TRUE TOURISM

Turn True Tourism into a SaaS

True Tourism aims to create a community-based tourism platform that connects travelers with local guides who share their interests and hobbies. Available on mobile since 21th of June 2023, the past two summers haven’t been as successful as expected.

Retrospective

Customer segments

We were focused on selling tours to travelers, by targeting a wide range of profiles. After one year of operation, I realized that most of our customers share the same profile:

  • They are families
  • They live near the destination We can drastically reduce our marketing costs by focusing on this profile. But it still requires a lot of effort to reach them.

Suppliers scale

With a base of less than 10 active guides, we can’t provide a wide range of tours. As we tried to increase the number of guides, we realized that we were not able to provide them with enough clients. I came up with the idea of targeting local guides who already have a customer base to scale the number of guides and clients at the same time.

Mixed revenue stream

The current business model is based on a commission on each tour sold. It has the benefit of zero-cost acquisition, but it requires a lot of effort to reach customers. Adding a subscription-based model for guides with an existing customer base would allow us to have a more predictable revenue and reduce the effort required to reach customers.

Opportunities

Turning into a SaaS would allow us to open the platform to professional organizations, such as museums, cruise ships, and travel agencies.

Plan

An all-in-one organizational platform

Availability management

Manage your availability and visit settings in one place.

  • Participants limit
  • Price
  • Duration
Status

✅ Already implemented

Booking management

Gain visibility on booking fulfillment and manage your schedule.

Status

✅ Already implemented

Facilitate conversion

Implement payment from website

Status

🟠 In progress

Automated communication

Send automated email to confirm bookings and remind participants.

Status

✅ Already implemented

Ease business onboarding

Distinct guide and professional publish workflows

Review the current validation process applied to guides. Professionals will have a lighter validation process.

Status

🔴 Not started

Invoices and receipts

Automatically generate invoices, receipts, and financial reports for legal business compliance.

Status

🔴 Not started

Zero-delay payment

Implement Stripe Connect to allow business to receive payments instantly.

Status

🔴 Not started