Case Study
From zero digital presence to a direct booking channel. Built from inside the business.
Farol Discover is a tourism activity company in the Algarve, built on Paulo's deep trail knowledge, tourism industry experience, and local relationships. I came in as a strategic digital partner. What started as a few hours helping with emails became a two-year collaboration covering operations, B2B partnerships, and a multilingual website that opened a new revenue channel.
Visit faroldiscover.pt
0% → ~15%
direct revenue in the first full year
~4.5x
revenue over two years
3 languages
PT, EN, DE
Since 2024
strategic partnership, ongoing
What we set out to build
Reduce dependency on a small number of tour operator relationships by building a direct revenue channel and improving digital visibility. Protect and strengthen existing partner relationships while creating new ones. Support the business across operations and partnerships as Paulo’s strategic digital partner.
Timeline: Ongoing partnership since 2024.
How the project unfolded
Paulo had already built something real. Years working in the Portuguese tourism board, fluent German, deep knowledge of every trail in the Algarve and Alentejo, and strong personal relationships with local suppliers, hotels, and tour operators. Farol Discover existed because of that foundation.
What he didn’t have was the digital and operational systems to match. Mid-2024, he asked me to help answer emails from tour operators. A few hours a day. That lasted about a week.
As I got into the business, I saw where I could add value. Programs that needed margin analysis. Contracts that could be renegotiated. Supplier relationships that worked on trust but had no systematic management. No email templates, no structured booking process. Paulo knew the business inside out. The systems just hadn’t caught up yet.
We started building them together. One at a time.
The deeper issue was the revenue structure. Almost everything came through a handful of tour operators, mainly German and Austrian. Those relationships were the engine of the business, and protecting them was the first rule. But there was nothing alongside them. No direct channel. No way to reach guests outside of what the operators sent.
A website would change that. Not to compete with the channels that were working, but to build an independent layer alongside them.
A place where Farol Discover existed on its own terms, while every existing partner relationship stayed protected.
The multilingual side was non-negotiable. The Algarve market is international, and a Portuguese-only site would miss most of it. Three languages in a single CMS meant designing the content architecture before writing a line of code. Document structure, field naming, translation workflow. All designed upfront, not bolted on later.
The strategic partnerships with Rota Vicentina and Via Algarviana came next. Building a presence within the networks that Farol’s programs were already part of, and turning that into another channel.
None of this was planned on day one. It evolved because I was working inside the business, alongside Paulo, not outside it.
What changed
Since we started working together in 2024, the business has nearly quadrupled revenue, opened a direct channel that didn’t exist before, and reduced its dependency on a small number of operator relationships. All while keeping existing partner relationships protected.
- Revenue grew almost 4.5x over two years, starting from near-zero digital presence
- Direct channel added to the revenue mix: ~15% in the first full year, built from zero
- Existing tour operator relationships maintained and strengthened alongside new channel growth
- Multilingual platform serving the Portuguese, English-speaking, and German/Austrian markets
- B2B partnerships established with Rota Vicentina and Via Algarviana, embedding Farol Discover in the trail networks its programs already operated within
The takeaway
What I learned
Paulo had built a real business on deep trail knowledge, personal relationships, and years in the tourism industry. What he didn’t have was the systems to scale it. That’s where I came in.
The hardest part wasn’t technical. It was translating what Paulo already knew into processes, tools, and a digital presence that could work alongside him. Most small tourism companies have that same gap. The expertise is there. The systems aren’t. Once we built them together, diversification became possible. The business went from depending on a handful of partners to a broader mix of channels, including a direct one.
Deep expertise meets digital systems. A direct channel built alongside the ones already working.
Built with
Tech stack
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Sanity
- Vercel
Working inside a business changes what you build.
If that’s the kind of partnership you’re looking for, let’s talk.