Your source for news & insights in the experiences industry

Hi !

In this week's newsletter, we have two new podcast episodes to share. And be sure and register for our upcoming in-person meetups in Seattle, London and Washington, D.C.

Below you'll hear from me on organizing tour notes, Chris on optimizing your Google My Business listing, and Peter on the business model behind OTAs. Plus all the usual industry news!

There are so many aspects of your tour business that need to be organized. One that is sometimes overlooked is your tour stories & research.

In this week's Tourpreneur podcast, I talked to two guests about storytelling. Both said that it's much more powerful to learn a whole world of knowledge about a place, so you can tailor your storytelling to your specific guests, rather than having a single script that applies to everyone. A more two-way guided experience means your material will make a true connection with your audience.

How to accomplish this as a business owner? Create a shareable digital notebook that becomes a single source of truth for all your company's knowledge about a route. Instead of sharing a specific tour script, you might share a compendium of stories and information that allow the guide to create a more interactive tour.

My recommendation is to use the free digital notes app called Notion, whether you're a guide or operator. While there are many cloud-based solutions out there, I like this one for a few reasons:

• Everything's always accessible. No need to open several Google or Word docs. If you're a guide out on the road trying to access some information to respond to a guest, you can do it instantly without having to search a folder for the right doc.
• Many levels of hierarchy. You don't need to give your guides a long linear document that must be scrolled through. Instead, you can add information in small snippets in a nested hierarchy for immediate access to what you need.
• Collaborative. Your guides or staff can all contribute to a compendium of knowledge for guides to prepare in advance, or use during the tour.
• Sharable. With one button, Notion will create a read-only web link that makes the document accessible on the web, without needing a notion account. This is also perfect for creating a doc of recommendations for the end of your tour to share with your guests (via QR code, for example).
• Free. A personal plan costs nothing.

Whatever solution you use (and there are many), creating a  "universe" of material for your company allows your guides the flexibility to take the tour wherever the truly interactive conversation leads.

-Mitch

As promised, you'll now have the opportunity to listen to the Tourpreneur podcast twice a week. The episodes will be shorter, but always practical and actionable for your business.

This week I talk to two stellar guides and storytellers as part of a new ongoing series on storytelling and guest experience.

And Chris runs you through five easy tips for website SEO.

We curate these articles each week to save you time and help you unde

• The role of travel agent has been reinventing itself for years now, and Skift outlines how. Lines are blurring between influencer, travel agent, and tour operator.
• Tour Operator brands that are part of The Travel Corporation have created new initiatives to help combat overtourism. Worth seeing how they're redesigning itineraries and working with vendors.
• 2022 is the year of relationship-based marketing.
• Baidu reveals self-driving taxis in China. This innovation is happening all across the globe, so it's worth thinking how to catch the opportunity for creating digital experiences in this new environment, and how this revolution in transportation might affect your business. If you're interested in this, check out this interview with Road.Travel.
• Travel brands are expanding their presence on TikTok. Should you, as the platform matures? It might promote great visibility but whether it converts into tour bookers is still an open question.
• The UNWTO has released a report on the impact of covid on youth. Their research focuses on Asia & Italy, but the findings apply to places across the globe. A lot of operators who focus on families, students and youth have been reporting very different travel behavior this year. 

There are many places travellers can discover your tour business. Like social media, online travel agencies (OTAs), the visitor information centre, just to name a few.

The opportunities for brand exposure are endless; so long as you build a strong presence across the board.

Out of the bunch; however, there’s one that deserves your primary focus — your Google Business Profile (formally Google My Business). That’s because, with a complete and optimised listing, you have the potential to gain visibility as you’ve never known before. And most importantly, cover every step in the traveller’s booking journey — from inspiration to conversion — in one sweep.

Think of your Business Profile as a bite-sized version of your website. You can use it to help travellers learn more about your tour business, but also strategically lead them through the path to purchase. For the most part, they have all they need to make a decision and follow through.

So how can you optimise your listing?

• By far, sharing photos and videos of your tours and activities is the best way to inspire travellers to make a booking. That’s because it helps them picture having the experience, and in most cases, plays on the fear of missing out (FOMO).
• Ask for reviews! Arguably Google is the best review platform for tour operators. Since Google Reviews improve search ranking, you can increase your odds of earning a higher position based on recency, frequency, and quality. Also, travellers are more likely to trust a tourism business with positive reviews on their Business Listing and an average rating of 4 stars and above.
• Share posts on your listing. Although posts on Google now sit at the bottom of your profile — a little out of sight — it’s still an important feature. If you keep a blog that gives destination advice, this is where you could share that content and drive website traffic.
• Keep your information up-to-date. Your description, company info, opening times… all play a part in informing your customers. Out of date or inaccurate information will only install distrust in that customer.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen many discussions in the group about OTAs, and the vast majority have been very negative toward the OTAs.

I always find it worthwhile to fully understand the business models of potential business partners. OTA’s in the tour operating space are not new or particularly innovative they are just copies of what has worked in other sectors of industry and other sectors of the travel space.

I strongly recommend grabbing a coffee (or something stronger) and spending 30 minutes reading these articles from Ben Thompsons.

• The first is his original piece from 2015: Aggregation Theory.
• And the follow-up is from the 2017: Defining Aggregators.
• The third and most recent from last month: Categorizing Aggregators.

One common theme of the discussions on the group with regard OTA’s was the cancellation rate that operators are seeing. I would like to point out that Booking.com has in excess of a 50% cancellation rate! I am a fan of using OTA’s but as an operator community, we have to ensure that this business model does not take us down a road that we cannot return from. We have no excuses as we can learn from other sectors. Make sure you are using OTA’s to enhance your business but do not let them control your business.

In just a few weeks, we have in-person meetups happening in Seattle and London! We're adding many new cities to the schedule, so stay tuned.

• August 10th - Seattle (Melissa Philips-Hagedorn)
  
• August 11th - London (Peter Syme and Chris Torres)
• September 22 - Washington, D.C. (Peter Syme)

Tourpreneur exsts because of you, and for you. So don't be a stranger if you need help, want to share your experience on the podcast, or connect for some other reason.

Be well,

Mitch, Chris & Peter