Tour business ideas: how to choose and test your first tour
The best first tour fills a gap you can see in competitors' listings and proves itself on free test runs.
Study your competitors in an afternoon
- 1
Search like a traveller
Look up your destination and activity on Viator, GetYourGuide, Tripadvisor and Google Maps.
- 2
List the 15 to 20 closest competitors
Note price, length, group size, languages, meeting point, rating and reviews in the last 12 months.
- 3
Read their 1- to 3-star reviews
They show what travellers missed.
- 4
Check demand and seasons
Google Keyword Planner shows monthly searches (it needs a Google Ads account), and Google Trends the busy months.
- 5
Ask at hotel desks
Receptionists and concierges know what guests ask for that nobody sells.
Find the gap
A language
A language many visitors speak and nobody offers.
A time
Sunrise, sunset or night: hours nobody covers.
A smaller group
A small-group or private version of a busy tour.
A traveller others miss
Families, seniors, solo travellers or people with reduced mobility.
Short and small sells: in 2024, 69% of tour takers took tours of 3 hours or less, and half booked at least one private tour (Arival, 2025).
Pick one main traveller
| Main traveller | What fits them |
|---|---|
| Independent travellers | Bookable on a phone until a few hours before |
| Cruise passengers | Back at the ship well before it sails |
| Families | Short tours, child prices, weekends and school holidays |
| Private and luxury | A price per group and flexible times, often booked through travel advisors |
| Schools and companies | Set dates, a quote and an invoice |
Day tours sell late: 70% of US and 61% of European tour takers booked less than 7 days ahead (Arival, 2025).
Launch one simple tour
- ✓One tour, in one or two languages
- ✓Two to four fixed departures a week
- ✓A precise meeting point or pickup time
- ✓Free cancellation up to 24 hours before: see Booking policies
- ✓A price that still pays at your smallest group after an online travel agency's commission: see Price a tour
Test it for free first
- 1
Run 3 to 5 free test tours
With locals, hostel staff or friends. Time the route, the pickups and the stops.
- 2
Ask for feedback, not reviews
Google counts reviews from family and friends as a conflict of interest: ask them what to change instead. Reviews come later, from paying guests: see Get more reviews.
- 3
Set targets for your first 6 to 8 weeks of sales
Bookings a week, your average rating, and how many would recommend the tour.
- 4
Change the tour if it misses them
Change the tour or the traveller before you buy vehicles or gear.
In TourTask
Each tour takes private bookings, group bookings or both: see Schedule and availability and Group tours. Versions such as half-day and full-day become variants of the same tour.