Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

In this quick episode, Tourpreneur partners Peter Syme and Chris Torres dive into the latest buzz around Airbnb's third attempt to amplify their experiences offering.

Despite previous failures, Airbnb is pushing hard again, proclaiming that experiences represent a massive market opportunity. But can they succeed this time? Peter and Chris weigh in on the challenges Airbnb faces, from curating high-quality experiences to ensuring sustainable pricing for operators.

They discuss the potential pitfalls of relying on non-professional hosts and the importance of integrating API connectivity for seamless bookings. Will Airbnb's powerful brand and vast resources finally turn the tide? Tune in as our hosts dissect the prospects of Airbnb becoming a major player in the experiences sector and share insights on what needs to change for this ambitious venture to thrive.

Mitch Bach interviews three tour guides and operators who have become extremely popular on TikTok:

• Megan Marod (@themegandaily)
• David Harry (@the_london_spy)
• John O'Sullivan (@oneminutetours)

These guides have all harnessed the power of TikTok in different ways that suits their personality, goals, and markets. But they have one thing in common: they say the key to success is showing up authentically.

In this episode they tell their story and share their tips and strategies on a variety of topics:

• What videos of theirs had viral success
• How to build authenticity and develop your own unique style
• Batch creation and other tips to streamline the creation process
• How to engage with your audience (and handle negative comments)
• Their experience with the Creator Fund and its monetization potential
• Whether and how to develop brand partnerships
• Collaborating with content creators
• Should you show up as a brand or an individual?
• How they measure success on the platform

The Tourpreneur podcast is back! After a summer hiatus while operators were busy operating... we're returning to our weekly schedule of conversations and insights for the tours & activities industry.

To kick off the fall season, TP partners Mitch Bach, Peter Syme and Chris Torres chat through everything that's been happening in the industry over the past month:

• What we hear about an industry 'slowdown' or 'softening' for tour operators, and whether it should change your business and marketing strategies
• AI: is it overhyped? Is the bubble bursting? Pete and Mitch debate humans vs. AI: what's the future hold? Will it be as revolutionary as the internet, or another overhyped flawed and failed technology like the Metaverse?
• the Google anti-trust ruling: how does a potential disruption in search affect operators?
• What Mitch learned about market positioning and B2B partnerships at the SYTA student youth travel conference in NYC
• The EU's new cookie law and its privacy implications for operators
• connecting with short term rental owners and other B2B strategies
• Peter speaking at WeTravel's travel tech innovation summit next week

Excuse the length of this episode, but I jealously didn’t want to stop interviewing this week’s guest, Kyle Campbell, who runs her small-group multi-day tour company, Sudden Journeys. For some of you listening, this might be the episode you need to hear to relase yourself from the burden of thinking you have to keep producing more content to sell your tours.

At first glance, this episode’s title might put you off: what do the seemingly “soft” words like vulnerability and empathy have to do with the hard realities and hustle of growing a tour business? Kyle shows you the answer is: everything! Her multi-day small group tour company has been built (and has doubled in size this past year) based on a strategy of thinking deeply about how to connect meaningfully with her guests, and how to express herself and her business authentically and vulnerably. She’s not posting often on social media, but when she does, it’s personal, thoughtful, and she’s built a small but fervent community of people who connect deeply with her message, and book her tours. Her commitment to being open and honest resonates deeply with her social media audience, and you'll hear about how important tour design is, from the welcome dinner ice breaker questions and tablescape to designing large periods of rest in her itineraries, to allow guests to leave feeling truly revitalized.