Opinions on Bespoke, Italian, Tourism Business Idea.

[Tommygunn]

I would like to ask all of you as to your opinions on a business venture that a friend and I are thinking about.
This is really a basic opinion poll just to see what interest there is out there in the community.
Basically, my friend has a big interest in ancient and not so ancient history here in our local area of Rimini and Pesaro, Italy. She has retired but, not willing to curl up and die, she would like to do some kind of tourist guide gig, since she knows all the museums, galleries etc etc.

What she required was a mother tongue, English speaker i.e. me.

I then proposed that this could then be expanded upon to recent Italian history and my own personal interest/expertise and all that goes with that i.e. battlefield tours, cemeteries, military museums etc.

So, my question is, would tailor made tours of the Emilia Romagna and Marche region, taking into account (apologies I’m generalising) male and female interests be of interest? By this, I mean, we could design tours to take account of personal interests whether they be, for example, a husband’s interest in battlefield tours and a wife’s interest in ancient history museums.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Tom.

[42rocker]

Tom
I just removed 12 threads for ads this morning. If I had not noticed that this was from you I would have removed it also. LOL

That said this sounds interesting. Lots of fighting went on in Italy. This might reach out and work with someone?? I might be in the area in 2 to 3 years and might have to think of this at that time. If, If, If etc.

Good Luck.

Later 42rocker

[shred]

You might need to screw around getting guide permits (although who knows in Italy), but custom-guiding is pretty successful in parts of the world. I was on a tour like that (not WW2, natch) in Peru a few years back. The guide has a few pre-planned itineraries that they use as starting points, then extensively modify based on customer preference who would kind of mix-and-match until they got something that matched their interests and time available.

The key to making it work seems to be lots and lots of planning and conversations with the customers before they plunk down their deposits.

If you are doing trips with widely different interests on it (eg: battlefields, fashion), splitting the group up for the day, then meeting again at dinner is nice.

[Tommygunn]

42rocker,
Close call.
Maybe we'll have something up and running in anticipation of your arrival.

Shred,
You've pretty much hit the nail on the head. Giving the customer the big picture then allowing them to fine tune it to their requirements and then we implement it.
Also, getting in with the local restaurants to cut some deals for groups etc.

Tom.