Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

In this quick call, we check in with Lukša Malohodžić, the tour operator behind Rewind Dubrovnik boat tours we learn how he is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how he plans to come back stronger. Lukša also shares with us how he is spending his time learning on webinars and what he thinks about virtual tours.

Jon Peahl is the Founder and President of Sansee and the company claim to have developed the first hygiene certification system built specifically for the tours and activities industry. They say that unlike the 'heavily regulated restaurant hotel and cruise ship sectors, governments don't regulate and inspect tours or attractions in the same way, leaving this highly fragmented section of the industry without any uniform sanitation guidelines. So I was curious to find out more.....

I have had enough. Not a week goes by when I don't receive an email from a tour operator who paid for a service/product/tool/app/course that did not deliver. None of us can afford to be taken for a ride. So today I am asking you to help me create the 'Tourpreneur Approved' directory. This will be a free online directory of services/products/tools etc. recommended by tour operators for tour operators. My idea is that each listing will be accompanied by a genuine testimonial from a tour operator (or 2) who is open to being contacted by a fellow tour operator about that service/product. This is not a funnel because there are way too many of them out there. This information will live on the tourpreneur website. No email address needed. No PDF. Would you consider this a helpful resource for your tour business? Let me know.

On this week's installment of Tourpreneur's What I Learned This Week, I talk about the latest tours, activities, and attractions research report released by Arival. I also share what I learned on Redeam's local coalition webinar. I discuss my effort learning Canva, why I am grateful to work in the tour and activities industry and a new health hack to help me lose weight and gain energy.

Virtual tours, should you create one or not? Today's guest is tourpreneur, Jessica Hammer, from Taste of Toulouse food tours. Jessica also wondered whether she should be creating virtual tours, so she asked herself seven questions, reflected on her answers, and decided that no, she wasn't going to use her resources on building a virtual tour. In today's episode, she talks us through the 7 questions she asked herself. She reveals some of those answers and shares her thinking on why she decided creating virtual tours of her food tours is not right for her business. If you feel the FOMO or that you're feeling the urge to follow other tour operators and create a virtual tour, is to also ask yourself the same seven questions and really reflect on those answers, and decide for yourself whether a virtual tour is a good use of your time and resources. I know some of our listeners are enjoying success with virtual tours. I would love to invite you to the show so you can share with us how you've set your virtual tours up? What were the key components? What were the costs? How did you market it? What's the reaction been? Are you making money? How are you measuring success? And because we are an independent podcast, we are always are happy to host different opinions on these issues. Get in touch if you want to share more about your virtual tours on the podcast.

Nikki is going to share with us five ways that tour operators can keep our tour guides engaged. She shares actionable and practical tips based on years of experience at UA. Nikki was involved with tour guide commitment, employee retention, and happiness. She was responsible for tour guide quality in terms of brand consistency across experiences and also working with cultural values and creating a positive work culture. So Nikki has bags of experience when it comes to keeping tour guides happy. I also asked Nikki what makes a great tour guide.

Hello and Welcome to Episode 76 of the Tourpreneur podcast. I hope this episode finds you and your family and your loved ones in the best of health. Today I'm kicking off a new series called What I Learned This Week. I want to share what I learned from the many tour operator webinars, summits, blogs, COVID-19 marketing guides that are being hosted and published. I hope you will join me by sharing your learning on our Monday School over at our private Facebook Group. In this short episode I talk more about: Tour Operator Webinar Fatigue. 90% of tourpreneurs on our recent poll said they felt overwhelmed with the amount of COVD-19 webinars for tour operators. My first Virtual Tour - I traveled to Pompeii with Walks. Booking platform payment models and why added booking fees may be a good thing.

The rapid growth and adoption of reservation systems have made tech accessible to even the smallest operators and brought much of our industry online. Indeed, res tech has been an essential service, a utility, for our industry. What role can they play during this crisis? How can they help operators in the recovery? And how will the challenges of 2020 change the technology landscape for our industry? We’ll dive in and pull no punches as we talk tech and what it means for your business with leadership from four reservation systems. Presenters: Maria Aivalioti, COO, Travelotopos Hjalti Baldursson, CEO, Bokun Scott Zimmerman, CEO, Xola Kory Fawcett, CEO, Zaui Software Moderator: Douglas Quinby, CEO, Arival

Times may be tough, but there’s also never been a better time to review your processes and systems to make than as good as they can be. And that includes your booking tech. There has been so much new tech coming into our sector. But which system should you choose? What features do you need? Which pricing model is right for you? This workshop will help you build a plan for evaluating and implementing a technology platform to manage your tours and activities and run your business more efficiently. Who’s this for? Tour, activity and attraction operators considering new reservation technology

We check in with Tudor Balaban, who offers the Sibiu Experience in Transylvania, Romania via Airbnb Experiences to learn how he is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how he plans to come back stronger.