For tour, attraction, cruise and charter operators.
Your best customers are finding you through someone else
I am Sarah Colgate. I owned and turned around tour businesses on the Gold Coast, and I now build the direct booking engine most operators never get around to building for themselves. We maximise your OTA sales while building your direct booking engine in 90 days, then hand you the keys.
Thirty minutes, free, no pitch. You will leave knowing what to fix first.
Already busy and still not making money? That is a different problem. Start here instead.
Deputy President, Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce
Director, Gold Coast Waterways Authority
25 years in travel and tourism
Former owner of Aquaduck Gold Coast
WHERE TO START
Get found and get booked. That comes first.
Most operators come to me saying they need more marketing. Sometimes that is right. Often the real problem is that the people who want what you sell cannot find you, and the ones who do find you cannot book you easily.
Fix that first and everything after it gets easier.
So I work in three rungs, and nearly everyone starts on the first one.
Most operators need one rung first, not all three at once. The call works out which.
Here is the bit that costs you
You are on Viator and GetYourGuide, and they bring you bookings. Good. That is a channel doing its job, and I am not going to tell you to walk away from it.
The trouble starts when they are carrying the whole business on their own. Because then you are paying commission on people who would have booked you directly if they had been able to find you. They searched, you were not there. They looked at your website on a phone, the booking widget was buried, and they went back to the platform that made it easy. That booking still happened. It just cost you 20 to 30 percent you did not need to spend.
You need a market mix. Direct above 45 percent of your total bookings is the target, and getting there does not mean fewer OTA bookings. It means more of everything, with your own channel finally doing its share.
I have done this in my own business
In 2018 I took over Aquaduck Gold Coast. Good product, good crew, good reviews. Four percent of turnover came through our own website. By the time I sold it, direct was 47 percent. Revenue was up 36.1 percent in ten months and net profit per passenger had trebled. Nothing about the boat changed. What changed was how many people could find us, and how easy we made it to book us without going through somebody else first.
That is what I build for operators now, and it is called Visibility.
Both channels grew. The business more than doubled before exit.
VISIBILITY
What Visibility builds, in the order that pays fastest.
A 90-day build. Six systems installed on your business, run live so you can see them working, then handed to you documented so you can run them yourself in two to three hours a week. They go in the order that pays fastest.
It is a build with an end date. Week 12 is your handoff. From day 91 it is yours. See exactly what gets built.
HOW IT WORKS
Three steps, one of them free
Book a Growth Gap Call
Thirty minutes on Zoom. I ask about your bookings, your prices and your season, and tell you what I would fix first. No pitch. Free.
The 90-day build
Month one is foundation and the fast money first. Month two is the build. Month three we run it, tune it twice, and write everything down.
I hand you the keys
A handoff call at week 12, a strategic review at week 13, and a documented pack so you can run the whole engine yourself.
Run it yourself in two to three hours a week, or have me keep running it. Your call at the review.
PROOF
The numbers tell the story
$6,000 each
Why I am not an agency
I build it, I run it live for 90 days so you can see it working, and then I hand you the keys. Everything documented, everything in your own accounts. Some operators take it from there and run it themselves in two to three hours a week. Some would rather I kept running it, and we talk about that at the week 13 review, once you have seen what it did. Either way it is yours, and whether I stay involved is your call, not a contract.
And I am not a coach who read about this. I have run these businesses. I have made the payroll, paid the commissions, had the weather cancel a day's revenue, and had staff walk out in the middle of a season. When I tell you what to fix first, it is because I have had to fix it myself with my own money on the line.
What operators say
Clients
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![A person ziplining over a lush green forest, wearing a blue helmet and safety gear.]()
Tree Top Challenge
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![A couple in white clothing sharing a kiss on a sailboat during sunset with city skyline in the background.]()
Sun Sailing Gold Coast
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![Logo of Redland City Council featuring a blue dragon with green and yellow accents and the text 'Redland City Council' below.]()
Redlands City Council - Destination Redlands Coast
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![Clients of Sarah Colgate, showcasing successful Tourism Business Growth Strategies and transformation.]()
The Tour Collective
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![Clients of Sarah Colgate, showcasing successful Tourism Business Growth Strategies and transformation.]()
The Breakers Apartments
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![Clients of Sarah Colgate, showcasing successful Tourism Business Growth Strategies and transformation.]()
Go Vertical Stand Up Paddle & Kayak
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![Clients of Sarah Colgate, showcasing successful Tourism Business Growth Strategies and transformation.]()
Misty View Cottages Apartment
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![Clients of Sarah Colgate, showcasing successful Tourism Business Growth Strategies and transformation.]()
Hot Air Balloon Gold Coast & Cairns
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![Clients of Sarah Colgate, showcasing successful Tourism Business Growth Strategies and transformation.]()
Love The Spit
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Montville Country Cabins
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![Living room with two white sofas, a black rug, a marble coffee table, a flat-screen TV, and ocean view through large windows]()
Dorchester on the Beach
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![A group of people riding a green and black AEROJET speed boat on the water, wearing life jackets and enjoying the ride under a clear blue sky.]()
Arro Jet Boating
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![Aerial view of a large white and blue yacht in water, with smaller boats nearby, and a pier with rectangular structures. The text overlay says "See More Ton" with blue wavy lines.]()
See Moreton
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![A city skyline with tall modern skyscrapers along a waterfront, a blue and white boat on calm water, and a clear blue sky.]()
HOPO Sightseeing Cruises
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![Group of four tourists standing by a stone railing overlooking the ocean, with a white tour van parked nearby on a sunny day.]()
Oceania Tours Melbourne
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![Adventure Art Photography - Sarah Colgate Exceptional Experiences]()
Adventure Art Photography
Who I work with
This is for you if
This is not for you if
Everything is delivered remotely, so where you are does not matter much. Anything quoted is billed in your own currency.
YOUR NEXT STEP
What are your numbers telling you about your business?
If you are working as hard as you have ever worked and the bank balance does not reflect it, the first thing to look at is where your bookings come from and what each one costs you.
I suggest you start there.
Not ready for a call? Take the free Tourism Business Health Check.
Thirty minutes. No pitch. You’ll leave knowing what to fix first, whether or not you ever work with me.
The questions that stop people booking
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No, and I would not advise it. OTAs solve discovery and they are good at it. We make your listings work harder while we build your direct channel alongside them. The aim is a healthier mix, with direct above 45 percent, and more bookings overall.
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Investment is discussed on the Growth Gap Call, once we both know your business is the right fit. There is no price on this site outside the two self-serve courses, and that is deliberate. I would rather talk about cost once I know what your business actually needs.
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Yes. Thirty minutes, no invoice, no obligation. I will tell you what I think the problem is and where to start. If working together makes sense I will say so, and if it does not I will say that too.
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Then you do not have to. Plenty of operators have neither the spare hands nor the desire, and that is fine. Because it is built in your own accounts and documented, keeping me on after the 90 days is something you choose with the results in front of you, not something you are stuck with. We talk about it at the week 13 review.
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Yes. Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada. Everything is delivered remotely, and anything quoted is billed in your own currency.
