Guides for independent tour guides
Practical, honest advice for running a one-person tour business: licensing and startup costs, filling your calendar without losing your margin to commissions, choosing booking software (or skipping it), and the day-to-day systems that keep tours running smoothly.
Tour guide earnings calculator
What do you actually keep? Compare a marketplace commission, your own booking page and a plain payment link on your own numbers.
SeriesLicensing by country
Do you need a licence to guide in Italy, Spain, Japan and beyond? A browsable index of country-by-country rules, costs and reality.
DataTour guide industry statistics (2026)
Key statistics on the tours & activities industry: market size, OTA commissions, guide earnings and booking behaviour — with sources to check.
Featured guides
How to start a tour guide business in 2026 (step-by-step)
Start a tour guide business step by step: pick a niche, handle licensing and insurance, set prices, and get your first bookings — in any country.
Getting bookingsDirect bookings for tour guides: the complete playbook
Reduce your OTA commission bill. How independent guides win direct bookings through their own page, Google, reviews and repeat guests.
Booking softwareBooking software for independent tour guides (2026)
How solo tour guides choose booking software: pricing models, per-booking fees, calendar sync, and when a spreadsheet is still enough.
Tour guide industry statistics (2026)
Key statistics on the tours & activities industry: market size, OTA commissions, guide earnings and booking behaviour — with sources to check.
Every guide
The full index, by category. The country licensing series has its own index.
Getting bookings
- Direct bookings for tour guides: the complete playbook
- Airbnb Experiences fees: is it still worth it for guides?
- GetYourGuide commission explained: what guides really pay
- Google Things to Do for tour guides: free bookings from Search
- GuruWalk fees explained: what free tour guides really pay (2026)
- How to create a booking page for your tours (step-by-step)
- How to turn OTA customers into repeat, direct clients (legally)
- SEO for tour guides: rank for '[city] walking tour' without an agency
- The hybrid strategy: OTAs for discovery, direct for repeat clients
- Viator commission and fees: a guide's breakdown
- Viator vs GetYourGuide vs Airbnb Experiences vs Booking.com: which is best for solo tour guides?
- What a tour guide website needs to get more bookings
Booking software
- Booking software for independent tour guides (2026)
- All my tours vs Bokun: which fits a solo guide? (2026)
- All my tours vs FareHarbor: which fits a solo guide? (2026)
- All my tours vs Rezdy: which fits a solo guide? (2026)
- Bokun alternatives: options for solo guides
- Booking software for solo tour guides: what you actually need
- Booking software for tour guides: how the main platforms actually price out
- FareHarbor alternatives for independent guides (2026)
- Free tour booking software: options compared (real pricing)
- Peek Pro alternatives for small and solo operators
- Rezdy vs Checkfront: which fits a one-person tour business?
