ToursByLocals makes booking a private tour with a local guide easy
Credit to Author: Dave Pottinger| Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2020 21:09:35 +0000
In 2006, two Vancouver software entrepreneurs were on a business trip to Beijing and managed to squeeze in a visit to the Great Wall. As they walked along the centuries’ old wall at Simatai a couple of local farm women, tagged along offering tidbits of historical and other interesting information.
“We ended up buying some stuff and giving them $15 CDN because that’s all the money we had,” says Paul Melhus. “When we were on the plane, we started to talk about how this could have been a much better experience for both ourselves and for those two women. Because obviously, they had something of value that we wanted and that we enjoyed having, but how could we have a more professional and businesslike relationship with these two people?”
By the time they landed back in Vancouver, Melhus and his colleague Dave Vincent had a idea for a new venture—an online platform for travelers to select, correspond with and book private tours with a local, vetted and independent guide. In 2008, they co-founded ToursByLocals and set up shop above a Greek restaurant in New Westminster. Melhus was the first tour guide.
Dave Vincent and Paul Melhus started ToursbyLocals after a trip to China.
Today, the company HQ takes up an entire floor at 1185 West Georgia Street, there are 185 employees, and satellite offices in Buenos Aires, Glasgow and Kuala Lumpur. In 2019 ToursByLocals’ 4,100 guides provided nearly 105,000 tours in 163 countries.
Since the company began, about 1.5 million people have hired one of their guides. Florida couple Barbara Eisenberg and her husband has gone on more than 200 adventures with ToursByLocals. “We just came back from Antarctica for the second time,” says Barbara of their most recent cruise. “In Buenos Aires, we had a young girl who gave us a wonderful tour, even though it was pouring rain.”
As well as booking private day tours for when their cruise ship stops at ports around the world, the Eisenbergs have hired guides from ToursByLocals for week-long trips to Beijing and Shanghai.
Barbara Eisenberg has gone on more than 200 adventures with guides from ToursByLocals.
“In Shanghai, I could see from the guide’s bio on the website that she had studied in the United States. When we emailed back and forth, it turned out that she had gone to the same university that I had,” says Barbara. “Every single morning in Shanghai when she came to meet us, she wore a different T-shirt that said: ‘University of Illinois.’”
It’s exactly that sort of personal connection, combined with intimate local knowledge, that’s responsible for the company’s growth, says Melhus. “Our customers want to connect and have a authentic connection with the local person.”
One popular tour in Lima, Peru, for example, sees the guide and his mother meet you at your hotel, take you shopping for groceries at the market and head back to the family home where mom puts you to work in the kitchen making a typical Peruvian meal.
Costs range from about $80 CDN for a walking tour in locations in Southeast Asia to about $1,500 CDN to get picked up at the port of Warnemunde, drive 240 kilometres to tour around Berlin for the day and taken back to Warnemunde. The guides keep 80 per cent of the fee.
ToursByLocals vets every guide and the company says it accepts only one of every ten people who apply. “We have to keep eternally paranoid and make sure that we’re always striving to give five-star experiences,” says Melthus.
For guide Winston Wong, it’s been a attractive second job for more than 10 years. As well as running a gift shop in Vancouver, he tours visitors several times a week in the summer. “I like to go to the secret hideaways and maybe short hikes in places that aren’t too populated…and of course, they want to see Stanley Park, Granville Island and the view from Queen Elizabeth Park,” he says.
As for the women at the Great Wall of China who sparked the idea, 14 years ago, Melhus has thought about trying to find them and maybe bring them onboard as guides.
“My brother went to Beijing and I told him about Simatai to try and track them down, but the government has totally changed it. They’ve made it into a destination and kicked out all the farmers,” he says. “We could have a contest in China and put out a reward or something to find those two women. That would be cool.”