Local Experiences: Higher Profits & Happier Travelers
- Turpal Team
- Feb 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 23
Travel is no longer about ticking landmarks off a list. Modern travelers want to feel a place, not just visit it. They want to eat where locals eat, walk through hidden alleys, and learn stories that don’t make it into guidebooks.
This shift, from sightseeing to experience-seeking, is redefining the future of the tour and activity industry. And here’s the best part: embracing local experiences doesn’t just make travelers happier, it directly boosts your profitability.
The Rise of Local and Experiential Travel
The travel industry has evolved dramatically over the past decade. Traditional tours that once focused on must-see attractions are now competing with immersive, personalized experiences.
According to industry reports, 70% of global travelers say they prefer experiences that help them understand local culture, and over 60% are willing to pay more for authentic, community-based tours.
That’s your cue as a tour provider: when you offer authenticity, you’re no longer selling just a tour, you’re selling transformation.
Why Local Travel Experiences Drive Higher Profits
Let’s break down the business logic behind authenticity.
1. Travelers pay for meaningful experiences, not just motion and logistics
A standard city bus tour might earn you AED 90 per guest. But a curated, small-group street food walk led by a local chef could fetch AD 199, and sell out faster.
When experiences are rooted in storytelling and emotion, travelers perceive them as premium.
2. Local experiences encourage repeat bookings
A traveler who connects deeply with your destination often wants to explore more. When they trust your authenticity, they’re more likely to rebook for their next visit, or recommend you to friends.
Offer some sort of “Local Insider Pass” with discounts on multiple experiences across different neighborhoods or themes, such as art, cuisine, or traditions.
You’re not just selling one experience, you’re curating an ongoing relationship.
3. They strengthen your brand’s story
Every tour operator claims to offer “unforgettable experiences.” But when you showcase partnerships with local artisans, guides, and communities, your brand stands out.
Authenticity builds trust, especially among socially conscious travelers who care about sustainable tourism and ethical travel practices.
A brand that supports local communities earns more goodwill, and that translates to long-term loyalty and thereby, profitability.
How to Build Profitable Local Experiences
Let’s get down to the tactics. Here’s how you can turn your tours into authentic, high-value experiences:
1. Partner with Local Experts
Your best storytellers are locals who live the culture. Work with local guides, artists, or chefs who can bring real-life perspectives to your experiences.
Instead of outsourcing knowledge to generic guides, co-create with residents. The content becomes richer, and travelers instantly sense the difference.
2. Personalize the Experience
Not every traveler wants the same “authentic” encounter. Some prefer immersive workshops, others want relaxed cultural exploration.
Use simple data insights, like booking patterns, traveler demographics, or interest tags, to personalize recommendations. Here are some example offerings based of travelers behaviour and interests:
Adventure seekers: add a mountain trek with a local ranger.
Food lovers: include a market visit with home cooking.
Families: add cultural storytelling or farm experiences.
Personalization turns local authenticity into scalable offerings, and that’s where the profitability compounds.
3. Create Experiences that Give Back
Sustainability isn’t a buzzword as it used to be, today it has become an actual booking factor. Travelers increasingly choose brands that give back to the community. Involve local suppliers, hire locally, and allocate a small portion of proceeds to community projects.
You’ll appeal to conscious travelers, and create a powerful marketing story.
4. Highlight Local Stories in Your Marketing
Your marketing should portray emotions, your audience needs your content to feel like the destination itself.
Use authentic visuals: real faces, real places.
Share mini-stories of your local partners or guides on your website or social channels.
Encourage travelers to share their experiences with your branded hashtags, and to mention you..
When your brand narrative celebrates local voices, your audience connects emotionally before they even book.
5. Use Technology to Bridge Local and Global
The most “local” experiences scale best through digital tools. Use your online platforms to:
Showcase your local partners and experiences through storytelling-driven landing pages.
Offer virtual previews that may include short videos or 360° tours that bring destinations to life.
Automate follow-ups with personalized upsells.
Platforms like Turpal make it simple to digitize these experiences while maintaining authenticity. Automation handles logistics; your team handles human connection.
Key Metrics to Track Success
To measure the impact of your local experience strategy, track:
Average booking value (ABV): Are travelers spending more per tour?
Customer satisfaction scores / reviews: Are they mentioning “authentic,” “local,” or “unique”?
Repeat booking rate: Are they coming back for more?
Referral traffic: Are word-of-mouth recommendations growing?
The data and the numbers never lie, and local experiences leave lasting digital footprints too.
How Turpal Helps Tour Operators Scale Local Experiences
Turpal’s platform simplifies how tour providers manage and promote local, experience-driven offerings.
With Turpal, you can:
Create customizable listings for community-based or niche experiences.
Automate upsells and cross-sells for related local activities.
Track traveler engagement and satisfaction with built-in analytics.
Whether you’re curating hidden gems or promoting community collaborations, Turpal ensures your authentic experiences reach the right travelers at the right time.
Local experiences aren’t just a trend, they’re the core of modern travel. When travelers feel emotionally connected to a destination, they spend more, stay longer, tell more people, and even come back.
For tour providers, this means every authentic experience is both a profit opportunity and a brand differentiator. So, look beyond the landmarks, partner with locals, tell stories that matter, and deliver experiences travelers can’t find anywhere else. Because when your tours reflect the soul of a place, profits naturally follow, and your travelers leave with memories, not just photos.
