Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

In this episode of the Tour Operator Start-Up Series, Sita, Ripley, and Nancy discuss how She Shapes History Tours can leverage social media as marketing tools to attract attention. They explore how Sita and Ripley can use their values and advocacy for social media to create content that will engage their demographic audience. They discuss different ways to brainstorm for social media content and...

How to start a tour company - our guests Sita and Ripley are back on the Tourpreneur Podcast to share their experience leading their first tour and the feedback, insights, and lessons they learned from it. They describe how the test tour did not go as smoothly as they had envisioned it and discuss one important aspect they need to include in their next test tours. They explain the most surprising...

Tour Operator Tom Barclay Matchett reveals how he went about growing a bespoke private tour business and provides his insight into the creative side of engaging business and guests through storytelling. He walks us through the genesis of The London Storyteller tour business and how he designs his different bespoke tours, with themes ranging from 007 to Winston Churchill. He explains how his years...

In part 4 of our blogging for tour operators guide, marketing expert Dorene Wharton returns to share her favorite copywriting tips for tour operator bloggers.

Host Shane Whaley is joined by Fat Tire Tours and bike tour business owner Emilie to discuss Fat Tire Tours’ initiative to create a community and booking platform for bike tour operators worldwide. Our guests reveal what inspired the company to start the project and share what they learned about the bike tour industry during COVID-19. They highlight Fat Tire Tours’ strategies for helping bike tour...

The Tour Operator Start-Up is back. We take you behind the scenes of a tour business start up - each month we check in with She Shapes History hosted by Nikki Padilla Rivera. Each month you can join your host, tourism expert Nikki Padilla Rivera as we explore how Sita and Ripley went from the world of academia to building their own tourism company in Canberra, Australia. They share why they chose...

The Tourpreneur Tour Operator Podcast host Shane Whaley announces an upcoming new line up and features for Tourpreneur listeners. Tourpreneur will be back in July. 

John Coupland joins me today to share how he leveraged his previous experiences as an entrepreneur when starting his tour company and the challenges he faced as a new tour operator. We discuss how he designed his most popular guided tour, The Crown Film Locations & Royal Secrets Tour. John shares why it’s critical for tour operators to have the ability to ‘read’ their guest’s body language and...

In part 3 of our blogging for tour operators guide, marketing expert Dorene Wharton returns to discuss the benefits of repurposing your content into fresh, new pieces for different platforms. We discuss what it means to repurpose content and the benefits of breathing new life into your existing content. Dorene shares her tips on breaking up your content into multiple pieces for different mediums a...

Tourpreneur host and founder Shane Whaley shares why he has decided to join Redeam.com as VP of Sales and why this is good news for Tourpreneur listeners. Passionate sales leader known for implementing global business development, growth, and strategies focused on driving revenue and increasing market share joins rapidly growing travel technology company Broomfield, CO (May 3, 2021) – Redeam,...

Today Otehlia and I dive into the world of Instagram marketing for tour operators and strategies to help grow your tour business. Otehlia offers insights into how Instagram can work for tour operators and which tools to use to maximize your reach. She shares her personal approach to Instagram and why creating an Instagram community is integral to publicizing your tour business. We discuss the uniq...

Today, we hear the inspirational journey of one woman's determination to keep her water tour business afloat after her partner got sick and was fighting for his life. In 2019, following her partner Brent’s health challenges related to a rare genetic disease, Krystle Theunissen stepped up to run their water tour business and steer the company through challenging times. She has hit the ground runnin...

"Over 35,000 people have been connected to Maine’s craft alcohol producers since our tours began almost 10 years ago" Don Littlefield is a legend in the brewery tour business and he shares his 3 major learnings on growing a brewery tour business with us.   Today, we take a deep dive into the work of brewery tours and how the beer tour market has changed since COVID. Don Littlefield of Maine B...

In the second part of our Blogging for Tour Operators series, Dorene shares tips on what should tour operators blog about. Plus we discuss how tour operators can generate new ideas for content. Dorene highlights other types of content tour operators can create and why passion and conversion posts are both critical. She shares advice for blog content you can explore when you are just starting your...

On today's episode, Tourpreneur host Shane Whaley talks content for tour operators with Arival's Director of Marketing, Jessica Gregory. Arival recently announced their content for tour operators masterclass which takes place on March 24th and 25th. Jessica and Shane discuss the content masterclass program and discuss why this is not a standard event but an actual course complete with homework and...

This is the Story of Blue Fern Travel, the DC Tour company which tells the history of neighborhoods through food. Blue Fern Travel focuses on supporting local businesses, specifically, women-owned and minority-owned businesses. Today, Mary and Stefan share the Blue Fern Travel ethos and how they work with organizations helping those in need in the city. They share how their food tour business star...

In today's episode of the Travel Industry Mavericks, Peter Syme and Christian Watts discuss Chris Newlands' unique business model and the journey that led to the creation of spelfie.com. We discuss how COVID has changed Chris’s business landscape and the challenges of bringing brands, events, and partners together. We discuss how Spelfie works, the unique benefits brands get when partnering with t...

Is Clubhouse for Tour Operators and Tour Guides? Everyone is talking about it, but not many can categorize it. The clubhouse is the new social platform that is a part conference call and part house party. Intrigued by Clubhouse then today you can be a fly on the wall as I record an actual session for you. Today, I’m moderating a Clubhouse session called ‘Clubhouse For Operators’ with three Clubhou...

Much has been written about self-guided tours for tour operators. Is it buzz? Is it hype? Are tour operators making serious revenue out of this or is self-guided yet another shiny object to tempt tour operators away from working on tour business fundamentals? I'm intrigued and I'm not ashamed to say this is a part of our industry that I don't really know much about. I experienced a self-guided tou...

Dorene Wharton of TravelLife Media returns to Tourpreneur today to share ideas and tips on blogging for tour operators. In part 1 of our blogging strategy for tour operators, she shares the foundational elements of creating interesting and compelling blog content. We also discuss why it’s crucial to overcome your fears and feelings of impostor syndrome when it comes to blogging. We discuss the que...

Today Peek's CEO Ruzwana Bashir and CTO Oskar Bruening join the Travel Mavericks to discuss their forecasts for the season ahead. We discuss how you can enhance and increase your profitability and what impact the booking system you choose will have on them. Oskar explains why, although there are new small booking systems that might meet your specific needs, the big systems should also be considere...

Many of you have written in asking me why I no longer produce a What I Learned This Week episode on Tourpreneur. In this short episode, I reveal what I learned in 2020 and how I am trying to be laser-focused in 2021 so I can deliver you even better content. Shane is not the only one trying to be more focused, he is in good company with Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky calling 2021 a year of focus. Also i...

Peter Syme joins me today to discuss the evolving travel industry and how activity and tour businesses can survive and find success. He shares his military experiences and the lessons he’s learned from his military career. We discuss why continued education is vital and personal, and how you can research courses, and who is delivering them to ensure your time and money are spent well. Peter Syme s...

Oliver CEO of Ventrata, Edwin Swift IV of Historic Tours of America, and tour operator Emilie join me today to discuss and learn more about how the Ventrata booking platform and ticketing systems work. We discuss how Ventrata differs from other Rez Tech companies and why Edwin and Historic Tours of America chose to use Ventrata. Emilie quizzes Ventrata about the reporting, customization, campaigns...

The brand new Travel Industry Mavericks series kicks off with a discussion about the challenges facing OTAs. Peter Syme and Christian Watts join me today to discuss what is happening in the tourism industry and share their predictions for the future. We also discuss why we decided to create the Travel Industry Mavericks round table series on the Tourpreneur Podcast.