The travel market has long outgrown in the search not only for comfortable places to relax but for real experience and impressions. Now lots of agencies and private guides offer the so-called Instagram tours, designed for one day or longer, with the primary goal to visit bright, exciting places and take fresh photos. A specially thought-out route in Barcelona, selected locations in Mexico, or short trips to Bali are bought for vivid photographs and many pleasant emotions. The most successful angles and incredibly beautiful places for photos are precisely what modern travelers are willing to pay for. If you have long grown from a “typical traveler” into an expert, feel free to create your personal WOW tour and invite clients to become an Instagram star!
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Where did the trend come from?
According to the recent report by Signum.ai, artificial intelligence for trend-forecasting, short, or even one-day tours to Instagram places will be very popular for at least the next 2-4 years.
Source: https://signum.ai/
The reason for the appearance and growth of the trend is the GetYourGuide marketplace, which began to offer tours to unusual places lasting one day. The main requirement for the area is that it should be WOW, including in photos of travelers in their Instagram accounts. The GetYourGuide project began as a regular marketplace in which a tourist can find a local guide and book a trip. The service itself claims to have relied on exciting tours.
How to start an Instagram-trip business
Did you already come up with some exciting ideas based on your previous travel experience? It remains only to plan further actions correctly. Please note that this business is not suitable for everyone. You have to understand that it is about working with people. You need to love people and be able to interact with them, be friendly enough, be included. You should also like tourism and traveling long distances, be erudite in your subject, have a positive attitude.
Source: TravelCarma
Country and route
If you decided to make money on conducting exclusive tours, then you need to decide on a specific venue for it. Choose the country that you know best, where you spent the most time, perhaps even learned the local language.
- Decide on a place for your tourists. It should be some tourist attraction (ski resort, sea coast, lake, mountainous region), convenient for you geographically and attractive to customers for the WOW effect.
- Prepare several routes – more simple, more challenging, of different durations. The road needs to be thoroughly studied: select hotels (if the trip takes more than one day), cafes, transport, excursions, attractions, and other exclusive services for clients.
There are tours in which tourists are allowed to choose their leisure and travel plan. But this form of organization is not suitable for every route and is good only for a small group. The larger the group, the harder it is to organize and plan everything.
Unique offers
To quickly grow followers, you need your brand on Instagram and exclusive offers as well. Offer your customers an exciting experience that they will want to share on social networks.
Think about what you can include in the tour. Here are some excellent ideas:
- Photo lessons. Teach customers how to take selfies and edit photos before posting to Instagram.
- Local cuisine. Build a route through a unique cafe and offer to taste rare dishes.
- Massage and yoga. Include relaxation in your tour plan. Show clients the right places and offer to try local yoga or massage.
Accommodation and transfer
- Find a reliable business partner. Hotel, hostel, resort, chalet, cottage. It is better to work with regular partners so that you can count on agent remuneration, but you can find 2-3 partners just in case.
- Find a transport company for cooperation on an ongoing basis. Buses should be comfortable, equipped with everything necessary for passenger transportation (seat belts, air conditioning, luggage compartment). Depending on the distance, you need to think about comfort – the availability of a toilet, or a cafe. Sit next to the driver, so that you can check on the passengers.
Source: Creative Market
How to organize and conduct a trip?
- Personally, go along the route and plan the time. It is useful to draw up an algorithm for each direction, with all the necessary information. Collect the contacts of all the locals involved in the trip – guides, drivers, hotel owners. When the group gathers, you need to warn them about when and where you are going to start the adventure.
Well, finally you meet the group at the appointed place and begin the trip. If any part in your route is unstable, it is worthwhile to warn customers that overlays, inconsistencies, some replacements, and improvisations are possible along the way.
For example, warn clients that the trip leader has the right to change the route depending on the weather, the condition of the participants, and other circumstances without compromising the quality of the trip. It can make your life much easier if something goes wrong.
Growth prospects
If your routes are creating value, they will be shared and talked about. If demand exceeds supply, you can hire assistants who will drive customers along the most popular routes.
Offer your day trips through Tripster or similar resources. We have already mentioned the promising GetYourGuide service, which can also help you sell exclusive short tours.
Source: Travel + Leisure
How to calculate the cost?
When calculating the cost of the tour, you need to take into account all the expenses: the value of the transfer, a locals’ reward, payment for yoga, massage, extreme sports, if you include this type of activity in your tour. Also, do not forget to cover expenses for specialists who will help in the organization – a marketer, sales specialist, photographer.
Having summed up all the expenses, you will get the net cost. Then you can add about 20-30% to the price, for your profit. If you earn less than $200 per person, the tour is considered unprofitable.
When setting the price for a tour package, always clearly describe what it includes: accommodation, your services, transport, hotels, payment for excursions, entrance fees. Personal tours differ from the services of travel agencies. Pay attention to your customers. They may be not yet accustomed to your type of service.
