About Francesco

Francesco Piccolo is co-founder and CFO of TripGuru, a Hong Kong–based tour operator he built after moving from Italy to Asia more than twelve years ago. TripGuru sells day tours and activity-based experiences across Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Turkey, and other markets — roughly 25,000 tours a year through a network of about 2,000 guides, drivers, and activity providers. With a 4.7–4.8 star average and a ~50-person in-house team (down from 100 post-COVID), the company brands, quality-controls, and distributes roughly 1,000 itineraries from budget driver-only options through small-group tours to luxury private experiences.

What we talked about

What TripGuru actually sells — Activity-only bookings (the third step after flights and hotels), not full packages — and how itineraries are crafted in-house with continuous optimization from market feedback and seasonality.

Seasonality at scale — Why peak season runs double low season, how TripGuru balances volumes across destinations with offsetting high seasons, and why family and school calendars limit how much seasonality can really be smoothed.

B2B as the distribution sweet spot — API integrations with major OTAs (Viator, TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide, Klook) versus a tougher direct/B2C path through paid channels and SEO.

Post-COVID commoditization — The shift from revenge-travel quality seekers to price-first day-trip buyers, plus competition from budget operators using ethically dubious upsell tactics.

Automating everything to survive thin margins — From bookings and complaints to finance reconciliations, supplier apps, and pricing analytics — and why headcount stayed flat while tour volume grew.

Sustainability as a non-negotiable P&L line — Offsetting emissions, banning single-use plastic, animal-welfare policies, and choosing action over certification spend.

Dynamic pricing and LLM discovery — Real-time pricing on the sell side (not supplier APIs), plus betting on AIO so operators can be found directly in AI search.

Sharpest moments

On TripGuru's mission for the industry:

we want to make sustainable tourism the norm, not the exception.

On why B2B won:

we have found, as I said, our sweet spot more on the B2B side.

On scaling without headcount:

the way to scale nowadays is not adding more people, but is optimizing the work of the people that we have.

On sustainability as business philosophy:

Every company should have that cost. That is the sustainability cost in their P &L, actually.

On the new search frontier:

The new point is being into AIO, so optimization for LLMs and AI.

Key takeaways

• TripGuru's core is branded, quality-controlled day tours distributed B2B through OTA APIs — not full-trip packages.
• Post-COVID price commoditization is real in day trips; operators investing in quality and sustainability face margin pressure from undercutters.
• Operational excellence through automation is how a ~50-person team runs ~25,000 tours without adding staff.
• Sustainability costs belong in the P&L permanently — communicated to customers even when they can't always be passed through in pricing.
• Dynamic pricing and LLM visibility (AIO) are Francesco's bets for competing without abandoning supply-side quality.