Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

Amrita Gurney is the Vice President of Marketing at Crowdriff, specializing in Facebook ads for the tourism industry. She discusses insights from a study of 1,600 ads, revealing trends like the rise of video content and the power of user-generated visuals. Amrita emphasizes optimizing call-to-action strategies and the role of analytics in enhancing ad performance. They also touch on upcoming events aimed at improving digital marketing skills among tour operators, highlighting the importance of transparency and genuine connections in travel marketing.

On Episode 21 of Tourpreneur a podcast for tour operators and tour professionals, Anna Karnowski, Senior Sales Director at the One World Observatory in New York City shares her journey in the travel industry in our Tourpreneur Spotlight series.Anna Karnowski reveals how she grew up in Idaho, brought up by a single Mom, moved to NYC and climbed the ladder in the travel industry.

On Episode 20 of Tourpreneur a podcast for tour operators and tour professionals, Jesse Rifkin shares his journey of how he turned his passion for music and music history into a thriving tour business.Jesse reveals in a conversation with Tourpreneur Host Shane Whaley how he has built a full-time walking tour business in just eight months.He is the tour operator behind Walk on The Wild Side Tours NYC billed as:'NYC walking tours for music nerds - see where your favorite artists lived, performed, rehearsed, and recorded the records you love.'NOTE: You don't have to be into this kind of music to draw a lot of inspiration from today's tourpreneur episode.

Tony Muia of A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours shares his journey of how he swapped healthcare for tourism and opened his tour business showcasing his beloved Brooklyn in 2005.Tourpreneur Host Shane Whaley digs deep into the story of Tony Muia. This interview is a cracker because, in true Brooklyn style, Tony does not hold back. He gives it to us straight from the heart, straight from the guts.He tells us why he's concerned about OTAs. He talks about the importance of paying it forward. He shares with us how mentorship with two tour companies in New York City helped him to grow as a business.He also takes us to that moment when he sat in his car outside his parents' home, his head in his hands because his business has run out of cash and he didn't want to go back to healthcare.

On this episode of Tourpreneur a podcast for tour operators and tour professionals, Ben Dolgoff of Forever Vacation shares his journey of how he opened his tour business and acquired 3000 guests in his first year of business.Ben pulls back the curtain on his online media marketing setup and generously shares his tour marketing strategy with Tourpreneur listeners.On this episode, he reveals:What motivated him to start a tour business.How he promoted his tours.How he uses Facebook to acquire customers for his tours from as little as five bucks a day.How Instagram played a major role in their success.Why Ben is a big fan of retargeting ads.Why he loves OTAsThe importance of funnels in his marketing strategy.How he finds the right tour guides for his tour business.How Forever Vacation works with influencers.What tools he uses to market his tour business online.Why Forever Vacation now offers tours in Malaysia and Vietnam.And much more!

On this episode of Tourpreneur a podcast for tour operators and tour professionals, Greg Fisher, CEO of Tripshock shares his journey with host Shane Whaley, of how he founded the company and how he has grown tours and activities OTA Tripshock over the last 10 years.Greg Fisher reveals:How working at a hotel led him to start up Tripshock.How he developed the idea and executed on it.Having no budget he could not go out and hire SEO and digital marketing experts (sound familiar?) so he shares how he went about learning the skills he needed.Why he feels that OTAs charging 30% commission is not feasible for many smaller tour operators such as fishing boat tours and charters.The decision he took after the Gulf Coast oil spill that almost crushed his business.What he learned as a result of this decision.What customers are looking for when they want to book tours and activities online.The importance of saying no (or not yet) to some tour operators and who want to work with Tripshock.All the Tripshock staff is remote-based.How he builds a Tripshock work culture when all his staff is based remotely.He has not taken any investment funds from VCs.Why he set up TripCon.Why he wrote to Nike's Phil Knight and why he recommends his memoirs Shoe Dog.How he initially struggled to manage a work/life balance and why it is important for tourpreneurs to work at this.And Much More!

On Episode 16 of Tourpreneur, host Shane Whaley digs deep into the story of Ian Thomas and why he set up a running tour in Philadephia. Lace-up your running shoes, strap on your iPod as Ian reveals more about:Why Ian left the world of International Transport Logistics to set up his own running tours of Philadelphia.What he learned at Business School that he is applying to his business.Why he decided to go full time after one year of being a tour operator.Why Google Adwords doesn't make sense for his running tour business but SEO does.His SEO tips for tour operators, including what SEO tools he uses.Why Philadelphia is an ideal city for a running tour.How his running tour resonates with locals as well as visitors and how he is trying to capture more of that market share.His blog strategy.Why he decided to build his own website, See Philly Run with Squarespace.Why he feels See Philly Runs operates the best running tours in Philadelphia.What challenges and obstacles he faced when he became a tour operator.How he discovered what licensing, permits and insurance he needed to operate a running tour business.What it was like leading a running tour with his first paying customers.Which distribution channel gave him his first customer.How he got knocked back twice by Airbnb Experiences and was accepted on his third attempt.Tips on being accepted to the Airbnb Experiences program.Why he offers five different running tours and which running tour is his most popular?Why he decided to work with FareHarbor.What his only hangup using Fareharbor is and what he wishes they would improve.What tools/apps he used to run his tour business.And Much More!

TourRadar. Who are they and how can they help sell your tours?On this episode of Tourpeneur, the podcast for tour operators, host Shane Whaley pulls back the curtain and reveals the inner workings of OTA TourRadar.Tourradar specializes in multi-day tours. Even if you don't offer multi-days, I would urge you to continue listening to today's episode today because you'll get an understanding of how an OTA works.We talk with various TourRadar department heads including:Christian Wolters - Managing Director.Brendan Roberts, VP Business Development.Iris Serbanescu, Director of Partnerships.Patrick Burke, Head of TalentVanessa Subramaniam, Manager of Support. North America.Dennis Basham, Global Head of Industry Sales, On the Go Tours.I also wanted to speak with a tourpreneur who sells their tours via TourRadar and I'll give the company a lot of credit here. They asked me to pick a supplier at will.So a big thank you to Dennis Basham of On the Go Tours who agreed to be interviewed on the Tourpreneur Podcast, to tell us all what it's like to be a supplier and partner working with TourRadar.So there's a lot in this episode. I hope you enjoy it, let me know which OTA you want to hear from next. And if you work for an OTA, do drop me a line and let me know if your company would be interested in being featured on the Tourpreneur podcast as part of our #MeetTheOTA series.

On Episode 14 of the Tourpreneur Podcast, host Shane Whaley finds out more about America Outdoors, especially it's mission and how they deliver value to their members.We chat with Executive Director Julie Kahlfeldt and longtime member Jeff Greiner of America Adventures Zipline Canopy Tours. This is no infomercial though, as we invited AO members to call in and share with us why they are AO members and how AO helps their tour/activity business

How to train tour guides is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive in our postbag here at Tourpreneur.So on this episode of Tourpreneur, a podcast for tour operators and tour professionals, we asked Margaret Hicks of tour guide training company The Tour Boost to share some tips on tour guide training with us.