Verlocal graffiti tour
There’s a lot of money in tour services, and a growing segment involves peer-to-peer tours. Offering a different way of experiencing a city, with sharing economy tours you get to experience something special about your destination with a local. Instead of going out with a professional guide, usually peer-to-peer tours are with someone who isn’t doing the guiding full time, and often alone or in a small group. Many of these experiences are off the typical tourist trail, taking you to see some of your guide’s favorite places or to eat in his/her favorite restaurants. I’m pretty impatient with typical tours as I don’t like being lectured at, but I’ve really enjoyed these types of tours, especially when they involve food.
As evidence of the money being put into sharing economy tours, Verlocal raised a $2.6 million seed round from four investors. Verlocal was founded in 2014 and connects locals who offer classes or activities with travelers. They’re in five cities in the United States right now. I interviewed the founder of Verlocal last year, and was impressed with his vision and the company’s ability to scale up quickly from scratch.
TourWithMe is another new peer-to-peer tour company. They launched in December 2015 with a mobile app offering local experiences in cities around the world.
TourWithMe iphone app
While they are still very new, TourWithMe has an impressive geographic diversity of tours, from Greece to Thailand. A quick browse through their offerings suggests that some are from more commercial tour businesses while others are just individuals showing tourists their favorite spots and experiences.
For instance, I could go on this beer and tapas tour in Madrid on my upcoming trip to that city. For €50 I would probably pass on the tour and wander around to bars on my own, and many of the tours on TourWithMe are similarly expensive. But for those who enjoy organized activities and want to meet locals, TourWithMe has some fun choices.