Post: #1

Lets say you're in a really touristy place by the beach, like Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Cartagena or anywhere in Thailand. Assuming you have lots of local connections, and are fluent in the local language, what are some hustles that you could easily set up and run to target the tourist market?

One idea I've seen is going around to little old ladies who have spare rooms in their house and telling them you can bring in a steady stream of people who want to stay there for a few nights. List a bunch of apartments like this on AirBNB and sit back as the manager of these apartments.

Then of course there is the tried and true bar crawl model. If you're trying to hustle and increase your access this is a good model to follow.

Trying to think of other hustles that could be run in a tourist town. There is a large amount of tourists passing through the hostels who are looking for "an authentic experience" but know nothing about the local culture. How do you best sell that to them?

Post: #2

Are you asking how to rob tourists?

Post: #3

Take notes*








*I'm joking.

Post: #4

By hustle I mean ways to make money quickly while adding value to people in a non scammy way.

I figured that since so many people on this forum travel and spend time in tourist areas, someone here would have run a short term venture where they were able to make quick money in a legitimate way.

Post: #5

Buy a vintage local car and run tours of the city in it. I met a guy in Cannes yesterday who has a Citroen 2CV. He drives tourists around in it showing them the sights. Charges 200 Euros an hour and seemed to be doing ok. I'd do it somewhere like Budapest in an old Trabant, give them the Budapest-Soviet experience and take them to the suburban housing estates, stop for lunch in an old workers canteen, hit the Soviet sculpture park, shit like that.

Post: #6

Pick up a quality camera, learn some basic skills and editing (not hard) and then market yourself as a VACATION PHOTOGRAPHER.

Offer professional shoots at key tourist locations:

-Brazilian Beach Shoot
-Downtown city shoot
-etc...

Or let them hire you for a full day.

Post: #7

(05-24-2013 05:00 AM)gandt Wrote:  Pick up a quality camera, learn some basic skills and editing (not hard) and then market yourself as a VACATION PHOTOGRAPHER.

Offer professional shoots at key tourist locations:

-Brazilian Beach Shoot
-Downtown city shoot
-etc...

Or let them hire you for a full day.

Girls will spend money on this shit, no questions asked.

Post: #8

Worth keeping this thread alive as many of us could take advantage of things like this.

Possibly selling guides to the local cuisine, online and offline. I know I could have used these in many cities, especially those with street food.

Post: #9

Drive a cab?
Just last week I personally heard from the mouths of two tourists how they were charged EUR 60 for a 25 km distance.
Normal price is ~EUR 20.
So net profit is ~EUR 40 - make 5 runs a day and you got EUR 200 spending money for the night.
Are you adding value to the tourists lives? Well, you're getting them where they're going...

Post: #10

(05-28-2013 06:53 AM)K-man Wrote:  Drive a cab?
Just last week I personally heard from the mouths of two tourists how they were charged EUR 60 for a 25 km distance.
Normal price is ~EUR 20.
So net profit is ~EUR 40 - make 5 runs a day and you got EUR 200 spending money for the night.
Are you adding value to the tourists lives? Well, you're getting them where they're going...

Caveat about driving a cab is that local cab drivers will not take well to an interloper stealing their business. Some kind of driving tour would be much safer in that respect. Especially if the local cabbies are already scamming.