Harry Potter London.
This Spanish startup is disrupting the tourism sector by allowing anyone to become a tour guide and to be paid only with tips.
Traveling like a local and having fun has never been easier. The Spanish startup GuruWalk is the first global community of tours only based on tips. The platform allows anybody to book an affordable tour wherever they go and anyone to become a guide in their own city, everywhere in the world. The booking is free of charge and the tours don’t have a fixed price. Travelers can give whatever they want at the end of the visit, according to their budget and the experience they had.
"We noticed that many people have deep knowledge of their cities or a passion to share, but they can’t afford launching their own website or marketing campaigns to connect with travelers. Moreover, in places like Cuba, there is an increasing demand for travel experiences that hasn’t been covered yet due to a lack of resources. These tours precisely benefit locals from these areas since they can take advantage of the tourism flow and obtain a new source of income” said the founder of GuruWalk Juan Castillo.
GuruWalk is experiencing an average weekly growth of bookings of 20%, with currently around 1000 guruwalks listed in more than 60 countries. Every week, an average of 40 tours are open; usually original itineraries covering diverse topics such as: gastronomy, history, sports, arts, nightlife, architecture etc. Particularly creative are the Harry Potter tour in London, the artisan beer tour in Vienna, the Pablo Escobar tour in Medellin or the Game of Thrones tour in Dubrovnik.
This kind of tours offer a great alternative to the traditional tour and represent a great tool not only to visit a city but to discover a culture?. Indeed, they are given by knowledgeable locals passionate about their cities who show the secrets, legends, curiosities, and places of interest. They share their own perspective of the city and give recommendations about things to do or places to eat, based on a local point of view and avoiding the typical tourist traps. Besides, since the guides are only rewarded through tips given at the end of the visit, they try their best to be entertaining until the last minute?, making the tours both fun and educational.
Regarding the pricing, the average tip left is 10 euros. But people can really leave whatever they want. Some people leave 5 euros and some other 50 euros. It’s entirely up to travelers to decide the amount according to how much they enjoyed the walk. For the guides, also known as “gurus”, the activity ends up being quite profitable. The platform allows them to upload their tour proposal, with complete freedom about the schedule and the itinerary, and start receiving bookings once approved, making up to 3,000 euros a month in the most touristic cities.
Finally, one of the key aspects of GuruWalk is the fact that it is a community. A community of people passionate about traveling in a different way, learning and having fun. Turning the tours into the perfect occasion to make new friends and get together with locals and people from many different places. As Guruwalk’s founder Juan Castillo mentions: “By booking a guruwalk you will join a community of more than 30,000 travelers from all around the world that have already walked and had fun learning with a guru”.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
