A guiding business is the cheapest version of this trade to start and the easiest to run badly, because almost nothing forces you to be disciplined. There is no vehicle payment concentrating the mind and no vessel certificate setting your capacity, so the constraints have to be chosen rather than imposed. This page is about the ones worth choosing, written for somebody who knows a place or a subject well and is deciding whether to sell walks around it.
What is different without a vehicle
Your fixed costs are close to zero, which means your break-even is one or two guests rather than eight, and that changes everything about pricing and risk. It also means the scarce resource is you: a day you are guiding is a day you are not selling, and the business stops entirely when you are ill. Building in a second guide earlier than feels necessary is the difference between a job and a business.
Permissions still apply, and people assume they do not
Walking tours frequently need a permit for the area, particularly on public land, at monuments, in parks and at some transport hubs, and several cities license guides directly. Commercial activity in a national park usually requires an authorization whether or not you brought a vehicle. Check before you advertise a route, because the enforcement is at the meeting point and the cost is the trip plus your reputation.
Capacity is a number you choose and should hold
Nothing stops you taking twenty people on a walk, and the experience falls apart somewhere well before that. Decide the number at which your tour is still good, publish it, and let the booking system refuse the twenty-first. Guides who let capacity drift upward in peak season get their worst reviews in the months they earn most, which is precisely the wrong trade.
Other questions people ask
Do I need a licence to be a tour guide?
In some cities yes, and in many places you need a permit for the area you operate in rather than for yourself, particularly on public land and in parks. Check with the land manager and the city before advertising a route; the enforcement happens at the meeting point.
How many people should be on a walking tour?
Fewer than you can physically fit. Decide the number at which the tour is still good, publish it, and let the booking system hold it. Capacity that drifts up in peak season produces your worst reviews in your best month.
How do I stop the business stopping when I am ill?
By training a second guide earlier than feels affordable. In a guiding business the scarce resource is you, and every day you are on a walk is a day you are not selling, so the second guide fixes two problems at once.