Is Clubhouse for Tour Operators and Tour Guides? Everyone is talking about it, but not many can categorize it. The clubhouse is the new social platform that is a part conference call and part house party. Intrigued by Clubhouse then today you can be a fly on the wall as I record an actual session for you. Today, I’m moderating a Clubhouse session called ‘Clubhouse For Operators’ with three Clubhouse regulars, Christian ‘Clubhouse’ Watts, Mitch Bach, and Nikki Padilla Rivera.In today's podcast-meets-Clubhouse session, we unpack what Clubhouse has to offer to the travel industry and discover Christian’s, Mitch’s, and Nikki’s thoughts about the new kid on the Social Block. We discuss what they find alluring about the platform and why some love it. We discuss Clubhouse etiquette tips, how a session works,  and what makes it different from the now ubiquitous Zoom meeting. We also consider what the value of Clubhouse will be once the exclusive novelty aspect has worn off and how it will continue to attract high industry value speakers.

Much has been written about self-guided tours for tour operators. Is it buzz? Is it hype? Are tour operators making serious revenue out of this or is self-guided yet another shiny object to tempt tour operators away from working on tour business fundamentals? I'm intrigued and I'm not ashamed to say this is a part of our industry that I don't really know much about. I experienced a self-guided tour, an audio tour several years ago in London and thoroughly enjoyed it. But I recognize that since 2018, a lot has changed with technology. And a lot of the functionality has advanced somewhat since then. So it's in that spirit that I've invited onto. today's show Alex Govoreanu the co-founder and CEO at Questo. His company offer self guided city exploration games for travelers and locals. Questo has just raised one and a half million dollars in series A fundraising. However, I didn't just want to have a chat with Alex about self-guided tours for tour operators. When I'm interviewing a guest for the show, I want to know what's in it for you, the tour operator. . So I invited onto the show, a gentleman I affectionately call Mr. Episode 8. Alan Rust! Alan is the Chief Experience Officer at America Tour Company. Alan is shopping around for a partner with self-guided technology for tours. So I thought, you know what, let's host a genuine, authentic conversation on the podcast. So in today's show, we can all learn a little bit more about what Questo offers, how Alex sees the world of self-guided tours and what questions does Alan, the tour operator has when he is looking for a partner in which to sell self-guided apps. And how does he feel Questo stacks up? Alan has spoken to quite a few self-guided providers out there, we will publish a follow up episode with Alan in a few weeks time to hear how he is getting on.shane

Dorene Wharton, a marketing expert and founder of TravelLife Media, shares invaluable insights for tour operators diving into the world of blogging. She emphasizes overcoming imposter syndrome and setting clear goals foundational to success. The discussion highlights identifying your target audience, the importance of consistency in content creation, and turning blog posts into marketing opportunities. Dorene also tackles challenges like low-performing blog posts, feedback management, and the pros and cons of hiring ghostwriters, ensuring a comprehensive guide to impactful blogging.

Peek's CEO and CTO share insights on improving profitability through booking systems, scaling challenges for small operators during COVID-19, predictions on industry re-platforming, and virtual experiences post-pandemic. They discuss the importance of considering big booking systems alongside smaller ones, the demand for virtual experiences, and strategies for generating revenue in the industry.

Many of you have written in asking me why I no longer produce a What I Learned This Week episode on Tourpreneur. In this short episode, I reveal what I learned in 2020 and how I am trying to be laser-focused in 2021 so I can deliver you even better content. Shane is not the only one trying to be more focused, he is in good company with Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky calling 2021 a year of focus. Also in this audio journal, I share more about how I organize my working week as a content creator and how I stay productive despite all the distractions. A big shout out to Cal Newport's book 'Deep Work.' I also share why I turned down invites to Clubhouse and my response to those who ask me what I think about the new Arival Insider Pro subscription plan. I also give you a sneak preview of a new feature on Tourpreneur that we will be piloting shortly. Bridgerton anyone?

Peter Syme joins me today to discuss the evolving travel industry and how activity and tour businesses can survive and find success. He shares his military experiences and the lessons he’s learned from his military career. We discuss why continued education is vital and personal, and how you can research courses, and who is delivering them to ensure your time and money are spent well. Peter Syme shares what business actions to prioritize, including focusing on surviving first and adapting to provide the most effective online and offline experiences. He highlights how businesses that focus on the most difficult things and recognize that the customer is in control are the ones that succeed. He also highlights why you need to change your guest journey for the post-COVID world, the importance of understanding the interdependencies between industries, and that partnerships and outsourcing may be needed for business growth.