How Prague Feminist Tours is changing the narrative

In a city brimming with rich history and captivating stories, Prague Feminist Tours offers a unique way to explore the untold stories of influential women in Czech history. Founder and guide Averil Huck is a passionate social entrepreneur with a background in gender studies. Averil's goal? It's not just about sightseeing; it's about bringing history to life in a way that’s meaningful, engaging, and relevant to today’s conversations.

This year-old tour business is rooted in the values of sustainability, education, and empowerment, which are reflected in its choice of partners like Ticket Tailor. Averil shares, "When I launched Prague Feminist Tours, I did not want to support platforms that push over-tourism and prioritise volume and price over sustainability. Ticket Tailor was a perfect match for me because of our shared values. Plus their fees are affordable for small social enterprises like Prague Feminist Tours!"

✅ Key ticketing takeaways

🙌 Offer a one-of-a-kind experience - As the only English-speaking feminist history tour in Prague, this isn't your average walk around town—it's an educational adventure that digs deep into powerful stories. This makes the experience truly memorable, encouraging people to spread the word, and even purchase gift vouchers for friends and family.

🤳 Social media management can be time-consuming, but it’s also a great way to promote tours and reach new audiences. And don’t overlook old-school promotion—Averil finds flyering in local cafés, bistros, and cool venues around the city is an effective way to drive awareness.

💰Ticket Tailor’s affordable fees are a game-changer for small social enterprises like Prague Feminist Tours. With the flexibility to customise ticket types, including discounted options for children and free tours, it’s easier to reach a wider audience while experimenting with pricing strategies that work best.

📮 Sending reminders through Ticket Tailor’s Email Broadcasts feature has been key in reducing no-shows, especially for free or pay-what-you-want tours, contributing to overall success.

🎟️ It's crucial to look for quick and reliable customer support when it comes to your ticketing, especially if you're running your business solo. With Ticket Tailor you get 24/7 support from real humans, and replies in a matter of minutes.

First things first, tell us a bit about yourself and the background of Prague Feminist Tours – what led you to set up your very own tour business in Prague? 

I was born and raised in France but made Prague my home in 2019. My background is in social sciences, specifically gender studies. Before launching Prague Feminist Tours, I worked as a research assistant at the Gender & Science department of the Institute of Sociology (Czech Academy of Sciences). That's where I began learning about Czech feminism and the key figures in women’s emancipation. I realised how little-known this side of Czech history is, both to foreigners and locals. I decided I wanted to do something with the knowledge I had acquired. Having also experienced a feminist tour back in France, I thought it would be an exciting idea to create something similar in Prague. And so, Prague Feminist Tours was born, becoming the first English-speaking tour dedicated solely to this topic!

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Congrats on reaching your one-year anniversary since launch – what have been some of your biggest milestones and challenges so far?

Thanks – the official launch was 19th August 2023. July was spent fine-tuning the final details, including trying out the Ticket Tailor platform to see if it would meet my needs. And it did!

The prep work before launching was extensive: conducting research for the first tour, designing the itinerary and doing test runs, figuring out the tools to use, developing the visual identity and social media presence, and handling all the administrative tasks—the list goes on. Getting everything up and running felt like a huge accomplishment.

Other significant milestones include booking my first private tours with schools, NGOs, and companies, launching my website, and securing my first partnership with a hostel. One of the most rewarding moments was receiving feedback from participants, including locals, who said that the tour changed their perspective on Czech history. We've also had some wonderful press coverage that has helped spread the word.

The challenges? Advertising the project and realising how time-consuming social media management is have been the biggest struggles. The loneliness of working as a self-employed person has also been challenging. To combat that, I've started connecting with other local entrepreneurs and participating in networking events. It helps to share experiences and get advice from peers. Although I enjoy the freedom, I see great value in teamwork and hope to expand the team in the future.

How do you advertise your tours? Have you found any particular marketing channels work well for you?

Advertising is not my forte and that’s something I’ll be working on these coming months. So far, I’ve relied heavily on social media, mostly Instagram, to promote my tours and reach new audiences. When asking tour participants how they found my project, Instagram is usually the top answer, or they were specifically searching for feminist tours in Prague, and found my website among the top results on their search engine. So, having a solid website helps!

Plus, I also have a Google Business Profile to collect reviews. I’m a little old-school, so I also put flyers in cafés, bistros, and cool places around Prague. I am very happy to say that I’ve recently formed two partnerships with local hostels, one focusing on women clients and the other emphasising sustainability, which I hope will help reach even more people.

Are there any useful tools that you rely on to help plan and organise your tours? 

I don’t rely on many digital tools. I read scientific literature and books on specific topics or people I’m researching. I also use my eyes a lot when walking around Prague. Now, anytime I see a memorial plaque or statue of a woman, I take a picture and look it up!

I prefer to use Mapy.cz over Google Maps. Mapy.cz is invaluable because its detailed data helps me uncover hidden historical gems that aren't on Google Maps, making my tours truly unique.

In terms of project management, I use Notion to organise everything, including tour planning. I particularly love their Board function, which helps keep everything organised.

We can see you have two regular tours, as well as the option to book private tours – what do you love about this offering? And do you have a favourite tour?

