After two years of significant falls in tourism operations, 2022 is shaping up to be the year of recovery.
According to data recently published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the "sharp growth" in private consumption and the "strong recovery" in tourism activity propelled the Portuguese economy to year-on-year growth of 11.9% in the first quarter of this year.
In the specific case of Tourism, INE reports that in the first quarter of this year, this activity, which is so important to the economy of millions of Portuguese, grew by 206.7% year-on-year (-121.5% in the previous quarter and -62.9% in the 1st quarter of 2021).
This strong comeback in tourism is excellent news not only for those who already have businesses in the area, but also for all entrepreneurs who are thinking of investing in tourism and taking advantage of the boom in tourists in summer 2022.
As tourism is a constantly evolving area and new trends emerge every year, in order to help all those who wish to invest, we're going to show you 10 creative tourism ideas that are excellent business opportunities. Come along!
Tourism: innovative ideas for business opportunities
Without any concern for organising our list by criteria of importance, here are 10 good tourism entrepreneurial ideas:
1. Tour guide
More tourists invariably means more people asking for tour guides. If you speak more than one foreign language, are knowledgeable about your city's history and know your way around, this is a good way to start a small tourism business.
Create a websiteYou can also use your website and/or social media pages to advertise your services and allow potential clients to book a visit and make a payment, either via your website or a secure page.
Because of its importance to any business (online or offline), it needs to offer payment methods tailored to the habits and needs of your customers on your website or social media pages, if you decide to sell your tour guide services without a website.
In order for your business to offer the most innovative means of payment to your customers, REDUNIQ offers you two options online payment solutions: o REDUNIQ E-Commerce and REDUNIQ@Payments.
Let's start with REDUNIQ E-Commerce. This solution can be fully integrated into your online site, allowing your online shop to receive online payments with debit and credit cards, from customers all over the world, from the international brands Visa and Mastercard, by MB WAY and Multibanco reference, with no membership costs or monthly fees.
If your idea is sell online without a website through social networks or marketplaces, the REDUNIQ@Payments is the right solution. As well as having no membership costs, fixed costs or monthly fees, this turnkey solution requires no integration, allowing you to receive online payments by link by e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp, by Multibanco or MB WAY reference and by Visa and Mastercard.
In addition to the online component, in order to attract more customers, establish partnerships with hotels, hostels or travel agencies so that they can recommend your services to holidaymakers.
2. Restaurant/Bar
Even if it's not exactly original, a restaurant or bar is part of the tourism industry's business value chain. To add a touch of creativity to your business, you could invest in street food and sell your delicacies in a classic van (a "pão de forma", for example) decorated in an appealing way, or open a restaurant/bar where the typical snacks of your area are the speciality, in the latter case you could also add entertainment with live music from local artists.
To help you sell more, and offer your customers an even more satisfying experience, offer means of contactless payment innovative, such as the REDUNIQ Smart Android automatic payment terminal which, in addition to allowing your restaurant/bar/roulotte to accept contactless payments with card, chip, MB Way, Google Pay and Apple Pay, brings a set of built-in management apps that help businesses and allow them to be totally mobile and digital.
By functioning as Contactless TPA and management centre connected to the digital world, this new solution REDUNIQ Android TPA offers businesses extra flexibility in managing their resources, since, for example, with the app WinRest or ZSRest, a catering business will now be able to display menus, register and confirm customer orders and even integrate its invoicing software into a single Physical TPA.
3. Taxi and bus business
Although it involves a somewhat large initial investment and some bureaucratic processes, with rising fuel prices more and more people will prefer to be transported by taxi, which will lead to an increase in demand for these services, especially outside airports and train stations.
As with restaurants/bars, REDUNIQ helps with business growth and management through omeutáxi app which, in practice, is an application certified by the tax authority that allows taxi drivers to take advantage of an "at the wheel" invoicing system from the REDUNIQ Smart terminal.
As well as allowing invoices to be issued, the omeutáxi app offers taxi drivers the chance to run a more mobile and digital business, and receive card payments from the main national and international brands with greater security and simplicity. contactlessand via mobile phone (MB Way, Apple Pay and Google Pay).
If you drop the taxi idea, you can bet on a bus business that takes tourists to visit tourist attractions in your city.
4. Travel and tourism consultancy company
If you have qualifications and experience in tourism, consultancy can be a thriving and lucrative business in the travel and tourism industry.
The list of clients to whom you can offer your services is extensive and can include companies, government agencies or individual holidaymakers.
5. Vehicle hire
A car hire business for transporting tourists around the country or for panoramic tours is always viable and profitable. As well as traditional cars, you can bet on scooters or tuk tuks.
The main point is to conduct prior market research to find out what tourists expect or might need when they visit the area where you intend to operate.
Then, as with the tour guide business, you need to create a website or advertise your services on social media, ensure payment methods accessible and adapted and position your business in a place that is visible to tourists.
6. Photography business
Although nowadays everyone can take photos with their smartphone, Instagram is going to make many tourists try to capture the best moments of their trips using professional photographers and then capitalise on them on their personal pages.
So, if you are a professional photographer or have a good knowledge of photography, consider starting your own business. In addition to the necessary online marketing, you could try teaming up with a travel and/or tour company to become one of their official photographers.
7. Luggage delivery services
To prevent holidaymakers from having to worry about the always annoying waiting times at the baggage carousel and security checks, you can start a baggage delivery business that streamlines the whole process for them.
All the customer has to do is pack their travelling clothes and other belongings into the suitcase, as the luggage delivery company is in charge of taking and storing the luggage on their behalf. In addition, a company of this type also helps with the coding of online content so that the owner can update their suitcase for another trip.
8. Welcome service
The welcome service involves welcoming tourists to a tourist city and, in turn, providing them with useful information, samples of products from local businesses and other types of opportunities that are available in the city.
In addition to the ease of establishing partnerships with institutional and business organisations in the city, this is a business that requires little or no start-up capital.
9. Self-service launderettes
Whether they're tourists or not, everyone wants clean clothes and that's where self-service launderettes come in.
As the name suggests, a self-service launderette is a launderette where people can have their clothes washed and dried independently, quickly and cheaply.
This is a lucrative business, especially if the self-service launderette is located in an area where there are lots of hostels or local accommodation.
10. Souvenir shop (online and offline)
Tourists always want to take a physical souvenir of their travels back to their country or area of origin, so it's inevitable that our list includes the physical souvenir shop and a possible extension of it online.
In addition to local handicrafts, exclusive gifts and clothing native to your town, you can also add your own personal touch and sell products made by yourself.
Keep in mind that your souvenir shop should be well located and have an attractive appearance.
If you decide to create an online extension of your shop through a website or a page on social media marketplaces, pay special attention to display (image of the site/page), functionality and usability, use diversified marketing strategies (email marketing, newsletters, paid adverts, etc.) and bet on online payment methods that reduce friction at the time of purchase and adapt to consumer needs, as is the case with the REDUNIQ@Payments (in the case of selling without a website) and the REDUNIQ E-Commerce (website sales).
