ToursByLocals and COVID-19: Weathering the Storm in 2020

September, a month of seasonal changes and fresh starts, is the perfect time to provide an update of what’s been going on at ToursByLocals during a decidedly imperfect 2020.

As everyone in the travel industry will agree, things have definitely not been business as usual. The past six months have presented us with the biggest challenge our industry has ever faced: people aren’t travelling. All around us, we see tour operators and hotels closing their doors – some for good.

ToursByLocals was extremely fortunate to have received investor funding at the start of the year. While 2020 hasn’t panned out the way we’d envisioned back in January, these funds are helping us take care of our three most important stakeholders: our travelers, our guides, and our staff.

Our Travellers

The first thing we did when the pandemic struck was to process full refunds for all our travellers. We continue to offer a free, flexible cancellation policy for any new tours booked. We've also extended the life of all promo codes/credits in travellers' accounts to not expire until December 31, 2021.

Our Guides

Our guides suddenly found themselves with no prospect for income right at the start of their high season. Some were able to find other work, and some were eligible for government support. For those in financial distress, we set up a Guide Relief Fund that provides guides with interest-free cash advances to help get them through these hard months. 100% of the net proceeds of all the gift cards we sell continue to go to this fund. So far we’ve raised over $650,000. We wish we could do more, but this is a start.

Our Staff

Sadly, we have not been able to save all of our staff jobs. Back in April, we had the heart-wrenching task of laying off a quarter of our workforce. Were it not for the recent investment, this would have been a much larger number. Still, for a company in hyper-growth mode, losing staff is the opposite of the direction we’ve been moving for the past decade. We miss every one of them, and it’s our hope that the travel industry will recover to the point where we can hire them back.

Looking forward...

We’ve been using the time to improve and expand our tour offerings, so that when you’re out and travelling again, you’ll have even more unique ways to experience new destinations. We’ve increased the number of countries in which we offer tours (183 in total now!) and found guides in some truly out of the way places (like Djibouti City, in the horn of Africa). We’ve been working with our guides in locations where many of you live – like the United States, Canada and Australia – to help them create tours that will appeal to a domestic travel audience. We’re excited to help people get to know their own backyards a little better.

And to keep all of us dreaming of meeting new people in faraway places, we’re offering live virtual tours in over 50 different locations around the world! ToursByLocals will apply the value of any live virtual tour you book to a real tour booking, so you can have a virtual picnic along the coast in Killarney, Ireland…then open that picnic basket for real when you meet your Irish guide next year.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has made it clear just how deeply we value human connections. The bonds we have with our family, our colleagues, and with friends across the world feel more important than ever. Once we’re safely able to explore again, ToursByLocals is eager to keep fostering even more positive connections between travelers and local guides, everywhere we travel. Until then: stay safe, stay well and keep dreaming.