Tour Guide Service Business

3 Tour Guide Service Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 7th, 2024

Tour guides are members of the hospitality and travel industry. Professional tour guides ensure itineraries are met and that tourists are informed entertainingly. Tour guiding businesses lead guests on excursions that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

To start a tour guide business, explore your location and its potential for attracting tourists. Understand the regulatory environment and create a business plan detailing your services and how you intend to deliver value to the customers.

In this list, you'll find real-world tour guide service business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a tour guide service business that makes money.

1. Rayna Tours ($6M/year)

Manoj Tulsani and Kamlesh Ramchandani, founders of Rayna Tours and Travels, started their business a decade ago with no experience in the travel industry. Despite the challenges, they grew their venture into one of the UAE's leading destination management companies, earning over $40 million per year. Their success is attributed to their focus on exceptional customer experience, strategic investments in their own infrastructure, and the use of advanced technology to provide convenient travel services.

How much money it makes: $6M/year
How many people on the team: 670

How We Started The $35M/Year Dubai's Leading Tour Operator

Rayna Tours and Travels, founded by Kamlesh Ramchandani and Manoj Tulsani, began its journey as a small travel counter inside a Dubai hotel, and has now grown into one of the UAE’s leading destination management companies with earnings exceeding $40 million per year.

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2. Arara Tour ($132K/year)

Nune Tatunts, the founder of Arara Tour, started her travel company in Armenia in 2014. Through hard work and dedication, Arara Tour has become one of the leading tour operators in Armenia, with branch offices in Georgia and Uzbekistan. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 in 2020, the company was on track to double its revenue from the previous year, showcasing their success in the tourism industry.

How much money it makes: $132K/year
How much did it cost to start: $7K
How many people on the team: 8

How We Started A $22K/Month Travel Company Selling Tours Around Armenia, Caucasus And Central Asia

Araratour, led by Nune Tatunts, experienced impressive revenue growth, doubling its 2018 revenue to bring in $13,000 a month in 2019, offering combined tours around the Caucasus and Central Asia, and now has an office in three countries.

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3. Secret Food Tours ($120K/year)

Nico Jacquart and Oliver Levene, founders of Secret Food Tours, came up with the idea when they realized that many of their friends traveling to Paris or London would ask them for recommendations on where to eat. After testing the market with a quickly created website and selling their first ticket within hours, they knew they had a winning concept. Now, Secret Food Tours has launched over 80 tours in more than 50 cities worldwide and continues to experience 100% year-on-year growth.

How much money it makes: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $3K
How many people on the team: 4

How We Started A $10K/Month Food Tour Business

Serial entrepreneur Nico Jacquart shares how he and his partner validated and grew a global food tour company with tours in more than 50 cities worldwide, experiencing year on year growth of 100%.

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