The Blog

As a tour operator, there’s nothing more satisfying than to hear guests raving about your experience. When your excursion becomes the highlight of their vacation, you know you’re doing something right. Your hope is that they spread the word, preferably on social media, so you can use their praise to your advantage. A string of shining reviews can do wonders for your tour operator business, increasing new excursion bookings exponentially.

Nearly every tour operator has had a cancellation gone terribly wrong. You block off time and resources to accommodate a large group only to find out, an hour before—they won’t be joining you. Last-minute cancellations can take a toll on your bottom line and your business morale. On the flip side, travelers can just as quickly recall a time when they were blind-sided by a cancellation policy. How do you safeguard your tour operator business—without losing credibility with your guests?

Part of the appeal of a cruise is being able to visit multiple destinations—while only having to unpack once. Part of the dilemma, is choosing how to spend that precious time ashore. When one day at port means having 6 hours to explore, the pressure is on to make every moment count. As a tour operator, how do you create that single most coveted experience—the no-brainer choice that captures the imagination and checks all the boxes?

On a clear June day, when the visibility is just right, you can spot the dive boats off the coast of St. Thomas. In these waters, there’s no shortage of stunning coral reefs teeming with turtles…but where are the boatloads of tourists? Like so many other destinations, the U.S. Virgin Islands are still recovering from a devastating 2017 hurricane season. With many hotels still closed, tour operators are feeling the impact—and learning from the experience.

Google Adwords should be a key component of any digital marketing strategy, and that especially includes tour operators. For a new or inexperienced tour company, Google AdWords often seems foreign and confusing.

The year 2018 is shaping up to be a great year for the tourism industry with the exciting developments and market shifts going on right now. However, with great opportunity comes some new challenges.

The travel industry is upping its game and customers are developing more sophisticated expectations for what they want from a tour company. With this much competition,

Tour operators are faced with varying amounts of risk on a daily basis. While each tour company is different, most are highly susceptible to unforeseen events, 

Running a tour operator company is an exciting and competitive business. How to market your tour company is both a technical hurdle and a creative opportunity. Don't put all of your advertising eggs in one basket. The best marketing uses a multi-pronged approach to reach potential customers in many different ways.

Millennials now represent the largest living generation in the U.S. If you aren’t doing everything you can to understand how to attract Millennials to your company, you’re quickly going to get left behind. This is especially true because we know that Millennials love to travel. Per a published Airbnb report, Millennials prefer to spend money on traveling rather than saving up for a house or paying off debt. They believe that travel is a part of who they are - more than 70% of survey respondents claimed that “travel is an important part of who I am as a person.”.