News letter - July 2024
Tour Updates from Liverpool Eco Tours and Dale Liverpool
As we enter into the crazy busy season I thought I would give an update!
We've had a small increase in capacity for our City&Beatles and City&Football E-Bike tours and it's good to have many private and bespoke bike tours booked in our calendar to. Seeing the city during the summer on an electric bike is really one of the best ways of seeing Liverpool.
Because we've been getting private bookings and direct bookings our need to use online travel agents hasn't been necessary while our overheads have been low. For any tour company to survive without them in this day and age is difficult and it's testament to the beliefs and methodical approach to how Liverpool Eco Tours has been set up and how we run.
However, we have decided for the remainder of the summer to activate sales through OTAs, this will take us through to winter and increase our visibility and help with our increased overheads. We look forward to working with new partners and we look forward to working with new tour guides to help with the demand that we expect to face.
This also goes for hotels, it's our pleasure to be rolling out our partnership packages with select hotels. We only wish to work with a few so we can maintain good relationships and good lines of communication. After working in our tour industry for years with many hotels I know the importance of not spreading too thin, so it pays to be selective.
With our tour company being Green and responsible, the desire to work with us has been good since setting up. We love our partners, we continue our work with Liverpool FC, with the academy and stadium. Our work with hotels and other attractions in the city continues to grow too. I genuinely believe that we are stronger when we all work together, so I love seeing businesses supporting others. Do get in touch if you want to find ways to work together.
We have an incredible amount of interest in private walking tours and vehicle tours so this is a reminder to contact in advance and chase me up about your bookings to make sure that you get the tour you want from me or the company.
In the last news letter I said about how I wish for people to see Liverpool Eco Tours and Dale Liverpool as two separate things, so I do wish to give you updates about how life is going for me as a guide too.
With that in mind, 16 months ago I entered the world of business. It was a huge decision to make, because I already had a job in tourism working for The Cavern and Magical Mystery Tour.
Turbulence getting off the ground meant that I stayed with the Magical Mystery Tour part time. This was to help me get my house and provide a safety net for me and my son, which looking back was the wisest move I made. But in doing so I needed to have a goal, so I set a giant one and started introducing every Magical Mystery Tour I delivered by saying “we are set to be one of the world's most successful tour operators” - even going to the company directors and telling them we will be named one of the best tours in the world.
In 2022, the news broke that the tour I had helped design for Liverpool City Sights in 2017 was named as a global best tour. I'd long left the company by then, but I felt pride because I always believed in what we made while I was there, even when others didn't. But it was when the MMT rolled out QR codes on the back of seats to encourage reviews in 2023, I knew that the ability for me to get positive feedback had been made easy.
So I stepped it up a gear, winning the internal staff feedback competition for 10 out of 12 months while working part time and setting ridiculous feedback records. Receiving 674 named positive reviews in that time, more than double of the nearest tour guide. I don't think I'll ever get that again and the real achievement is that it was all positive mentions. But it now means that The Magical Mystery Tour has been named a global best tour, something that I'm really proud to have been a part of and more proud that the overall experience has been improved for everyone.
When I faced turbulence stepping out alone in business, I decided to believe that it meant I had unfinished business with Magical Mystery Tour and used it as fuel to achieve my goals.
For me and my goal driven approach to life, it now means I've helped design and deliver tours that are among the best in the world. Proving my point that the best tour in the world can only come from Liverpool. But not only that, it's backed up with data, statistics and documentation of the plans to reach it… I believe I can do this again, again and again.
Here is to an exciting busy summer period, delivering the best tours, of the city I believe in - but let's hope that the British weather starts to improve!
Dale Roberts