Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

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.

In this episode of the Tourpreneur Podcast for tour operators, you can learn how you can help shape the content for future episodes. I explain why creating content for tours, activities, and experiences is challenging and ask you for your feedback on how I can create the content that will help you grow your tour business. The survey is available here - www.tourpreneur.com/survey

Jaume Vidal, Tiqets Regional Manager joins me today to discuss how Spain and Portugal are reopening tourist attractions amidst the coronavirus pandemic. He also shares with us what it is really like working at Tiqets. He explains how the Tiqets platform works and how it helps travelers find new attractions and events to explore. He explains why he believes Portugal fared better than Spain during the coronavirus pandemic and how the pandemic has impacted international tourist travel. He discusses how Barcelona venues are communicating their safety and security measures to reassure travelers to visit attractions and how the venues are promoting to local markets. Jaume also shares what it’s really like to work at Tiqets and explains how Tiqets is currently marketing its services to help local venues increase their bookings.

Tour Operators know the importance of local marketing for tour operators during COVID-19 but how exactly do we go about marketing our tours to locals especially when local attractions are still closed? Rob Pitingolo is a DC based tour operator who is struggling to market his local tours online, so we asked tours and activities marketing expert Jeremiah Calvino of Blend Marketing to join us in the virtual Tourpreneur studio to talk local marketing for tour operators. On today's episode, we discuss how tour operators can market and promote their tours to local consumers, despite increased shutdowns among tourist attraction sites. We discuss how remarketing campaigns and content marketing strategies can help with local marketing for tour operators and the importance of understanding your target audience and their search habits. Our guests explain why you need to identify your company’s competitive edge and value proposition and how you can use your website and landing pages to build rapport and promote the customer experience. We share strategies you can use to troubleshoot poor performing re-marketing campaigns, the average cost per lead you should expect from your campaigns, and the importance of using a nurture funnel approach to your marketing efforts to avoid ‘ad-blindness.’ We also share strategies you can use to customize your website copy and online content to attract local - and international - tourists and how to use Facebook look-alike audiences to attract new customers.

On Episode 101 of the Tourpreneur Podcast we invited 3 tourpreneurs from different parts of the world to discuss the recent Tripadvisor White Paper - Beyond COVID-19 - The Road to Recovery for Tour Operators.  Our guests share their response to the Tripadvisor white paper and if it correlates with their own tour business and what learnings they picked up from the report. In this episode you will hear:What were some of the panel's takeaways from the report.What correlation our tour operator panel are seeing from the Tripadvisor research and what is happening with their own tour businesses.Why the restaurant data offered some of the most compelling insights for Lauren as a food tour operator.Why the phases of COVID-19 recovery are important reading for tour operators.How the panel will make changes to their tours based on the data shared by Tripadvisor.And Much More!

On this 100th episode of Tourpreneur the podcast for tour operators, Rob Pitingolo of TripHacks DC turns the tables on founder and host Shane Whaley and pulls back the curtain on Tourpreneur at we celebrate episode 100. Tourpreneur Founder Shane shares his journey, from his decade long career at Booking.com and how he played a pivotal role in what Skift called ‘travel greatest acquisition’ to leading OTA GetYourGuide in the Americas to founding and producing a podcast for tour operators. On Episode 100 of Tourpreneur the podcast for tour operators, guest host Rob expertly quizzes Shane and asks:What is Shane Whaley’s history in the travel industry, what makes him a ‘travel veteran?’Why did Shane start a podcast for tour operators?Why reaching 100 podcast episodes is not the norm? The average show runs for 7 episodes!Was Shane nervous launching a podcast for tour operators? Did he suffer imposter syndrome? Shane reveals that launching a unique podcast is similar to launching a new tour, you ask yourself why is nobody else doing this?Why is Shane so passionate about tours, activities, attractions and experiences?How did he come up with the name Tourpreneur? Shane also reveals what his first name for his tour operator podcast was and why he ditched it.Why did Shane decide to produce a podcast for tour operators rather than a YouTube channel for tour operators?How much work goes into producing an episode of the Tourpreneur Podcast?What are the main challenges in creating and producing a podcast for tour operators?What is the Tourpreneur Mission?What is the Tourpreneur business model? How is Shane monetizing the Tourpreneur Podcast?What are some things that listeners to the podcast might not realize happen behind the scenes?Which of the first 99 episodes is your personal favorite? (episode 32 obviously)Where does Shane find his guests?You probably get a lot of messages from people who want to come on the podcast to promote or sell something. How do you handle those types of inquiries?  Shane reveals how he has turned down lucrative offers in affiliate commissions and pay to play.Covid-19 has financially impacted many of us tour operators – has Tourpreneur felt similar financial pain because of Covid-19? How so?Are there any productivity tips that you’ve implemented that you think tour operators could benefit from too?You’re in the early stages of starting a tour company in Vermont. What can you tell us about that?What’ is Shane’s vision for the next 100 episodes of Tourpreneur?And Much More!

