After more than a decade in tourism marketing, the biggest lesson is simple: the tourist is a poor customer to chase, and corporate groups are the future.
Tourists are hard to reach. Viator and TripAdvisor beat you in search, and travelers already trust those sites, so getting visibility to them is expensive and slow.
Corporate groups are the opposite. Higher profit margins, easier to predict, and better for the long-term growth of the business.
There is even an exit angle: corporate contracts make a tour business look far more valuable and profitable if you ever go to sell it. The shift toward corporate is the biggest one coming.
Think of chasing public ticket volume like renting. You pay for attention on the OTAs, you fill seats today, and tomorrow you start over from zero. Building corporate relationships is more like paying a mortgage. Every group you serve well adds to something you actually own, and that base keeps paying you back. The operators I have watched last did not win by grinding for a fresh crowd of one-off strangers every morning. They won by turning a handful of buyers into repeat customers who rebook and send referrals.
Own your audience instead of renting it. Collect the emails, keep the contact list, and stay close to the planners who already hired you. An OTA can change its rules or bury your listing overnight, and you have no say in it. Your own list does not get taken away. Focus your energy there and the same relationship pays you again and again, which is a far calmer way to grow than paying for a new customer every single day.
Want the deeper math on it? Read what a corporate group booking is actually worth.
Frequently asked questions
Why are tourists a hard customer to win?
The big online travel agencies dominate travel search and own the trusted brand names, so competing for individual tourists means fighting for scraps of visibility and margin.
What makes corporate groups better for growth?
Higher margins, predictable bookings, and repeat business, which also makes the company more valuable if you ever sell it.
Is it too late to shift to corporate?
No. The shift is still early, which is exactly why now is the time to plant your flag before it gets crowded.
What is the one change that matters most?
Shift some of your energy from chasing one-off tourists to building a handful of corporate relationships that rebook and refer.
Want groups to be your engine?
I build the group website and system, then run it with you. Let's map it to your tour.
Book a brainstorm callFull transcript
Ten years of tourism marketing advice in one minute. The tourist is a poor customer to go after. Viator and TripAdvisor beat online search engines, so it is hard to get visibility to those tourists, who already trust those sites. I like going after corporate groups. In more than 14 years in tourism, the biggest shift coming next is toward corporate groups: higher profit margins, easier to predict, better for the overall growth of the company. And if you ever sell the business, corporate contracts can make it look like a really profitable company.