Narrow down your choices. Developing an itinerary of the entire country can be an insurmountable task without the right planning. Start by choosing a theme. Are you going mountain biking, fishing, on walking tours through urban areas, camping in rural countrysides, or visiting offbeat attractions?
Decide who your escorted tour is for. Will you take friends and family? Is it a professional tour for athletes, explorers, the self-employed, senior citizens, baby boomers, or single parents? Envision your ideal client, their financial background, where they are from, and their needs on a tour to determine who will sign up and how to market your services.
Make a list of each region from West to East, North and South that supports your chosen activities. Name as many areas and cities as you want and then take a moment to consider your list. From here, you need to decide how many days you will spend in each area. If you want to do a month long tour, 20 cities is going to be too much. But if you want to tour for a year, twenty cities may not be enough. Consider spending around 2 to 4 days in each location as a starting point and narrow down your options. Spread out your choices to different regions to offer a well balanced itinerary.
Consider hiring a travel agent specializing in group travel in the United States. You can design the itinerary and outline of your trip and ask your agent to plan the logistics of transportation, accommodations, meals, activities, and travel insurance needs. You can also hire tour guides in each region if you prefer to have someone else taking the lead.
Start researching vendors that supports your activities in each region if you want to plan the tour yourself. Contact Segway Guided Tours (see Resources) and click on the area you want, like Pittsburgh if you want to offer Segway tours in the Northeast. Look at the time, cost, and duration and ask about group rates. Contact restaurants and hotels in the area to ask about special services, rates, accommodations, and planning assistance. Ask the local tourism board if they can help negotiate travel packages. They may be able to contact hotels on your behalf and find special rates that include meals and activities.
Factor in alternative activities other than your core theme. Not everyone is going to want to Segway or go biking everyday. Offer daily options to visit a spa, take a walking tour, or go shopping. Contact travel agents in each area for assistance if needed. They can help develop an itinerary that caters to their specific region and help organize the process. If you're looking to tour national parks in the United States, ask for special itineraries on the Redwood National Park or Yosemite.
Give yourself plenty of time to research the region and activities offered. Line up guest speakers on your tour including bike professionals in Montana, horticulturists in Maine, vineyard owners in California, or other experts that can help bring value and credibility to your trip. Your customers want to know they will receive something remarkable and otherwise inaccessible to them without your assistance.
Determine a length for each activity and factor in cushion time. It's nearly impossible to organize a group of people down to the minute. Allow an hour or two of padding between each activity on your tour and alternate durations. If you go biking for 8 hours in one day along the California coastline, spend 2 hours the next day on a walking tour in San Francisco and then provide a list of free activities in the area, like visiting the Golden Gate Park, for your tour group to do at their leisure.
Decide how you will travel. Choose from airlines, caravans, RV's, vans, buses, bikes, helicopters or even boats. Look at the region you're traveling to. A tour in New York City will probably require a tour bus with a certified driver. A trip to see the glaciers in Alaska may require a cruise or helicopter. You may want to use an RV if you're traveling to the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. Ask for group rates and discounts with transportation vendors like Spirit Airlines. Come up with a contingency plan on what to do if someone is bumped off a flight, sick, or arrives late.
Calculate the price. Combine your cost for accommodations, meals, airport transfers, activities, and transportation. Next, see what your competition is doing. If Globus Tours (see Resources) offers a trip to Hawaii for $2,500, keep your pricing to the same areas competitive or offer discounts. Factor in extra charges for single room supplements, or discounts for traveling with children. You can also decide what costs are excluded like extra sightseeing tours, bike rentals, cocktails, or breakfast. Once you've calculated your price, add in a fee for your services.
Develop an attractive presentation. Create brochures or build a website complete with activities, duration, hotels, meals, accommodations, and costs. Use photos, videos, testimonials, a blog, and a Questions and Answers page for your potential customers. Speak to groups, senior citizen centers, biking clubs, literary groups, and businesses about your services.
