Tour Profit Analyzer

Single Tour Profit Calculator

Why Tours Lose Money

Most tours don’t lose money because they’re bad ideas. They lose money because the operator can’t see the exact moment when a “fully booked” tour quietly slides from profit into loss. Commissions, discounts, extra staff, and one more “free” inclusion slowly eat into margins until a busy calendar hides a broken business model.

  • Everything can look successful on the surface — full dates, happy guests, glowing reviews.
  • But the bank balance still never quite catches up.
  • You work harder each season, with too little left over to hire help or pay yourself properly.
  • Margins are quietly being eaten away by commissions, discounts, staffing, and extra inclusions.
  • A tour can look busy while still being underpriced.
  • A full calendar can hide a broken business model.
  • The exact point where each tour breaks even.
  • When a booking starts generating real profit instead of only covering costs.
  • How price, capacity, commissions, and inclusions affect your margin.
  • See which tours are losing money and which ones are carrying the business.
  • Know what to fix now — pricing, commissions, inclusions, or group size.
  • Move from busy and stressed to fully booked and profitable.
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Start by entering your Tour Name / Scenario, Tour Date, and Number of Days at the top so you can identify the trip you are pricing.
  2. Under Revenue — Direct Bookings, enter the price and quantity for adult tickets, child tickets, and any optional add-ons or other income that you earn directly with no commission deducted.
  3. Under Revenue — OTA Bookings, enter the gross selling price, quantity, and commission percentage for each platform such as Viator, GetYourGuide, or Klook; the calculator will automatically show the net amount you actually keep and the total commission paid.
  4. If the tour includes overnight stays, complete the Accommodation section by entering the nightly rate, number of rooms, and number of nights; the calculator multiplies these to calculate total accommodation cost for the tour.
  5. In Variable Expenses, enter all per-tour costs such as guide fees, transport, fuel, meals, entrance fees, equipment rental, booking platform fees, optional add-on delivery costs, and miscellaneous expenses; some per-person rows can auto-fill based on total guest count.
  6. In Fixed Expenses, enter each monthly overhead amount and the number of tours you run per month; the calculator automatically allocates this tour’s share of those costs.
  7. Review the Profitability Summary at the bottom to see total revenue, total costs, net profit, net margin, revenue per guest, expense per guest, profit per guest, break-even guests, minimum viable group size, and the what-if pricing scenarios for higher ticket prices.
  8. As you type, all totals update automatically in real time, including the warning message and final verdict showing whether the tour is profitable, break-even, or running at a loss.
Revenue — Direct bookings
✦ DIRECT / SELF-DERIVED BOOKINGS (full price — no commission)
Ticket / Product Price ($) Qty Total
e.g. guided audio, souvenir pack, packed lunch, equipment upgrade
e.g. merchandise, photography package, group surcharge, retained deposit
Total Direct Revenue
Revenue — OTA Bookings
(Viator, GetYourGuide, Klook, etc. — commission deducted)
OTA Platform Gross Price ($) Qty OTA Commission % Net to You
Total Net OTA Revenue (after commission)
OTA Commission Paid (total deducted)
Total Net Revenue (Direct + OTA)
Accommodation — multi-day tours
Property Rate/Night ($) Rooms Nights Total
Total Accommodation
Variable Expenses — per tour
Expense Item Unit Cost ($) Qty / Units Total
e.g. charter bus, minivan hire, private driver, airport/hotel transfers
Qty auto = total guests
Qty auto = total guests
e.g. Fareharbor, Rezdy — per-booking charge
Cost of delivering the optional add-on sold in Revenue
Cost associated with other direct income
Total Variable Expenses
Fixed Expenses — this tour's share of monthly overhead
Expense Item Monthly Amount ($) Tours / Month This Tour's Share
Total Fixed Expenses
Profitability Summary
Total Direct RevenueiFull price collected from bookings made directly with you — no commission deducted.
Total Net OTA Revenue (after commission)iWhat you actually receive from OTA bookings after their commission is removed.
OTA Commission PaidiThe total amount paid to OTAs (Viator, GetYourGuide, etc.) — shown so you can see the true cost of each channel.
Total Net RevenueiDirect revenue plus OTA net revenue — your total income after all platform commissions.
Total Variable ExpensesiAll per-tour costs: guides, fuel, transport, meals, entrance fees, and any other direct expenses.
AccommodationiTotal accommodation cost for this tour: rate × rooms × nights.
Total Fixed ExpensesiThis tour’s proportional share of monthly overhead costs such as insurance and depreciation.
Net ProfitiTotal net revenue minus all variable, accommodation, and fixed expenses.
Net Margin iNet profit as a percentage of total net revenue. A healthy tour typically targets 15–30%.
Total Guests
Revenue per GuestiTotal net revenue divided by number of guests. Useful for comparing tours of different sizes.
Expense per GuestiAll costs divided by total guests — shows what each guest costs you to serve.
Profit per GuestiNet profit divided by total guests — how much each guest contributes to your bottom line.
Break-Even Guests (est.)iMinimum guests needed to cover all costs. Below this number the tour runs at a loss.
Minimum Viable Group Size Fixed expenses ÷ (revenue/guest − variable & accommodation expense/guest)
What-if Pricing — guests needed if you raise ticket price
+10% price increase
guests to break even
+20% price increase
guests to break even
NET PROFIT (USD) Revenue minus all expenses
Profit per Guest
Disclaimer: This calculator is provided for informational and planning purposes only and is not a substitute for professional accounting, financial, or tax advice. Results are entirely dependent on the accuracy of the data you enter and should be treated as estimates, not official financial records. The tool does not account for taxes, depreciation, loan repayments, or any company-level overhead outside of tour operations. For official financial reporting, compliance, or tax obligations, please consult a qualified accountant or financial advisor. The creator of this tool accepts no liability for any financial decisions made based on its output.

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