Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

How do I promote my specialty tours asks an Edinburgh based tour operator? In this special Ask the Expert edition of Tourpreneur, Shane Whaley brings together tour operator, Olga the owner of Cobble Tales and a digital marketing expert and tour operator Ben Oliver of Drinking History Tours to tackle tough marketing questions. With practical and actionable advice any tourpreneur can implement, this hour is packed full of value.

Most think of online travel agencies (OTAs) as simply online resellers of other operators' products. But Taiwan-based KKDay is not your typical OTA. They are getting into customer delivery with KKDay branded experiences. In this talk, the company's regional executive director explains why.

No aspect of the travel industry is facing more challenges and change than tour operating. New technology and shifting traveler demands are compelling tour companies to change what they offer and how they offer it. This session brings leading operators from across the region to have their say on the big challenges and trends shaping their decisions today and tomorrow.

San Francisco tour founder Erik Hormann started with one Volkswagen bus and built a thriving vintage van tour business. After 5 years, he sold it to new owners, bringing the business full circle. This is his story and it is packed with lessons and advice for tour operators.

Representing some $150 billion in spend from nearly 200 million travelers across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and beyond, the Muslim traveler marketplace is large and rapidly growing. But the needs and expectations of the segment are distinct. This session will walk through the essentials

From search and shop to serving and booking, the global search giant has big plans for the in-destination industry. In this talk, Google’s head of travel partnerships for APAC gives the Google view on The Best Part of Travel, and what that means for operators of tours, activities and attractions.

After working for large tours in NYC, Jeremy knew he wanted to offer something others didn’t. His ideal tour concept was one that was customized, with fewer guests and a more personalized experience. With the ability and first-hand knowledge to take visitors to see other beautiful and culturally rich sites of New York most tours don’t cover, Jeremy knew he could do it. Confident his idea was solid, he set out to learn all he could about how to get a tour successfully launched in an already heavily saturated market. Custom NYC Tours was born. This is his story.

Unless somehow Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Australian travelers all started traveling, behaving and spending the exact same way, it’s clear there’s no single Asian market. This essential roundtable assembles leading online travel agencies (OTAs) of tours, activities and attractions to discuss the diverse trends shaping varied travel markets and traveler segments from across the region.

It’s one of the fastest growing travel markets and India’s travelers are hungry for tour and activity experiences across Asia. This research presentation walks through the essentials of the Indian market, and explores how it’s growing, the unique values of Indian travelers and what operators need to know to win them over.

Anula Galewska, is a Tourpreneur, and a sustainable tourism expert. She helps small and big tourism businesses grow by improving their sustainability operations and marketing. Over the last decade, she has audited tour operators and hotels for sustainable tourism, so she's a real expert in this space. I wanted to talk to Anula Galewska because sustainable tourism means different things to different people. We all want to do more for the environment. We all want to do more for our local economy. We all want to build a sustainable tour business. We are all trying to make a profit, we're working hard to make a living. How can we make profits in our tour business whilst doing good? So I figured it would be good to talk to Anula about how she defines sustainable tourism and to give us some takeaways of how we can build a sustainable tour business. She has also recently launched a course. Sustainable Tourism Made Easy, it goes live on October 3, which is a simple step by step system to accelerate our tour business through sustainability. I ask her more about the course, who it is designed for and what it entails. Tourpreneur is NOT affiliated with the course but we do highly recommend Anula's work and rate her expertise.

“Local Experiences” are the latest buzzword, but what are they really? What does local authenticity really mean? And how do we infuse it into a traveler experience? Isn’t a tour or an activity a local experience? Here, Hong Kong-based culinary entrepreneur Cecilia Leung shares her insights on creating authentic local experiences through food, and how you can too.

From WeChat and Go-Jek to Grab, LINE, Meituan and more, Asia’s rising Super Apps are just about everywhere. Theyare offering pretty much everything and are challenging every sector of both online and offline commerce. How will they change the way your customers plan and book things to do? Walking us through the state of Super Apps and what they mean to creators and sellers of tours, activities and attractions is one of the region’s long-standing experts in digital travel, Brett Henry.

On Episode 27 of the Tourpreneur Podcast Guest Experience Expert, Josh Liebman of the Attraction Pros podcast shares his tips on how we can improve guest experience on our tours. I ask Josh what he's learned by evaluating theme parks and attractions that we can as tour operators implement in our business to improve the guest experience. How to improve guests experience on your tour with Josh Liebman and Tourpreneur Host Shane Whaley. Welcome to Episode 27 of the Tourpreneur podcast where we flatten the learning curve to help you grow your tour business and delight your customers and delighting customers is a big part of today's episode. Episode 27 is all about how we improve the guests experience. I got chatting with Joshua Liebman. He has more than 13 years of experience in the theme parks and attractions industry. Joshua specializes in guest experience training, guest experience feedback, mystery shopping, quality assurance consulting. So he works very closely with theme parks and attractions to go in and mystery shop then evaluates and work out how they can create an even better experience for their guests. I ask Josh what he's learned by evaluating theme parks and attractions that we can as tour operators implement in our business to improve the guest experience.

