A group of small Vancouver tour companies has decided that five heads are better than one.
The businesses have decided to team up in what they describe as a collective called the Experience Vancouver Group. The separate businesses involved include Vancouver Foodie Tours, Forbidden Vancouver, Vancouver Photowalks, Cycle City Tours and Vancouver Water Adventures.
“It can get lonely – as a small business owner a lot of the time you are working on your own,” said Michelle Ng, owner of Vancouver Foodie Tours. “You want to be able to bounce ideas off of other like-minded business owners.”
The group has developed a joint brochure and plans to create a website. Businesses in the group will refer customers to each other and plan to offer package deals.
The idea is similar to the one behind the Vancouver Attractions Group, which was formed in 1986 and includes major Vancouver attractions like Science World, Vancouver Art Gallery, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and several museums.
In contrast to those large attractions, which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, all the businesses in the Vancouver Experience Group focus on offering “intimate experiences” of the city’s history, scenery or culture, said Will Woods, owner of Forbidden Vancouver.
“We’re all trying to do new and interesting work and there’s a lot we have in common, but there’s a lot we do differently,” Woods said.
Ng and Woods said they’ve seen steady growth in visitor numbers over the past several years, with this year shaping up to be the best yet. Ng has been in business for six years and now employs nine other guides, while Woods started offering tours three years ago and has hired eight guides.
All the members of their group have been in business at least three years and have been highly rated on TripAdvisor.
“And they have to be interested in growing,” Ng said.
Tourism in Vancouver has been particularly strong the past two years, helped by the current low Canadian dollar. But Ng and Woods said that while the exchange rate doesn’t hurt, their businesses aren’t as affected by fluctuations in the currency because many of their customers are locals: Woods said half the people taking his tours are from the Lower Mainland, while 20% of Ng’s customers are from the Vancouver area.
As an example of how the tour companies can collaborate, Woods said he plans to offer a tour of art deco buildings this summer with Suzanne Rushton of Vancouver Photowalks. The tour, he said, would bring together stories about Vancouver’s history with photography tips. •
