Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

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 bus...

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 relat...

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...

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...

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 an...

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 t...

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...

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 w...

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 acquisit...

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...

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...

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 McC...

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 r...

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. O...

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...

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 Oper...

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 stronge...

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?...

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 as...