Most online travel startups dream of big funding rounds, big profits and even bigger exits. This startup thinks about preserving Thailand’s diverse culture and supporting local communities. Achi Thamparipattra, CEO and Chief of Fun of HiveSters, sold us on her vision. In this talk, you’ll find out why.

Most tour and activity operators start with passion and follow their instinct and expertise to design great guest experiences. Tomorrow’s operators will use data analysis and careful customer observations to design experiences of the future. In this talk, GetYourGuide’s lead for Southeast Asia walks us through their data-driven journey to custom design a tour product with a partner in Indonesia, and provides insights on how every experience creator can use science as well as art to serve their guests.

We lost some audio on episode 25. so here John talks us through how tour guides of free walking tours get paid and how he is trying to pay his tour guides a full time salary.

I've never really understood how companies make money from a free walking tour and John kindly walks us (sorry for the pun) through it. He's a very passionate entrepreneur and in this episode, we had a great chat about how he got started with his tour business, how he promotes his tours, the business model behind free walking tours, managing tour guides, the OTA landscape, digital marketing etc

Asia’s iconic low-cost carrier has been methodically, if not so quietly, plotting to win big in tours, activities and attractions. In this interview, we sit down with AirAsia.com COO to discuss the carrier's plans for the Best Part of Travel.

Distribution dynamics in tours, activities and attractions are rapidly changing. Online travel agencies (OTAs) are growing fast, raising lots of capital, acquiring reservation systems and driving all sorts of innovations. This poses many important questions to operators of all sizes and segments. This roundtable of OTA leaders and operators will debate them all—and answer tough audience questions.

Christian Watts, founder of City Sightseeing San Francisco and now CEO at Magpie Travel shares his journey in the travel industry in our Tourpreneur Spotlight series. Christian Watts reveals in a candid conversation with Tourpreneur host Shane Whaley, how he moved to San Francisco and climbed the ladder in the travel industry. Christian started his career in tours and activities as a pedicab driver near Fishermans Wharf and went on to found the hop on hop off City Sightseeing bus tour company which he managed and grew for over two decades.

Klook has in just a few short years grown to become a leading online travel agency (OTA) for tours and activities across Asia. Now, with a $500 million war chest, they have big plans for global expansion. In this in-depth interview, get the inside scoop on one of the most talked-about companies in online travel. Learn where Klook is headed, and what it means for your tour, activity or attraction business.

An overview of the key trends and issues shaping The Best Part of Travel in Asia and what’s ahead for creators and sellers of tours, activities and attractions with Arival CEO Douglas Quinby

On this episode, we talk best practices for Facebook Ads for Tour Operators. Today's guest is Amrita Gurney. She is the Vice President of Marketing at Crowdriff. A couple of weeks ago on the Daily Brief, which is the email I send out every day where I curate all the major news in tours and activities and digital marketing. I shared a state of the industry report that Crowdriff released all about Facebook ads. Crowdriff analyzed and visualized the data on more than 1600 Facebook ads run by state destination marketing organizations, tour operators, hotels and resorts. On this episode, Amrita Gurney and I deep dive into the data with tour operators in mind.

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.

The Fitz and Folwell Story, how two friends started and grew a successful bike tour company. Fitz & Follwell are into their 11th season.On this episode of Tourpreneur a podcast for tour operators and tour professionals, founders Diego, and Shea share their journey of what made them start a bike tour business and the lessons they have learned along the way.

How John LaVerne Built Bulldog Tours of Charleston. Tour Operator Owner John LaVerne talks with Tourpreneur Podcast Host Shane Whaley and pulls back the curtain on how he started Bulldog Tours from scratch.John LaVerne of Bulldog Tours reveals:How an internship on a carriage tour sparked his love affair with tours.Why he approached the Old Exchange to offer ghost tours?How he moved his business then called John's Tours from a part time hobby to a serious business.Why he changed the name from John's Tours to Bulldug ToursHow his parents reacted when he decided to leave a well paying job in the corporate world to go 'all in' on being a tour operator.How his mission of preserving historic Charleston sites drives him.Bulldog Tour has raised $3.7m for historic Charleston buildings and plans to raise even more.More about his mentors in the early days and the importance of having a business coach.What question his coach asked him that triggered him into action to hiring a specialist role and resulted in increased revenue.Why CPAs are so important for tour operators.How being a tour guide for his own company was a completely different experience.How he dealt with his competitors showing up for his first ever tour.How he deals with criticism and turns it into a positive.That managing expectations with Ghost Tours can be tricky.His first hire, tour guide Franny Russell is still working at Bulldog Tours today.His outlook and approach to managing tour guides and staff.How he first got the word out about his tours.His approach to working with hotels and concierges.How he works with OTAsHow much of his business comes from OTAs.Advice for tour operators who want to work with OTAs based on his own experience.How he works with AirBnB Experiences.Confesses that early on he did not think direct bookings from his website would be a success.How he was able to convince the Magnolia Cemetery to allow him to create and operate the Spirits of Magnolia Cemetery Tour. The cemetery have not allowed any commercial activity on their grounds in over 170 years.How a celebrity chef encouraged him to start food tours in Charleston.And Much More!

