r/Tourguide

So I run a few tours around Florida mainly in Miami and the Keys and summer is usually the time I get a good flow of bookings but this year it's been a bit of a struggle especially when it comes to attracting international tourists.

Florida's always packed with travellers from all over and normally I'd see a lot of tourists coming in during the summer but I am realizing that most of my bookings are from locals and I am not seeing as many international folks like I used to.

I have been thinking about maybe adding some tour packages that cater to different interests or listing my tours in multiple languages. Not sure what's going to work though I have tried a few things already but nothings really made a huge difference.

Anyone else have experience reaching international tourists and can you tell me what's worked for you?

Tried jumping into city tours without checking booking platforms first. Set up a few organizer trips in my area thinking word of mouth would handle it. Got one booking but the guy cancelled last minute because he found something cheaper on online platforms. Also priced my trips way too low at first, like 20 bucks a head for a 3 hour tour, thinking volume would come. Nobody bit except sketchy groups that ghosted. Now I am sitting on empty weekends wondering if booking platforms actually helps new guys get steady bookings or if they just eat your margins.

How do you use those sites without getting screwed on the first few runs? Open to all kinds of suggestions.

Just wondering what are you guys doing for VAT declaration on GYG payments. It’s not very clear and no one has a straight answer

I had people tell me they collect zero vat as it’s B2B but this can’t be right

Are you collecting vat on your net payment or ?

Im waiting on Viator to verify my supplier account for more than 4 months now, a lot of tickets open already but they wont do much. Anyone in the same situation? Anything one can do to speed it up? Thank you in advance

Is all I need a decent website and some Instagram pics of Paris at golden hour? Spoiler, that gets you crickets and a side of existential dread.

Spent months cobbling together trips to Europe hotspots like Paris, Rome, those places people pretend they have always wanted to visit. Threw listings on every platform under the sun because exposure right? Result? A parade of lowball inquiries, no shows who blame time zones, and enough maybe later emails to wallpaper my sad office. Meanwhile, my inbox filters out the legit ones because they are buried under spam from platforms promising the world but delivering pocket lint.

Finally clawed my way to consistent bookings, but only after realizing 90% of those platforms are just vampire middlemen skimming commissions while you do the actual work. Self deprecating truth: I was the sucker refreshing dashboards at 3am hoping for a ping.

Travel suppliers, which strategies actually triggered the client flood for your Europe tours?