In this episode of the Tourpreneur Podcast, we bring you the full audio of the Arival Online Session The Future of International Travel with Brand USA's Carroll Rheem. In this in-depth discussion we’ll delve into how travelers around the world are thinking about travel, how they are planning trips and what they are looking for. We’ll discuss what operators of tours, activities, attractions and experiences should do to reach those travelers, what travel marketing will look like in the future, and what adjustments operators should make to their products.

Arival CEO Douglas Quinby reveals more about 'Your Revival' a virtual one day summit which focuses on how tours, activities and attractions are reopening and reassuring nervous travelers. Douglas also explains why the summit is 'not another freakin webinar' but offers interaction such as themed roundtables and access to 1:1 meetings with Arival Experts.

Amy Overy offers private tours of Hong Kong. She shares with us how she got started, how she grew her business and how she has coped with political protests and COVID-19. This is the story of Hong Kong Greeters.

In this quick call, we check in with Catia , the tour operator behind Lisbon Stories Today we have a COVID-19 to operator check-in. I might even start calling these, just tour operator check-ins. I hate writing the word COVID-19 and today we feature our first ever Portuguese tour operator on the Tourpreneur Podcast. Catia of Lisbon Stories wrote to me saying: 'I'm writing to you from Portugal and our official tourism board has launched a program called clean and safe .It requires a few hours of online education. You have to elaborate a plan for your own company, and there are random checks to make sure your businesses are following everything they should. I'm working on this right now, and I'll be glad to go on the show and talk to you about how our seal works, what it requires and what I've learned during the certification. I am a licensed tour guide and I run a very small company offering private tours in Lisbon Portugal.  We offer a few walking tours, but mostly car tours, always to small private group.' So we talk about hygiene, the safety protocols for tour operators. We also then talk about how Catia is going to pivot her tour business. Catia is very motivated by showing tourists 'off the beaten track' Lisbon. So I think you will enjoy this episode and I love how international the Tourpreneur Podcast is becoming. So don't hesitate, wherever you are in the world. If you want to come on and share a story with us, about how you're growing your tour business, what you're learning during the lockdown drop me an email. And as we hopefully head into recovery, we are here. We want to feature your stories, email me at [email protected] 

Today we bring you an exclusive announcement, from two former guests of ours - two food tour operators They have teamed up with a major tour operator booking platform FareHarbor and have built a microsite Global Tours Connect, which they say, not only can deliver bookings for your tour business but will also pay you a dividend. Intrigued? I know I was. So we welcome onto the show today, Lauren McCabe Herpich of Local Food Adventures, Midgi Moore of Juneau Food Tours and first time guest on the Tourpreneur Podcast, Sabine Whitney of FareHarbor..

In this week's episode, I share with you: Why we pulled an episode of Tourpreneur this week. How being candid and honest as a content creator requires a thick skin. Arival announced they are moving their Phoenix event from September to November. Arival Phoenix Cancellation policies and why I credit them for their clarity around what will happen if they are forced to cancel the event due to COVID regulations. My dilemma about whether to attend Arival Phoenix or not this year The beta version of the Tourpreneur Approved Directory What is coming up on the Tourpreneur Podcast.

Checkfront just released a free in-depth and highly actionable e-book on local marketing, which covers everything from optimizing your local presence online to standing out in the local community.In this episode of the Tourpreneur podcast, Kyla Steeves who authored the local marketing guide for tour operators joins us and shares her 5 key marketing strategies.

Robert Levitt of Via Nissa Excursions joins the Tourpreneur Podcast and walks us through giving his first tour since lockdown. I'm really excited to share Robert's story because he posted photos of his tour on our Facebook. Robert's photos attracted hundreds of likes and the group was buzzing with excitement because this was the first sign we had seen of a real tour as opposed to a virtual tour. On the podcast, Robert shares with us how they adapted the business and tours to comply with the strict French regulations. He also shares how they marketed their tours to locals and discusses the different challenges when giving tours to locals rather than tourists.

This month I have spoken with 2-3 tour operators each day. Some of those conversations you can hear on the Tourpreneur Podcast in our COVID-19 check-in. In this episode, I share why I am so inspired by tour operators optimism and resiliency. I also share why those touting the Law of Attraction (a.k.a. The Secret) across the tour operator Facebook groups are promoting a delusional type of positive thinking which could end up harming your tour business. That's not to say they are not well-intentioned but as the Arctic Monkeys' once sang 'don't believe the hype!'

