Tour Entrepreneur: How to Start Your Tour Business

Are you wanting to…

Supplement your stream of income with additional work without having to depend completely on tour operators for your livelihood?
Stay close to home more often with your family, local community, and dog to feel more connected?
Take charge of your own destiny and have the freedom to control your schedule, create more fulfilling opportunities, and have the satisfaction of owning your own business?
Use your creativity, expertise, and passion to design unique tour experiences you love to share?

Are you wondering…

Where do I start?
How do I properly market and sell my tours?
What do I need to do to protect myself legally from liability?
How do I create tours customers want to buy?

Are you concerned about…

Liability risk, arranging transportation, and what insurance you will need
Costly marketing and promotions required to sell your tours
Setting the right pricing for your tours so they will sell and make you money
Not having a business, marketing, or financial plan

So the big question is “Are you ready to start making money leading your own local tours?”

This Course

We will go through the 10 Essential Questions you should be asking yourself to determine if you are ready to start your own local tours. By answering these questions, you can avoid making costly mistakes.

You will learn:

The key steps to getting your tour business started off on the right foot
If starting your own local tours is right for you
The top 10 questions you need to answer before starting your own tours
How to take your passion or idea and determine what type of tours you should offer
What you need to know to successfully run a tour business

You will walk away with more clarity on what your next steps are, and have the confidence to get started!

Let’s begin!

Course Curriculum

Total learning: 41 lessons

Module 1: Getting Started 2

Find out if you are you ready to start your own tour business.

Lesson1.1

Top 10 questions you need to answer before starting your local tours 38 min
Lesson1.2

Meet the Our Guest Experts 30 min

Module 2: Type of Tours 2

Learn how to research your competition and determine what types of tours you should offer

Lesson2.1

Your Tour Idea and Research the Competition 12 min
Lesson2.2

Researching your Competition and Types of Tours 26 min

Module 3: Building you Itinerary 4

Learn how to design and build an itinerary that your customers will want to book AND make you money

Lesson3.1

Module 3: Training Session 57 min
Lesson3.2

Module 3: Q & A 17 min
Lesson3.3

Module 3: Guest Experts 27 min
Lesson3.4

Module 3: Action Steps & Resources

Module 4: Working with Vendors 4

Learn how to get vendors to respond to you and negotiate contracts that get you the best deals

Lesson4.1

Module 4: Training Session 01 hour 24 min
Lesson4.2

Module 4: Q & A 19 min
Lesson4.3

Module 4: Guest Experts 19 min
Lesson4.4

Module 4: Action Steps & Resources

Module 5: Pricing you Tours 4

Learn how to price your tours so that customers will see your value and book with you

Lesson5.1

Module 5: Training Session 01 hour 16 min
Lesson5.2

Module 5: Q & A 18 min
Lesson5.3

Module 5: Guest Experts 16 min
Lesson5.4

Module 5: Action Steps & Resources

Module 6: Marketing your Tours 4

Learn how to create marketing content and build a website to make your tours irresistible to buyers

Lesson6.1

Module 6: Training Session 01 hour 07 min
Lesson6.2

Module 6: Q & A 33 min
Lesson6.3

Module 6: Guest Experts 01 min
Lesson6.4

Module 6: Action Steps & Resources

Module 7: Promoting your Tours 4

Learn how to promote your tours so that customers will find and choose you

Lesson7.1

Module 7: Training Session 01 hour 11 min
Lesson7.2

Module 7: Q & A 26 min
Lesson7.3

Module 7: Guest Experts 29 min
Lesson7.4

Module 7: Action Steps & Resources

Module 8: Legal Protection 3

Learn how to protect yourself and your business legally and financially so that you don’t get shut down or sued

Lesson8.1

Module 8: Training Session 01 hour 02 min
Lesson8.2

Module 8: Guest Experts Q & A 52 min
Lesson8.3

Module 8: Action Steps & Resources

Module 9: Payments and Taxes 3

Learn how to accept payment, keep accurate records, and pay vendors without getting in trouble with the IRS

Lesson9.1

Module 9: Training Session 01 hour 02 min
Lesson9.2

Module 9: Guest Expert Q & A 20 min
Lesson9.3

Module 9: Action Steps & Resources

Module 10: Tour Logistics 4

Learn how to manage the behind the scenes logistics of your tours so that you don’t lose money running them

Lesson10.1

Module 10: Training Session 01 hour 14 min
Lesson10.2

Module 10: Q & A 36 min
Lesson10.3

Module 10: Guest Experts 10 min
Lesson10.4

Module 10: Action Steps & Resources

Module 11: Handling Problems 4

Learn how to properly handle unexpected problems that may come up on your tours

Lesson11.1

Module 11: Training Session 01 hour 03 min
Lesson11.2

Module 11: Q & A 15 min
Lesson11.3

Module 11: Guest Experts 11 min
Lesson11.4

Module 11: Action Steps & Resources

Module 12: Creating an Action Plan 3

Learn how to pull everything together and create an action plan

Lesson12.1

Module 12: Training Session 43 min
Lesson12.2

Module 12: Guest Experts Q & A 48 min
Lesson12.3

Module 12: Action Steps & Resources

ABOUT INSTRUCTOR

Annette Morejon

Annette is passionate about travel, particularly to places she loves. She has undergraduate degrees in Hotel/Restaurant/Tourism Management and French, and an MBA in Hospitality. Annette graduated from ITMI in 2000, right after graduating from college. She has now been in the industry for over 20 years, starting off as a tour director in Italy and France for Collette, and then moving on to work for them as a Product Manager where she planned, contracted, and created itineraries as well as oversaw all operations for the countries she was in charge of. The skills gained as a Product Manager have been the backbone to everything else she has been able to achieve in her tourism career. Her strong connections to Italy, led her to move there from the US, where she spent 11 years exploring every corner, experiencing the culture and history, and sampling all of the delicious foods and wines the country is known for. Annette then became Director of Operations for Cuba Travel Services, where she assisted many US Tour Operators in developing their people-to-people programs to Cuba and managed the operations of all travel-related programs for the company. Annette keeps busy these days overseeing two companies from her home-base in Miami yet still manages to sneak in local guiding and overseas tour directing whenever she can. Annette is the managing partner of the North America division of Whisper System, a company that provides radio guide systems for guided group tours, and managing partner of Daiquiri Tours, where she organizes travel programs to Cuba, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France and other parts of Europe and the world. She also recently spearheaded the founding of her local Chamber of Commerce in the City of Miami Springs, where she is acting President. One of her greatest accomplishments is being an instructor at ITMI, where she can share her passion for her industry with new students, fellow instructors and fellow alumni.