I think you just need to clarify what’s included and emphasize that it’s private and customize-able. Do you have minimum and maximum group size?
Advertise a few sample itineraries of 7, 10, or 14 days with a starting price range based on group size.
If you’re marketing to Americans, we’re going to spend $1000 on airfare to get there, so another $2-3-5k for a tour package is totally reasonable. Where I live, our minimum wage is $20/hr and everything is expensive.
Would you do a Rick Steves tour, or not posh enough?
I’m going camping on my next vacation, it’s nice when there’s running water but not required. My bar is low 
@LastManStanding I’m interpreting @ipsedixit’a comments as that if the components don’t add up for someone calculating the individual bits, it won’t bode well.
For eg, costing in Mumbai, which I know is more expensive, but at least in the same area of the world:
Hotel - $75 - $200 for 3* to 4* (by western standards) depending on location and brand
AC car with driver - $25 - $50 depending on size and quality of vehicle
Attractions - $5 - $10 for foreigners
Between just the hotel and car, we’re already well over your numbers, without the guide cost and other things. Food is cheap in those parts, as we all know, unless you’re targeting expensive seafood, which is an added attraction in Sri Lanka of course.
As a local to the region, I’d be wondering what kind of hotels and cars we’d end up in for < $100 a day.
So to my earlier comment, I think you would be well served to put examples of the types of hotels, and pictures of the types of cars, just as a for instance.
Things can be a lot cheaper in Asia generally, as we all know, but more clarity will get you more incomings imho.
What kinds of offices are these where your friends will put up flyers? I would think you might have better success partnering with some small travel agents instead, or posting on travel forums.
Yes, the realities of operating a business can be quite jarring.
Shangri La Hambantota looks like $150 - 180 per night. If there’s two people per room that would still be tight for your $100/day estimate. Though I am sure you will work out a better rate.
@Babette Thank you for the answer. I’ll do just that. I have itineraries for 7, 8, and 10 days. I will work out the costs and post a simple comparison here. I will not publish itineraries and ads etc here which will be unethical I guess, but I will message them and costing excel sheet if anyone needs a better look at the things. Then anyone will see if what I say is doable or not. The current price is for a group of 8 or 9 (for 8 it shows 1336 and for 9 it’s 1210). For 5 it’s 2015. Maybe I should show several options in the ad.
@Harters Thank you so much for trying to help me here John, I am really grateful 
. I won’t stop trying. I will create a name as a reasonable provider of tours. I will get there, slowly but surely.
@saregama I have a costing sheet actually. I only have to enter the numbers, and the formulas calculate the cost. Hotels are not 5 star, but comfortable ones. Examples for hotels: Kassapa Lions Rock and Habarana Tree house Mutu village for higher end, and Lankapura Heritage or La Dolce Vita for the lower end. Those hotels are reasonable for the price I believe, and all have swimming pools etc. I’ll message you a little breakdown of how costs work. Just one example 
@TheGforceNY I said Shangri La Hambantota for 300 per day. I think you didn’t notice that. I can’t even imagine giving Shangri La for 100 a day even on sharing basis.
But now I get the idea that scraping off a very low profit serves no purpose. It’s more respectable to add a higher profit margin and make the tour more trustworthy, and make more money. Big companies are never wrong about making a profit.
So, my response to ipsedixit is deemed “inappropriate” but ipsedixit’s defamation of Last Man Standing is apparently OK to remain on view.
Complete crap on the part of those who “reported” my post. But, if that’s the way things go, then that’s the way things go. But it is not OK and I’ll take no further part discussing this here.
LMS - please feel free to PM me as your plans develop and I’ll try to help.
Yes! Charge more, whether it’s $1300/week or $1300/day there are travelers at all levels and you need to make a profit. You can always offer low season discounts. And there will be people who cancel or demand a refund or just are too much to deal with to scrape by.
@Harters I was thinking the same. While one person can insult someone, countering that becomes a crime. And this is not the first time I experienced it here. Honestly speaking, what I said in my first post, that I made enemies, and that I mentioned to Tom that it was not any misunderstanding, they still stand. I asked an honest question there too, and got badly hurt. I stopped coming here for a long time, and still I came back limping.
If anyone ever thought that I was a scammer, I know that I am not an important part of this forum. But I am not a scammer. I have never stolen a cent from anyone. I only posted what I grow. I didn’t try to sell them here. I didn’t try to make money here in any manner.
Here’s some of the threads I started. Do they look like I am a scammer?
Thanks for standing for me John, you have always been a great friend. I am sure that people around you in real life are lucky. I won’t return to this thread either.
Thank you very much everyone for your valuable answers. They gave me a lot to think about. But let’s end it here. I don’t want to return to this thread anymore.
@LastManStanding You misunderstood my meaning. I was saying that as a potential customer, it is helpful to see what types of accommodations and transport are covered in a certain cost.
For eg, I have communicated with independent tour operators in central and south america and europe on occasion, where they will give a tentative itinerary and cost along with examples of the hotels they use and the transport (for eg for Machu Pichu there are different levels of trains, ditto for sectors in India, where there’s everything from basic to ultraluxe).
That way, as a customer I can go look at the hotel and gain a sense of comfort. I know tour operators and travel agents can get special pricing, so it wouldn’t surprise me to have a slightly cheaper price included than I could get myself.
So what I was suggesting was that for your brochure, instead of just saying “3 & 4 star” or “AC car”, you include “such as…” with pictures and examples. Goes a long way to give a stranger a sense of what you are offering.
A friend of mine is going to South Africa this summer with their extended family of 10, and has had the whole thing arranged via a travel agent at home with local independent tour guides in South Africa. They know the hotels, the transport, the food (they are vegetarian, so that’s especially important for them), and what all will be extra and estimates for the extras, before she put down her deposit. So she’s very comfortable with the whole set-up.