Today we discuss how you can pivot into local marketing for tour operators. We are joined by Marica Brewster, who runs the Von Mack Agency, a digital marketing agency that specializes in the tours and activities industry. Marica shares her beginner-friendly tips on how to pivot into local marketing for tour operators plus Marica highlights the importance of mindset. 5 Local Marketing for Tour Operator Tips 1. Perfect your message first. (Heartstring pull/ why “in your back yard” positioning is different, message foundation w seo, listings, etc)2. Know your numbers! (Budget, GA stats, incoming visitation, search volume, projections, etc.)3. Choose media buys that allow for quick pivots and more immediate optimization. (Time to get granular, lean to digital because of opportunity)4. Partnerships and product development can be an “in.” (Restaurants, dmo/cvbs, etc)5. Give back to the community. (Being an active part of a community helps w referrals, warm leads, social proof, etc)

In this quick call, we check in with Chef Forrest Parker, the tour operator behind Underdiscovered Charleston - history, walking, and food tours! We learn how he is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how he plans to come back stronger. Forrest shares with us why he decided to offer food and history tours of Charleston and what he is doing to improve his tour business so he can come back stronger after the COVID-19 lockdown.

What I Learned This Week. First of all, I'm going to talk about, well, I'm going to ask the question, is it time that we had a nonprofit tour operator association for smaller tour operators; are the tour operator associations who are out there serving us? And secondly, I'm going to talk about a positive story that's just come in from Nice in France; someone's just led a tour. Yes. Remember those? No, not a virtual tour, ... humans getting together and going on a tour.

In this quick call, we check in with Matt Marberry , the tour operator behind OBX Outer Banks Ghost Tours We learn how he is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how he plans to come back stronger. Matt shares with us how T-shirt print to demand is helping him cover his worker's comp payments during the lockdown plus what he is doing to reassure nervous travelers.

I discuss why we need a transparent Arival refund policy. What happens to your money if Arival is forced to cancel future events due to COVID-19? This week on the Tourpreneur Podcast, Jon Peahl revealed more about his new hygiene certification for tours, activities, and attractions. I share why I have serious misgivings about their phone-based screening for certification. Will the Sansee Shield assure nervous travelers? I am not convinced. Most of us are scared to change anything on our websites but on this episode, I share with you why now is the right time to make those changes/upgrades to your websites, copy, logos, photos, booking platforms, etc.

In this quick call, we check in with Valur Heiðar Sævarsson , the tour operator behind Your Friend In Reykjavik (Reykjavik Walking Tours) we learn how he is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how he plans to come back stronger.

Food Tour Operator Theresa Nemetz of Milwaukee Food Tours joins us on the Tourpreneur Podcast. Theresa shares with us how she pivoted her food tour business during the Coronavirus pandemic to generate revenue and grow her business despite the lockdown.I love working in the tours and activities industry because the vast majority of tour operators are willing to share not just their success story but how they achieved success, with other tour and activity providers.My inbox blew up with Tourpreneur listeners asking me to interview Theresa on the show following a blog post she wrote titled 'Three Ways Tour Operators Can Grow During the COVID-19 Crisis.'I wrote to Theresa and she agreed to come on the show and share more about her pivot. This is a rare success story in these tough times and I can't thank Theresa enough for coming on the show to discuss how the pivot came about and how she executed.

Brian tells Tourpreneur:"Our revenue was growing 300% month over month up until the mandatory shut down here in New Orleans.""Additionally, the expansion to our second market, Nashville, was finalized on March 4th with a planned launch on April 25th, which has been put on hold for an extended period of time to evaluate how tourism will come back. We have also implemented free virtual experiences to help with brand awareness and have received positive feedback.'

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.

In this quick call, we check in with Nicole Will, the tour operator behind Asheville Wellness Tours in North Carolina to learn how she is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how she plans to come back stronger. Nicole shares with us why she thinks it is ok to pause and get back to basics with your tour business. We also talk about how motivating it is to see our tour industry pulling together.

In this quick call, we check in with Coreena Vieth the tour operator behind Shutterbug Walkabouts of Tasmania to learn how she is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how she plans to come back stronger.

In this quick call, we check in with Karin Risko, the tour operator behind City Tour Detroit to learn how she is coping with the COVID-19 lockdown and how she plans to come back stronger. "You know, I feel like I'm starting over again for the third time. In 2012, I was getting ready, gung ho, and then I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The following year in 2013, again I'm revving up, and then my boyfriend passed away suddenly. And I really had no clue after that if I was going to go forth, because suddenly I had no passion for the business. This time it's a little bit different. I still do have passion, so I'm just kind of sitting back, I guess, sit back, breathe. Be grateful for what you do have. There's a lot of people, you know, we don't have to be on the front lines out there exposing ourself to this disease."

