Whether you’re running food tours in a bustling city or eco-adventures in remote wilderness, this approach can grow your bottom line and increase your profits. Let’s explore how you can harness the power of Bundling to create a thriving tour business.

What is Bundling?

Instead of selling individual tours or activities à la carte, Bundling involves creating prepackaged combinations of multiple tours or activities sold together at a discount. It’s distinct from upsells or experience enhancers added during checkout. We’re talking about combining two very different tours, activities, or experiences into a Bundle that makes sense for your guests.

The Key to Successful Bundling

The key to a successful Bundle is finding complementary tours, activities, products, and services. For example, you might combine a morning walking tour with an afternoon food tasting tour, offering a 15% discount for booking both together.

Benefits of Bundling

1. Revenue Uplift: Since guests are already on your website or on the phone purchasing a tour, you don’t need to spend additional marketing dollars to get another customer. You’re simply increasing the average order value and total sales.
2. Exposure to New Offerings: Bundling allows you to showcase tours, activities, products, and services that visitors might not have known existed.
3. Customer Satisfaction: Customers feel like they’ve scored a deal, creating a win-win scenario.

Real-World Success Stories

Tour operators who have implemented Bundling strategies in our coaching program have seen impressive results. For instance, our client The Jaguar’s Jungle in Costa Rica saw a 34% increase in tour and activity sales after just six months of implementing package deals.

Creating Compelling Bundles

Think about the key attractions or must-see sights in your area. How can you combine access to these highlights with your unique tours and experiences? Sometimes, meeting customers where they are and recognizing their desire to see iconic sights can open the door to introducing them to more authentic, off-the-beaten-path experiences.

Packaging for Online Travel Agents

Bundling can also give you an edge when working with online travel agents (OTAs). Creating exclusive VIP experiences or unique packages for specific OTAs can lead to increased marketing support and ticket sales.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

While Bundling can be incredibly effective, it’s important to avoid some common mistakes:

1. Don’t create too many different tours and experiences. Focus on your best-sellers and most profitable offerings.
2. Start with creating and bundling complementary products that serve the SAME ideal target guest rather than trying to serve additional niches.
3. Establish clear policies and procedures for cancellations and refunds to avoid guest frustrations.
4. Use booking software that makes it easy to create and manage Bundles.

Implementing Your Bundling Strategy

To get started with Bundling:

1. Identify your core, best-selling offers.
2. Create complementary products or experiences that pair well with these core offers and that are of interest to the same ideal target guest.
3. Package them together at a slight discount.
4. Clearly communicate the value and convenience of your Bundles to potential customers.

By implementing a smart Bundling strategy, you can increase your average order value, boost total sales, and keep your tours consistently full. If you can identify compelling Bundles that resonate with your ideal target guests, you might just create a new best-selling package that helps you hit your revenue and profit goals.

Remember, the goal is to create packages that not only boost your bottom line but also enhance the overall experience for your guests. With careful planning and execution, Bundling just might be your new favorite profit growth strategy!