You do not need a sales team or a big budget to start booking corporate groups. You need to understand the demand, pick one buyer, build one offer and one page for them, price it as a premium product, and start the outreach. This is the fast path, in order.
Change is the name of the game in tourism. Leaning on the OTAs shrinks your margins and spikes your stress, and my advice to operators is always the same: it is time to diversify how you make money. The strongest diversification I know is corporate tours. They grow revenue, they are easier to coordinate than a calendar full of walk-ups, they are more fun to run, and they carry higher margins through referrals and repeat groups.
Back in 2022 I left the Arival 360 conference in Las Vegas with my ears and imagination buzzing. We had been talking about corporate tours for the better part of a decade, but now there was real momentum. I dug in, built custom frameworks so operators could start offering corporate tours, and taught clients how to keep sharpening their offers, messaging, and bottom lines. Since then I have watched some pretty mindblowing results come in. Below is a quick guide to how you can pivot toward more corporate tours, with a focus on high-quality, consistent revenue.
Step 1: Understand the demand in the corporate market
The first thing to know is that the demand already exists whether or not you are selling into it. Since the pandemic, corporate budgets have shifted away from traditional office expenses like rent and toward team-building activities. With distributed workforces, it is more important than ever to keep remote employees engaged and satisfied, and that is leading companies to invest more heavily in their culture and their teams.
Lisa Lavelle from Catalina Tours shared a story of guests meeting their teammates face-to-face for the first time during one of her tours. That trend underscores the growing need for in-person team building as remote work becomes more common. Recent findings from McKinsey and Gallup back it up:
- 35% of workers can now work from home full-time, creating a real opening for regular corporate retreats.
- 23% of employees work from home part-time, which means group events need flexible scheduling.
- 21% of remote workers report lost productivity from isolation, which makes team-building outings even more valuable.
As organizations adapt to these dynamics, expect continued investment in anything that strengthens team cohesion. Your tour is exactly the kind of thing the person holding that budget is trying to find.
Step 2: Consider the financial incentive
Shifting toward corporate groups is not just good for your guests' mental health. It is a strategic move that boosts the bottom line.
Consider the difference. A typical tourist might spend $400 on tickets and never return. A corporate client could spend $2,500 on a single group booking, and with the right CRM automations that one relationship keeps paying out:
- 20% in repeat bookings.
- 15% in cross-departmental bookings.
- 10% in external referrals to colleagues.
- 5% in individual bookings from corporate participants.
Keep running your public tours, but when it comes to investing in growth, this shift in focus can dramatically improve profitability. One operator made corporate groups a priority and grew that segment from less than 5% of revenue to over 60% today. To gauge your own upside, estimate the maximum number of corporate groups you could host each month, calculate the revenue for an average 20-person group, and multiply by 12 for an annual projection.
Step 3: Pick your one target guest
Three common barriers deter operators from embracing corporate groups: time constraints, a lack of vendor support for large groups, and the absence of a clear path to get started. They can seem daunting, but they are all surmountable. Here is a short clip on finding and going after your one target guest.
The other common mistake is chasing corporate groups as a whole instead of the individuals inside them. One of the grandfathers of advertising put it perfectly.
"We cannot go after thousands of customers until we learn how to win one."
A pioneer of modern advertisingYou are not selling to a company. You are selling to a person inside that company. Often, securing that first key contact is all it takes to set off a chain reaction, so start with one person and plan one successful sale. To choose which person, make it someone who fits as many of these as possible:
- You can actually acquire.
- Will spend the most per transaction.
- Will stay with you the longest.
- Has a large referral network.
- Will benefit the most.
- You actually want to work with.
Step 4: Have a conversation with the person
It will be a one-sided conversation, because your web page does the talking for you, but it is a conversation nonetheless. There is a misconception a lot of companies make when they build a website: they build it as a digital store. I want you to build a digital salesperson.
A digital store presents all of your offerings, like shopping at a shelf. A digital salesperson takes the buyer by the hand, tells them what they want to hear, and walks them to the next step. That is why you need a page built specifically for corporate groups, not a private-groups page that mentions bachelorettes and student groups and, oh yes, corporate groups too. Give your one target guest a page that makes them feel seen, and make the conversation about why they want to book with you, not just what you offer.
Step 5: Make it easy for someone to say yes
Time for a curveball. I do not want you to sell your tours to a corporation, and I do not want you to offer them a completely customized experience either. The fastball: I want you to create new packages built specifically for corporate groups.
Too often, operators treat "custom" as their value. Instead, package your offer to solve a specific problem. Think of buying sandwiches for everyone at work. You do not have time to debate the meat, cheese, bread, and condiments on every single one, and neither do the planners you are talking to. Make it as easy as ordering a value meal. Well-defined packages simplify the decision and make the value obvious.
Step 6: Outreach, outreach
Once you have a page having the right conversation, it is time for outreach. Analise Andrews of Key West Food Tours broke past these barriers to land her best month ever in 10 years of operating, thanks to a dramatic jump in revenue from corporate groups.
Corporate groups are not like TripAdvisor leads. You cannot wait for them to come to you, so be proactive. Many operators reach for SEO here, but this segment rewards direct outreach even more. Some places to start:
- Reengage past groups and ask them to refer someone new.
- Connect with family and friends so they know about your offering.
- Ask colleagues for referrals.
- Position your messaging around corporate group events, not tours.
- Show up in local networking groups.
Already had a few corporate clients? Reconnect with them about rebooking or referrals. Lean on content marketing to lift your visibility too:
- Engage past groups with new offers.
- Publish and share blogs about activities suited to corporate groups.
- Collaborate with high-ranking blogs and ask them to list your new offer.
- Use warm and cold outreach on LinkedIn, including Sales Navigator.
Make sure your site has a dedicated corporate-groups page with a streamlined, low-friction inquiry form to funnel those leads in effectively.
Now, go get 'em
Pivoting toward corporate groups is a real opportunity to protect your business, build higher-margin work, and win more direct sales. Understand the market, streamline your operations, use your marketing well, and focus on the right client, and you can unlock new growth and stability in a dynamic industry. Land one group well and it tends to compound into the next through repeat events and referrals. Work the steps in order, or open the deeper guide for whichever one you are on right now.
Frequently asked questions
How do I start offering corporate group tours?
Start with the demand, then move fast on one thing at a time. Understand that companies already budget for team events, client entertainment, offsites, and holiday parties. Pick one target buyer, such as an event planner, executive assistant, office manager, or HR lead, then build one clear offer and one page written for that buyer. Price it as a premium product and begin reaching out. You do not need a sales team or a big budget to begin.
Do I need a big team to sell corporate groups?
No. Most operators start solo. What you need is a clear offer, one page that speaks to a planner instead of a tourist, and a simple, fast way to be quoted and booked. Corporate tours are actually easier to coordinate than a calendar full of individual bookings, and they carry higher margins because they book direct, repeat, and refer.
What is the first step to booking corporate groups?
The first step is understanding the demand. Companies already set aside budget for team events, client entertainment, executive offsites, and holiday parties, and someone like an event planner or office manager is tasked with spending it. Once you see that the market exists, define one target buyer and build your first offer around them.
How long does it take to get corporate bookings?
It varies, but the fastest wins usually come from capturing the group requests you already receive by accident and following up with buyers you have met. Corporate buyers rarely book on the first touch, so most of the timeline is follow-up. Email keeps you in front of a planner until their budget and calendar line up, which is why a steady follow-up routine shortens the wait more than anything else.
Want help getting started with groups?
I help operators build the offer, the page, and the system that brings corporate groups in and books them. Let us talk about your tour.
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