We check in with Staci Giovino, the tourpreneur behind Carmel Food Tours to learn how they are coping with the COVID-19 lockdown

In a quick call, Grace Della of Miami Culinary Tours shares with us how she is using the experience of dealing with hurricanes and Zika to build her business and bulletproof her mindset during the COVID-19 lockdown. - What are your action plans during quarantine? - What is your daily routine? How are you protecting your mental health? - How are you getting through this? What is your message to your fellow tour operators? - What are you doing to make sure your business comes out of this stronger than before? - What are you learning from peers and the online webinars that you plan on implementing in your business?

Welcome to episode 69 of the Tourpreneur Podcast. Today we discover how the WFTA can help you start or grow your food tour business. We're joined by Erik Wolf, the founder and executive director of the World Food Travel Association. The world's leading authority on food and beverage tourism. The WFTA mission is to 'preserve and promote culinary tours through hospitality and tourism' and on this episode of the Tourpreneur podcast, you will hear how they strive to achieve that.

Welcome to Episode 68 of the Tourpreneur Podcast. Today's podcast is a little different from our usual format. I invited Miranda Peterson of Namaste in Nature onto the show to share mental health and wellness strategies and tips for tour operators as we all struggle through the COVID-19 crisis.

Mitch Bach shares with us why he set up the immersive training company Tripschool and how he uses his 17 year experience to help you become a better tour guide and/or director and tour guide.TripSchool offers immersive tour director & guide training experiences online and around the world! In this episode, we cover many topics, but this is not a sales pitch. Mitch shares with us how to build an engaging tour experience which will help to grow your tour business. I quizzed Mitch about the Tour Director Certification Course and if it would help me with my plans to set up my own brewery tour company. ( An idea that has been derailed since COVID-19 but I am still thinking about it but probably in 2021.) Mitch is not just a tour guide trainer, he also works as a tour guide and towards the end of the chat, Mitch shares with us one of his tour guide secrets that always blows the minds of his tour guests, it blew my mind as well.

In this in-depth interview with GetYourGuide co-founder Tao Tao, discusses GetYourGuide's response to the coronavirus and the steps they are taking to support operators. Tao also goes deep on GetYourGuide's vision for its branded tour initiative GertYourGuide Originals, what does the online distribution look like in a post-coronavirus world, and what all of this means for operators of tours, activities, and attractions. With thank to Arival Online and host Douglas Quinby.

This week, digital marketing expert Jennifer Burke and Tourpreneur host Shane Whaley put two tour operator websites through the Tourpreneur Tune-Up. We review TheTourGuy.com and TypicallySwissTours.com Listen in and hear our suggestions on what we like, dislike and how these tour operators could supercharge their websites.

How do you price, market and push your products amid a global downturn in travel demand? When should you discount? What messaging and promotions should you use? This workshop walks through best practices and key tips to keep your marketing and pricing on track.

In this candid and in-depth episode of Tourpreneur, we are joined by Gordon Firemark of Firemark Entertainment Law Offices, who specializes in the podcast and other entertainment copyright. I chat with him today about the ins and outs of trademark law for your tour company, when you should hire a lawyer and why you should trademark your tour company name. Registered trademarks are a concern for many Tourpreneurs, and I'm not a legal expert, so I've asked Gordon Firemark, who specializes in entertainment law and expert about trademarks in the United States. About the question of trademarking your name, Gordon says, "The short answer, I think is yes." Your brand name is what allows you to grow your business. Another person can start a company using a name that is confusingly similar to your own name, and that could really undermine your marketing and promotional efforts and slow down growth. Trademark registration is an essential way of protecting against this happening. "I would say this is near the top of the list of things to do from a legal standpoint and as you're getting a business off the ground." Trademarks are designed to protect distinctive names. Descriptive terms don't pass muster with the trademark registration folks until they've been used long enough to have acquired a secondary meaning in the mind of the consuming public. Make sure to choose your name wisely and choose a name that's distinctive so that you don't have the pushback in those early days. You really have to evaluate what your time is worth. You may spend two or three hours that the lawyer would complete under an hour and know your application is made right. What's your time worth for that when you could be either out running a tour and getting things taken care of so you have the bandwidth to do activities that are important for your business.

Arival has been conducting a survey of the impact of coronavirus since March 8. In this Arival Online event, Arival CEO Douglas Quinby walks through key findings and discusses them with leading tour and activity operators.

Our industry is hurting badly right now, there is no sugar-coating this. Shane wants to know what you wantto hear on the Tourpreneur Podcast as we battle through the coronavirus crisis together. My name may be on the intro but this is your show. Tell us what you need to learn or hear going forward.

Three Food Tour Operators or as we call them food tourpreneurs, discuss all things food tours. Including what is Food Tour Week, what booking platform they use for their food tour business and much more! We are joined by Lauren McCabe Herpich (Local Food Adventures), Midgi Moore (Juneau Food Tours) and Kevin Durkee (Culinary Adventure Company.)