Welcome to the Growth Series! Tourpreneur hosts Peter Syme and Mitch Bach attended GetYourGuide‘s Unlocked event in Berlin in September, and recorded several conversations with tour operators who have scaled their businesses to tens and hundreds of thousands of travelers. They share their insights and secrets in this series.
In this conversation, Peter talks with Arzu Tutuk, Founder and Managing Director of Walks in Europe. She shares her journey from being a solo tour guide in Istanbul to running a scaled operation across multiple cities in Europe. They talk about the importance of delegation, leveraging technology, understanding pricing strategies, managing cash flow, and enhancing customer communication. Arzu highlights the need for small operators to expand their partner networks and adapt to market trends, particularly the growing demand for personalized and private tours.
10 Key Takeaways
- Get yourself out of guiding to scale your business
If you’re guiding 8 hours a day, there aren’t enough hours left to grow a business. Your time as an owner is worth far more than the guide fee you’re saving—those hours should go to business development, partner relationships, and optimization. You can still guide occasionally for quality checks or new tour launches, but delegation is essential for growth. - Your first hires should solve your biggest bottlenecks
Arzu’s first hire after stopping guiding was customer service, because phone calls about meeting spots and schedule changes were draining and addictive. The second critical hire was someone to manage revenue and pricing dynamically. Hire for your weaknesses or the tasks that consume disproportionate time, not for tasks you enjoy doing. - Booking system adoption forces operational excellence
Implementing FareHarbor (when it was free) made Walks in Europe answer critical questions: When do we accept bookings? What’s our cancellation policy? When is cutoff time? A booking system doesn’t just organize reservations—it forces you to systematize your operations and create clear policies that scale. - More distribution partners = faster growth
Bigger operators consistently have more partners—it’s not a coincidence. Arzu works with Get Your Guide, Viator, Project Expedition, and smaller OTAs, gaining access to thousands of travel agents and B2B partners she could never reach directly. Don’t stop at 2-3 partners; keep expanding to 10, 15, or more because each partner has their own network. - Test pricing upward until the market pushes back
Arzu met an operator who constantly raises prices until they see resistance—that’s the strategy. Do this during busy periods, not slow ones, and keep testing annually because your ceiling changes as you gain reviews and reputation. Most operators leave money on the table by underpricing based on what they would personally pay, not what customers actually value. - Dynamic pricing management is your biggest profit opportunity
Someone on Arzu’s team checks daily if tours are always full and raises prices by €5 incrementally. In low season, they drop prices to maintain demand and rankings. This daily attention to pricing optimization creates more profit than almost any other single activity—one person managing this full-time pays for themselves many times over. - Omnichannel communication is non-negotiable for growth
Customers communicate differently—some only use WhatsApp, others email, others phone or Facebook Messenger. If you restrict communication channels, you’re losing bookings to competitors who make it easier. Arzu uses Trengo to consolidate all channels (email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone, website) into one interface that four customer service staff monitor like a call center. - Speed of reply is the #1 booking conversion factor
Responding quickly to inquiries converts more bookings than pricing, quality, or any other factor. Humans have been trained by social media for instant gratification and no longer have patience. Reply in the customer’s preferred channel (don’t force them to email if they messaged on WhatsApp) because that’s where they’re comfortable. - Cash flow management matters more than profitability
You don’t go out of business from low profitability—you go out of business from poor cash flow. Arzu’s biggest challenge is the February-to-May jump when bookings surge but ticket costs must be paid 2-3 months in advance while OTAs pay one month in arrears. After November when bulk money comes in, she portions it carefully to survive winter and sponsor spring growth without going bankrupt. - The future is private, customized, higher-margin experiences
After reaching 160,000-200,000 customers annually on scheduled tours, Arzu is pivoting toward private wine tours and customized experiences. The revenue is lower volume but margins are significantly higher, and customers are actively requesting this personalization. Master your core scheduled business first, but recognize that private/bespoke is where sophisticated operators are moving for profitability.