I indeed have two tours on offer. The first one in Prague’s city centre “To The Roots of Czech Women’s Emancipation” where we walk in the footsteps of important figures of women’s liberation movements while doing a bit of sightseeing. The second tour, “Badass Women of Olšany Cemeteries”, launched for Dušičky (AllSouls Day), offers a more introspective experience, honouring the legacies of powerful women in a serene setting. It’s unlike any other tour in Prague.

I offer both tours either on a regular basis, open to the public, where anyone can sign up on Ticket Tailor, or as a private tour and here they get in touch via email, phone, and DMs.

The two options, regular and private, allow for very different audiences to join the tours. In the regular tours, I get to meet tourists or locals who are interested in the topic. In the private tours, I get to reach other audiences that might not join otherwise, like middle-schoolers, highschool and university students, NGOs, or company teams. I once had film guests from a popular Czech film festival!

Both tours are special to me, and they're very different, so it’s hard to choose a favourite! Plus, there’s a third tour in the works: stay tuned!

Do you have any words of advice for aspiring tour guides looking to set up their own business?

I am still new to the profession. It’s been a wild ride with a big learning curve. If you plan on working as a self-employed tour guide, be prepared for the workload beyond guiding and researching tours. I wear many hats: tour guide, project manager, administrative assistant, payroll and finance officer, PR, communication and social media manager, and more. I believe you need to have great organisational and social skills in order to make it work.

If you are willing to put in the time, energy and surround yourself with good people, you’ll go far! And don’t hesitate to iterate your tours, do test tours and gather feedback to improve. Never stop learning, both about your tour subject and the industry itself. Attend workshops, connect with other guides, and stay curious!

Now let’s talk ticketing – it would be great to know why you chose Ticket Tailor as your ticketing platform of choice!

When I launched Prague Feminist Tours, I didn't want to support platforms that push over-tourism and prioritise volume and price over sustainability, like AirBnB Experiences or TripAdvisor. Ticket Tailor was a perfect match for me because of our shared values. Responsible tourism is at the core of my work and I really appreciate that Ticket Tailor focuses on sustainability and putting people first. The Penny for the Planet program, carbon neutrality, and 50% charity discount are a few examples of this. And, the cherry on top? Ticket Tailor's fees are affordable for small social enterprises like mine.

Have there been any features that are particularly useful for your type of tours and events?

I love that you can customise pretty much everything: the types of tickets, the event confirmation email, checkout form, the way the page looks, and more. For example, customising the checkout form allowed me to gather important details from participants effortlessly, and ask whether they’d want to receive the Prague Feminist Newsletter, which makes organising the tours smoother and keeps them engaged after the tours.

Ticket Tailor customer support has also been top-notch, always ready to help with any questions, which is crucial when you’re managing everything on your own. I've been really pleased with how easy it is to set up promo codes and gift vouchers. I got some sales during Christmas time and people seem to think it’s a great birthday gift! The embedding feature is also incredibly helpful and integrates seamlessly with my website.

Learn how to set up ticket types on Ticket Tailor

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Are there any aspects of ticketing that are challenging? Have you made any learnings along the way?

Right now, I am still experimenting with pricing and ticket types for the regular tours. Tour guides generally offer either paid tours or “free” tours, where participants pay what they want at the end. Both options have pros and cons.

For the city centre tour, I opted for a fixed price. I’ve also added a discounted price for children under 12. The cemetery tour operates as a “free” tour. What I’ve noticed is that paying in advance and booking the ticket motivates people to join the tour while booking a free ticket can be tricky. Quite a lot of people don’t show up. To reduce no-shows, I’ve started sending reminders before the tour using the Email Broadcasts function, which has helped improve attendance. However, I still like this option because it makes the experience accessible to people with different budgets.

Read more about the best pricing strategies for event planners

How do you go about pricing your tour tickets – is it a very competitive landscape?

Prague is a highly touristic city and tour guiding is quite competitive. However, I do not have direct competitors as no one else offers feminist walking tours. For the first year, I set my prices lower than other tours. Currently, my two-hour tour in the city centre costs 350 CZK (14€) while most tour agencies charge 500 CZK (20€). While my prices are lower, the depth of knowledge and unique focus on feminism offers participants a rich and meaningful experience that goes beyond typical sightseeing. My goal is to keep the tours accessible to everyone. In the future, I might adjust the pricing to reflect the added value, but accessibility will always remain a core priority.

Finally, what does the future hold for Prague Feminist Tours? 😀

As mentioned earlier, I'm working on a third feminist guided walk that will be district-based, a little more alternative, focusing on a non-tourist district with historical buildings and feminist street art. Stay tuned!
I'll continue focussing on advertising and partnerships for this second year. I also hope to continue building partnerships with local feminist organisations and possibly create events that bring together like-minded individuals to discuss and support gender equality. If this works out, I might expand the team. Fingers crossed!

And that's a wrap! A huge thanks to Averil for sharing these insights. Head to Praguefemtours.com to find out more, or follow Prague Feminist Tours on Instagram for social media inspiration.

And if you're looking for an affordable ticketing platform that also prioritises sustainability, start selling with Ticket Tailor in minutes.