On this episode, Alan Rust reveals why he left the corporate retail world to start his own tour business. He shares with us how he has grown his tour operator business on a budget of $5k.Alan reveals:- Why he decided to become a tour operator.- The mission of his tour business.- How he had to pivot because of livery regulations in Nebraska.- How this red tape led to him creating and developing a new partnership with a limo company.- Why he allows guests to pick the times of their tours with America Tour Company.- Why he decided to acquire a history tour operator just 6 months in.- Why some restaurants refused to work America Tour Company- Shane shares some sales ideas on how to counter the main objections.- That 44% of America Tour Company's business is corporate.- How he works with OTAs and which ones are most profitable for him.- Why he decided to work with [Airbnb Experiences](http://airbnb%20experiences/) in Nebraska.- The differences between working in corporate retail and as a tour operator.- How did Alan Rust market his tours when starting out?- Why Google Ads and SEO were so important.- Why America Tour Company launched self guided tours.- Why he uses [Bookeo](https://www.bookeo.com/) for his online booking platform.- When searching for an online booking platform what his top 3 must have features and capabilities were.- How he achieves work/life balance- Books, podcast and apps that help him be efficient in his business and to achieve growth.- And Much More!

Jeff Woelker is the founder of the Underground Donut Tour. He started his first donut tour in downtown Chicago four years ago and has recently expanded into NYC, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle.On this episode, we talk about why he decided to create a donut tour in Chicago, what led to him expanding to other cities and how he built his tour from scratch in a very niche sector.Shane Whaley, host of the Tourpreneur Podcast pulls back the curtain on the Underground Donut Tours and reveals:How Jeff's friends inspired him to launch a tour all about donuts.How he overcame imposter syndrome when starting outWhich online ticketing platforms he uses for his tour business.Why 'share of stomach' is his biggest competitorHow 1 and 2 star reviews for his Philadelphia tours helped him shape his Chicago business model into one that would work in Philly.Without the local donut companies, Jeff did not have a business. How did he convince skeptical donut business to work with him?Why pricing his tours was and (still is in new markets) a challenge?What OTAs does he work?What was the catalyst behind him opening his donut tours in Philadephia?How does he recruit tour guide and why stand up comedians always catch his eye?What is the essential component every ticketing platform needs to offer tourpreneursHow he uses his digital marketing experience to promote his donut toursThe importance of listening and acting on Tripadvisor reviews and how they helped him adapt to the Philadephia market.What still gives him a headache when dealing with OTAs?How a Ben and Jerry's training video shaped Jeff's whole philosophy on customer service.And Much More!

On this episode of the Tourpreneur Podcast with Shane Whaley, Miranda Peterson reveals how she built a tour business around her passion for yoga and the outdoors. This is the story of Namaste in Nature.

On today's episode of the Tourpreneur Tour Podcast we talk with the tourpreneur behind The Battlefield Explorer Tours. You don't have to be into World War 2 history to enjoy today's conversation.Dutchman Joris Nieuwint has been leading tours of the Operation Market Garden battle sites since 2012.'Sharing what I’ve learned over the years has been my passion and becoming a tour guide has always been one of my dreams. Keeping the sacrifices of these men alive by telling their stories and showing the locations where it happened is my greatest passion.'

Mike Brown's Ghost Tour and accompanying ghost story podcast Pleasing Terrors slogan is 'Some Stories are Never Meant to be Told'. On today's episode of the Tourpreneur podcast, Mike opens up to Tourpreneur Host Shane Whaley and reveals stories about his business and ghost tours.

On Episode 2 of the Tourpreneur Podcast, Host Shane Whaley discovers how Jennifer Gruhn turned her passion for nature and the outdoors into a thriving tour business.Jennifer is the owner of Asheville Hiking Tours and today we learn more about how she got started, the challenges she overcame and how she has developed her tour business.Tourpreneur Jennifer also shares with us how used a very well known app to measure customer demand and gather feedback before launching her tours.

On the first ever episode of Tourpreneur, Alice and Torin Kexel talk us through how they came up with the idea for their Flying Bike tours, how they got set up and the challenges they face.They recommend resources and deliver real life tips for fellow tourpreneurs. They also give you the low down on what it was like to attend Arival for the first time and how it helped their business.Alice and Torin hold nothing back as they tell us how they have learned how to market their business as well as companies that have helped them along the way.