Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

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.)

Coronavirus is hitting the travel industry hard. On this episode we talk to tour industry veteran Peter Syme who shares actionable tips on what tour operators need to be doing in order to protect our tour businesses.

Sean Finelli walked away from a lucrative analyst job on Wall Street to move to Rome. He worked numerous bar and restaurant jobs to pay his way and then found himself selling tours on the streets of Rome. This is when his life changed. Sean worked his way up from selling tours for others outside the Colosseum to building his own successful tour business. Sean reveals he suffers from dyslexia but a...

How travelers experience a tour, an attraction or activity and the ways in which operators can deliver those experiences are changing rapidly. In this first-time session at Arival, we feature new innovations that could change the way you do business. Then, the Arival Observation Deck, comprised of four veteran operators and investors, evaluate each presentation live on stage and ask key questions...

How do you begin to design a major new attraction in a destination that already has it all? In this talk, attractions industry veteran Jason Horkin walks us through the design-led approach they took to develop the Vessel and the Edge, and how New York City’s Hudson Yards tackled design and development challenges in the very busy Big Apple. Speaker: Jason Horkin, Executive Director at Related/Hudso...

Growth in most companies is hardly a straight line up, but more like an adventure course with plenty of downs as well as ups. In this operator story, James Blick shares the lessons learned from Devour’s tours and detours since its founding in 2012 to its expansion to seven cities across Europe. Speaker: James Blick, Co-Founder & COO at Devour Tours

The rapid growth and adoption of reservation systems have made mission-critical tech accessible to even the smallest operators and brought much of our industry online. But just how different are all of these systems (Arival has identified more than 100), how do operators begin to choose, and what does it mean now that alignments are emerging between some tech systems and major online travel agenci...

This operator roundtable delves into challenges and best practices around working with OTAs, managing distribution channels and building a direct and diversified sales strategy.

Chris was a prominent administrator at UEFA, the football authority in Europe, and unfortunately was laid off in his mid-forties. When looking for another career job, Chris realized he had a passion and knowledge of the Swiss Countryside, decided to buy himself a van, and start his own business as a tour operator. This is the story behind Typically Swiss Tours.

Travelers may stay in rooms, but they seek experiences, and lodging providers can be a key point of sale for operators. In this talk, we’ll hear how the world’s biggest hotel chain is approaching the Best Part of Travel, and how you can grow your sales through hotel and accommodation partners. Speaker: Susan DeBottis, VP, Tours & Activities at Marriott International

No matter how large or how small, no company is immune to the disruption that technology innovation and changing traveler demands can bring. In this session, you’ll learn how Universal, one of the leading global theme park brands, approaches some of the most disruptive forces in our industry. Plus, you’ll get their take on key trends in tech, distribution and what’s next for the guest experience....

In this candid and in-depth episode of Tourpreneur, I chat with Steve Chapman of Salida Walking Tours. who walks through starting a walking tour business from scratch. Steve Chapman was a founder of his own strategic marketing consulting company and decided to sell his business in 2018. He needed a new career and turned to his hometown of Salida, which is Colorado's largest national historic distr...

Experiences, the once-fledgling tours and activities initiative of the online accommodation giant, is growing up fast. Airbnb now boasts more than 30,000 experiences around the world, a new multi-day tour division and more. This candid interview will delve into how Airbnb is working operators, and we’ll ask their head North America the questions you need answered to see if you should be working wi...

At Arival Orlando 2019, Invisible Cities’ founder shares her vision for making the invisible visible, and how tour and activity operators can have a social and local impact. Every tour operator wants their tours and experiences to have an impact. But Invisible Cities in the UK, Scotland, seeks to be transformational for its guides as well as its guests. Founded in 2016, this company trains individ...

Stephen Oddo, CEO and Co-Founder of Walks reveals why he built he started the walking tour company and shares lessons he has learned along the way.

Four years ago, Zakia Moulaoui founded a tour operator business with a difference. Her tour company Invisible Cities recruits, trains and hire tour guides who have been affected by homelessness, addiction, and other tough life circumstances. In this candid and in-depth episode of Tourpreneur, the podcast for tour operators, we learn how to build a social enterprise in the tours and activities sect...

Building a profitable food tour business is tough. Building a food tour business in a 'secondary' destination with the foodie heaven of San Francisco right on your doorstep? Even tougher! On today's Tourpreneur, the podcast for tour operators, you will hear the story of Lauren McCabe Herpich, the tourpreneur behind Local Food Adventures in Oakland, California. In this candid conversation with Tour...

Tourpreneur Host Shane Whaley and Digital Travel Show Host Chris Torress discuss the major events of 2019 for the Tours and Activities Industry. includes: OTAs for tour operators. Good or a bad thing or both? The changing face of the tours and activities OTA landscape. Booking.com pulling out of the Experiences sector (for now.) Massive changes at Expedia. What exactly is Groupon doing in the tour...

Its the final episode of the Espresso Interviews from Arival. Nick Wilson shares with us how he leveraged his experience working at a luxury hotel to create Wicked Wine Tours and more recently the Wicked Weed Tour. Nick loves wine and always wanted to build how own business, in this espresso episode of the Tourpreneur Podcast with Shane Whaley, Nick reveals how five years ago, he started Wicked Wi...

Tom Kratsch of the digital marketing agency, Activities and Tours Marketing by TRK Creative Group sat down with Tourpreneur Host Shane Whaley, and shares some tips from his 25 years in digital tourism marketing and highlights the importance of measuring marketing performance in your tour operator business.   Tom Kratsch 's digital marketing agency Activities and Tours Marketing by TRK Creativ...

Alice and Torin (The Flying Bike Guided Bike Tours, Asheville) who appeared on Episode 1 of the Tourpreneur Podcast sat down with Shane at Arival Orlando to give us an Arival Review. Alice and Torin, are second-time attendees, they share what their favorite Arival sessions were, who inspired them, what they are going to do differently as a result of attending Arival and where Arival can improve fo...

There are a lot of inspiration and tips for tour operators in this one. Todd Kersey started his tour business, 22 years ago and now manages tours in 5 states and in 240 locations. Todd employees 280 people and he shares with us his tips for managing tour operator staff. Talking of Success Strategies for Tour Operators, Todd reveals that 74% of all his business comes via Search Engine Optimization...

Sweet John Muehlbauer sat down with Tourpreneur Host Shane Whaley, and shares more with us about how YourBikerGang strives to help guests 'unleash their bad side.' Sweet John walks us through YourBikerGang's pricing strategy and shares with us how they market and price a tour that, is so unique, nobody is searching for it.