Start A Tour Company - Business Ideas

Updated: September 15th, 2022
Start A Tour Company

Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.

Starting a tour company is a great way to bring your love of travel to life. You can share your passion with others and help make their dream vacations come true!

There are many types of tour businesses, so choosing something you are passionate about and knowledgeable about is best. Here are a few of the most popular tour companies to start:

  • Food & Drink Tours
  • Adventure & Sporting Tours
  • Sightseeing & Historical Tours
  • Shopping Tours
  • and many more!

It’s also essential to determine what mode of transportation you want for your tour company, as this will determine the initial startup costs needed for your company.

To get started, find out if you need a license to operate in your state. Some states require tour companies to be licensed, while others do not. If you are required to be licensed, talk with the licensing agency to find out what steps must be taken before you can apply for that license.

Starting a tour company requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell tour service, or selling tour service online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Key Stats

market size
$540B
revenue (monthly)
$89.8K
starting costs
$18K
gross margin
90%
time to build
270 days
growth
Word of mouth
business model
Subscriptions
time investment
Full time

Startup Costs

Min Startup Costs Max Startup Costs

Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$252

Website Costs

$223

$7,015

Business Formation Fees

$600

$4,700

Vehicle Expenses

$0

$10,000

Retail Business Expenses

$1,250

$6,650

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$75

$3,986

Software Expenses

$162

$2,720

Office Space Expenses

$0

$100

Specific Industry Expenses

$0

$500

Total Startup Costs

$2,461

$35,923

Successful Businesses

Business URL Rank

Kiwi.com

kiwi.com/

3,250

ToursByLocals

toursbylocals.com/

32,650

Intrepid Travel

intrepidtravel.com/

41,461

Tour Factory

tourfactory.com

87,469

Rayna Tours

raynatours.com

115,993

Best Virtual Tour Software

panoskin.com

143,872

Under30Experiences

under30experiences.com

206,875

On The Go Tours

onthegotours.com

227,823

Go Ahead Tours

goaheadtours.com

231,988

The Wildland Trekking Company

wildlandtrekking.com

266,484

Abercrombie & Kent

abercrombiekent.com

290,756

Pros & Cons

Pros Description

Little startup costs required

The cost to start a tour company costs significantly less money than most businesses, ranging anywhere from 62 to 35,923.

Rewarding work

Starting a tour company can be really rewarding work. After all, you are solving an immediate issue for your customer and you're working on something you truly care about.

High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

Pick & choose the clients you work with

Tour Companyes have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients!

Control of workload

With starting a tour company, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you.

Gain exposure and experience

This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you!

Cons Description

Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

Longer Sales Process

A tour company can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

Work can be inconsistent

As a tour company, the amount of work assigned to you and schedule tends to be more inconsistent, which may make your income less stable. It's important to set boundaries and budget accordingly based on the amount of work you plan to have.

Lack of benefits

With a tour company, you are typically self-employed and responsible for finding your own insurance, which can be quite costly and time-consuming.

Taxes

As a tour company, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

No safety net

Typically, as a tour company, you do not receive a consistent pay-check and instead earn money based on your transactions each month. During the slow periods, you typically take away less since the job is based on commission. It's important to budget accordingly for the slow times.

Marketing Ideas

  • 1

    Affiliate Program

    Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.

    Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.

    The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.

    Learn more about affiliate program ➜

  • 2

    Direct Sales

    Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.

    For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

    Learn more about direct sales ➜

  • 3

    Word of mouth

    Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.

    Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.

    According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.

    Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.

    Learn more about word of mouth ➜