Tourism CommissionDec. 14, 2020

Austin Detours presentation — original pdf

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What is Austin Detours? ● We are a tour company that offers tours to locals, visitors, and corporate groups. ● Our offerings include city tours, food tours, brewery / distillery tours / wine tours, live music tours, and more. ● Our corporate events range from small local teams to visiting convention groups in the 1000s. We offer social, teambuilding and charity events. ● Our team is made up of local musicians, artists, and creators. Austin Detours Pre-Pandemic ● We grew from 1 employee in 2013 to 27 employees in 2020. We also had a 2nd location in San Antonio with 8 employees. ● In 2019, we were recognized as a nominee for “Best CEO,” “Fast 50,” “Best Family Business,” and ranked as “#2 Best Place to Work in Austin” (micro-category). These awards are given out by the Austin Business Journal and highly respected in our city. ● In 2019, we hosted over 27,000 public tour guests and 14,000 corporate guests. ● In 2019, we were the largest tour company in Austin. We have been featured in Lonely Planet, National Geographic Travel, the Washington Post, USA Today, Forbes, and countless blogs / online publications. ● Austin Detours directly supported hundreds of small businesses in Austin, featuring food trucks, musicians and artists on our tours. Many of these creative entrepreneurs have told us that we were the sole reason they were in business, or that we were integral in the launching of their small business. Austin Detours Post-Pandemic ● Austin Detours has been 100% closed since March 11, 2020. ● We have laid off 26 employees. We have one remaining. ● We have completely closed our 2nd operation in San Antonio. ● Many of our key partners have also been forced to close indefinitely. Other Tour Companies in Austin ● AO Tours has continued to operate 1-2 private tours / week. ● Austin Tour Company closed in March and has not reopened. ● Twisted Texas Tours was closed from March - September. They have reopened for private groups only, and have had 12 small private tours to date. Austin Detours Recovery In order for Austin Detours to recover, we will need: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● A vaccine that is available to the general public Financial assistance to help with start-up costs (basically starting the business from new again) Depending on timing, the ability to bring my staff back (most have been with us for 5+ years) or we will need to start from scratch and hire / train an entirely new staff. Finding amazing tour guides / entertainers have always been difficult during normal times, but this will prove to be challenging in a post-Covid environment. Transportation must be readily available and affordable The ability to reinstate commercial insurance and local permitting / holder authority / chauffeur permits. Redeveloping relationships with hotels, many of which have lost most of their staff. Rekindling relationships with corporate clients and understanding their needs in a post-Covid environment. Redeveloping relationships with vendors who have made it through the pandemic, establishing relationships with new vendors. Creating entirely new content for tours as many will need to be re-imagined due to social distancing / safety concerns. ● We hope to be back in business by the end of summer 2020.