Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

In this episode, Mitch Bach and Pete Syme interview fellow Tourpreneur partner Chris Torres, a seasoned marketing expert, who shares insights from his extensive career in the industry.

Chris announces the sale of his business, discusses the evolving landscape of marketing, and emphasises the importance of storytelling and innovation in attracting customers.

The conversation covers the differences between marketing strategies for day tours and multi-day tours, the significance of print marketing, and what tour operators should look for in a marketing agency. Chris also reflects on his future plans and the changes in his professional journey.

As we continue our connectivity series, we look at the landscape of B2B sales for tour operators as it evolves thanks to new technology, connectivity, and companies changing how travel is sold.

Evan Frank has been the CEO of a tour company (Context Travel), founder of a short-term rental pioneer (onefinestay), and is no co-founder of Fora Travel, leading the charge at reimagining the role of the travel advisor, updating it with new technology and a brand that suits a new demographic of advisor today.

• How Evan's seen the evolution of B2C and B2B distribution as a tour operator
• The evolving landscape of travel advisors, especially post-COVID.
• Discussion on the importance of multichannel distribution.
• Building a modern, networked community of advisors.
• Tips for tour suppliers to connect with travel advisors.
• The importance of networking and being proactive.
• The importance of building a personal brand and relationships.

If you're interested in this potential sales channel for your business, this is a must-listen.

This week we begin a mini-series on connectivity: interviews with people helping tour operators grow their B2B partnerships through tech tools that connect with other industry sectors.

We start the series off looking at short term rentals. This is often a desired B2B relationship for tour operators, but one that's hard to decipher and connect with.

Dan Christian has spent decades in the industry working at some of the world's largest travel brands: The Travel Corporation, G Adventures, Lonely Planet.

GetYourGuide has recently surpassed 200 million tickets sold. Co-Founder & COO Tao Tao sits down with Tourpreneur's Mitch Bach, Peter Syme and Chris Torres to talk about the challenges and surprises of 16 years of scaling an online experiences marketplace.

As always, we focus on takeaways for tour operators as Tao Tao shares data and insights. We examine the tensions inherent in balancing the needs of both suppliers and travelers, especially when it comes to curation—and Tao Tao shares news of new steps they're taking to curate their tour offerings and ensure quality.

We covered a lot in a one-hour conversation:

• what he's seen as changing customer behavior and how this impacts operators
• what kinds of tours GetYourGuide is really looking for, and what sells wel
• how to handle late booking windows, and how customers are discovering tours much earlier in the customer journey
• thorny supplier issues like commissions, late bookings, cancellation cut-off times, and more
• how to balance customers' evolving needs with the needs of suppliers
• why there is polarization in the industry regarding the opinion of OTAs
• how an experience marketplace is different than other travel OTAs
• how a brand like GetYourGuide can inspire customer loyalty
• pricing: how do you create a marketplace that doesn't just compete on price
• how to make sure you have enough tours to serve a variety of customers, but enough curation to ensure quality
• thoughts on how AI is and will be used behind the scenes and in front of customers in the future to discover and experience travel
• multi-day travel: is it a future avenue they're thinking about?

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