Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

Midgi Moore joins me today to share the story behind Juneau Food Tours. She shares how to build relationships with restaurants and get them added to your food tour. She discusses the essential elements of a successful tour, how to create value and price your tour, and how to build your tour brand. Midgi discusses the advantages of working with travel agents, sustainability within tourism, and why she changed booking platforms. Midgi also shares how she vets tour guides, how her company is surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, and her top three tips for growing your tour business.

in this series, we follow a tour operator on their journey from start to, well, we don't know where. We hope it is to success, but you're going to have to listen in each month to find out what happens. Today we feature Morgan Cantrell of HistoryWellTravelled.com. Let me introduce you to Morgan. She started her walking tour business just as the pandemic hit. Morgan shares why her dream is to build her own tour business. We also discuss some of the growing pains, she's experienced so far in starting her own tour business.We won't be sugarcoating anything during these chats, you know me well enough over the past 113 episodes that I'm all about authentic and genuine conversations. We will discuss Morgan's' wins and her losses. I know you're going to be thrilled when you hear Morgan share with us what it was like the day she picked up her phone and read that she had her first bookings.So today's episode is Morgan's tour operator start-up story. We will check in with Morgan monthly to discuss her wins and her challenges building her tour business.I'm excited. Strap yourself in. Let's go.This week on Tourpreneur: What inspired Morgan to start a tour businessDeveloping a brand name, website domain, and logoHow Morgan went about designing her first historic Carrollton walking tourMorgan's determination to create a tour in a market were none existHow to research and build a website with a WordPress themeHow Morgan is marketing her business in her town through Facebook targeted adsCreating awareness and experimenting with Facebook ads, including images, demographics, and keyword pluginsWhy Morgan chose FareHarbor software to streamline bookings, payments, and data analysisThe emotions and excitement Morgan felt taking her first bookingMorgan's biggest frustrations on starting a tour business and how she motivates herself

Arival, the event for the tours, activities, experiences and attractions industry has officially announced that the Arival Phoenix event is canceled. We talk with co-founder Bruce Rosard to learn what this means for those who have registered for the Phoenix event as well as what is next for Arival as it goes virtual.

This week I was honored to be one of four judges at the first ever online tour guide throwdown hosted by Redeam. The event was a resounding success, well done Redeam and on this episode of What I Learned This Week I share with you why I admire tour guides even more following the event. I share with you how I combated groupthink and how refreshing it was to spend two hours enjoying a virtual event that was positive and fun.Check out the Tour Guide Throwdown Winners here.In this episode, I reveal some of the trends I am seeing on our listener's survey and discuss new features I am scoping out for future episodes of the Tourpreneur Podcast.I also invite a tour operator who is potentially looking for a new booking platform to join me for sessions with tour operator booking platforms on our brand new Meet the Res Tech series. I can be emailed at shane@tourpreneur.com

What's it really like to work with GetYourGuide for tour operators? Carlee and Marc join me today to discuss the relationship between OTA GetYourGuide and tour operators. Marc shares how GetYourGuide extended the reach of his tour business, giving him access to new international customers, and discusses how cooperation with GetYourGuide has improved his business growth.

Ralph joins me today to share the story behind PhotoEnrichment Adventures and how he decided to switch from being a restaurateur to a tour organizer. He discusses his most popular tours and how he puts them together with local tour operators, creating a product that has seen a 42% repeat customer rate. He discusses the difference between PhotoEnrichment Adventures and Alla Campagna and how his business responds and adapts to the coronavirus crisis. Ralph also discusses the marketing tools and apps he uses and his strategies for building client-relationships and pricing.

Tour operator Dov Selby joins us today to share the story behind Berlin Food Tour Fork and Walk Tours. He discusses the hurdles that he faced to become a tourpreneur and to start his own Berlin Food Tour business. He shares how Fork and Walk Tours in Berlin and Munich create interest around its products and the roles of OTAs, organic marketing, and paid advertising. Dov reveals how he builds relationships with local business and tour guides and highlights why it is vital to create a team that is passionate about your business. Dov also discusses how his new website captures sales from the corporate market and his mindset on finding the right work/life balance.

Tour industry veteran and adventure specialist, Peter Syme, joins us today to share his perspective and advice on Matthew Smith's multi-day tour business, SOE Expeditions. This is a unique podcast episode of Tourpreneur as Matthew is at the early stage of building this particular tour business and he goes into detail for us about how to build a multi-day tour with a difference. Matthew shares the type of clients who are booking his niche multi-day tours and the physical and mental endurance needed to complete them. We discuss how to find a balance between pricing and profit and how insurance and liability are managed for endurance tours. We also discuss marketing channels, raising awareness, the importance of testimonials, and the huge benefits people experience once they complete an endurance tour or challenge. We discuss the vitally important life skills and history of the S.O.E. executive operations.

Dorene Wharton joins us today to share copywriting tips for tour operators. She shares how writing copy is an art and science that tour operators can learn to produce powerfully engaging copy. We discuss what has changed since Covid-19, how to establish trust, and what hasn’t changed in terms of effective copy. Dorene's copywriting tips for tour operators highlight the must-haves for your content and stresses the importance of authenticity. She also discusses why good copywriting starts with your purpose and reveals how you can find the right balance between SEO keywords and your brand’s voice. This week on Tourpreneur - copywriting tips for tour operators: The pre-COVID authentic, conscious consumer buying trends that are becoming more pronounced Why consumers are becoming more skeptical with brands and their motives How to reassure people in your copy that you have taken the necessary steps to ensure visitor and employee safety How to conduct a deep dive into your customer's persona and uncover what they are asking for Why your About Us page is essential and should be one of your top three visited pages How to write your About Us page and convey your personal story How to use descriptive words and verbs and why you should avoid adjectives How to make your copy easier to digest through sectioning and titling Why you should conduct keyword research before you write Why your blog titles need to be consistent with your content How to improve your copywriting by using authenticity, emotion, and personality Interview questions and how to find a copywriter and determine if they will be good for your business Our Favorite Quotes: “People buy products that they value; that do not just make money, but they are equally focused on improving the world in some way.” - Dorene Wharton “We want to support brands who do and say the things we believe in.” - Dorene Wharton Resources Mentioned: Your About Page: The Secret Weapon to Build Trust and Future Sales Grammarly 10 Tips for Better Tourism Website Copywriting - Blog Post Great COVID Safety Copy by Eagle Wing Whale Watching Tours Devour Tours Impulse Travel Taste of Thailand Food Tours Great Benefits Copy by Rewind Dubrovnik

Travel Curious is a leading online marketplace for booking private bespoke tours in the world's greatest cities.They partner with large travel partners such as Marriott, Hilton, Sunday Times Travel via API or white label solution. Today we bring you the story behind Travel Curious.Founder Alex Grant joins me today to share the story behind Travel Curious and what makes an excellent tour guide and immersive experience. Alex reveals his journey and inspiration for creating Travel Curious, his relationships with hotels, and how many hotels can generate extra revenue by learning how cruise ship operators sell tours online.