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Running a tour operator business: Five overlooked tips you need to remember

You must look at your local competition and see what tours they are offering. The main reason is that you do not want to duplicate what they are doing.

Setting up a tour business is difficult. This is the same story for any business, admittedly, but many different pieces need to be put together if you expect to find success. 

When you factor in all of these elements, it’s all too easy for a few to slip through the net. Yet if even one is missing, it can cause your tour operator business to trip over before it can even get going. 

To ensure that doesn’t happen, here are five overlooked points that you cannot afford to miss. 

1. Don’t follow the crowd
You must look at your local competition and see what tours they are offering. The main reason is that you do not want to duplicate what they are doing. If they’re an established operator and you’re a newcomer, customers are going to choose the more proven outlet.

In addition, your target customers don’t want to do the same old touristy activities – especially if you’re based in a major city. Due to this, try to plan a tour that’s innovative and goes off the beaten track. 

2. Create a quality website that accepts payments
As a tour operator, your target customers are tourists and not locals. So while in-person physical marketing like leaflets can help to entice passersby, you cannot rely on this for your business. More people are planning out their entire holidays online. As a result, you need to be ready and waiting on the internet for them. 

This starts with a website. This is the centerpiece of your entire online presence, so your site needs to be professionally produced and include all necessary details about your tours. Furthermore, the site should accept bookings and online payments. This extra level of convenience helps to maximize customer numbers. 

3. Don’t forget insurance
Accidents happen. No business is infallible from this inevitability. Because of this, protect yourself from accidents and purchase business insurance. This ensures that your company is covered if, say, an employee is injured during a tour. If you did not have insurance in place, a resulting lawsuit might put your tour operator business on a permanent hiatus. 

4. Maintain a strong online presence
Having a website is one thing, but you should also have social media accounts to represent your tour business. Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are a great way to chat with customers, share eye-catching content, and keep everyone up-to-date with your company. 

You must not leave these social media profiles to stagnate. Try and at least post daily to maintain a consistent online presence. 

5. Hire the right staff members
If your tour expands to the point where you hire staff members to operate your tours, take the time to make the right hires. You want to bring in employees who are not only knowledgeable about your tours but also have a strong passion for the places visited. After all, their job is to keep people engaged and entertained.

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