Understanding the Ups & Downs of Business as a Tour Operator

Let's dive into the 'why' of the ups and downs of the tour operations businesses.

Stop and Review Performance

We all know that one month runs into the next and before we know it another year has passed. Yet, there is always that point in the year (tends to coincide with tax time) when you pause and reflect on how this year was financially compared to last year.

At that time, it is easy to calculate and see that one year was up or down by 10%, but the reason for the fluctuation tends to be more elusive. The receipts aren’t indicating a hurricane or a change in staffing. You don't see the various data points in your business that can have an effect on your books. This data is essential in your business planning and should be just as important to collect as the receipts to business expenses.

We love data, and Event Book Manager has various features that can help you track why there may be changes in your business.

Assess Business Operations

Canceled trips and refunded customers come with the territory of running a tourism business but knowing why is powerful. You can’t do much when it comes to weather, but if cancelations were due to a mechanical breakdown or staffing issue, knowing this information and identifying patterns can help you implement a different maintenance schedule or hiring more staff.

Measure Marketing Efforts

Event Book Manager has a “Heard About You” feature that allows you to prompt your customers and collect information on how they heard about you. This is great to look back on at the end of the year and see where your customers found you, so you can determine where you want to spend your future marketing budget.

You can also issue and track coupons with Event Book Manager. By analyzing the redemption data of your coupons, you can determine which promotions are most popular and what months are coupons used the most. Perhaps during slower months, you issue more coupons and busy months fewer discounts.

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