CEO Spotlight: Lisa Chen of ToursByLocals

A little more than a year into her tenure as president and CEO of ToursByLocals, Lisa Chen is excited to be leading the company as the tours and activities sector continues to flourish. 

ToursByLocals is poised for growth with recently updated technology aimed at improving the 15-year-old private tour company’s strategy, she said.

“We launched a new website this past year,” she said. “We completely ... modernized our tech platform, we changed our UI [user interface], we rebranded so we have a now really strong active runway from which we can launch our growth phase.”

Now the company is working to lengthen that runway through technology — specifically artificial intelligence.

“We couldn't have launched our new platform, our new website at a better time, because we're able to leapfrog over other companies who are established in these enterprise systems in a way that makes us much more nimble,” Chen said.

She said ToursByLocals is looking to use AI to make administrative processes more efficient. The focus is on becoming more productive, trying to remove admininistrative tasks and work more directly with guides, partners and travelers.

The company is also looking to elevate the experience it offers users, Chen said. 

“We are a marketplace, so we've got to get travelers the right match, and we want to do that as seamlessly as possible,” she said. The company plans to use AI and to educate guides to achieve that.

While she looks to embrace new technology, improve strategy and grow ToursByLocals, Chen remains focused on an overarching goal.

“We are here to keep travel human,” she said. “We want to connect the world in more meaningful ways through local experiences.”

In addition to her ambitions for ToursByLocals, Chen touched on wider industry trends such as overtourism, geopolitical challenges and more in the PhocusWire studio at The Phocuswright Conference in November. Watch or listen to her full interview with senior reporter Morgan Hines below.