Case Study · Tourism Platform Modernisation

A decade-old Kyoto tour platform rebuilt with Next.js

We developed the original Kyoto Daily Tours platform in CodeIgniter in 2015 and extended it as the business evolved. We have now rebuilt our long-running system in Next.js, carried forward its existing SQL data and connected the public journey, administration and guide workflows in one bilingual platform. The completed platform is in client content entry before launch.

Product: Kyoto Daily Tours
Sector: Private tours & travel operations
Our role: Legacy modernisation, data migration and full-stack development
Status: Platform complete; launch planned for 2027 after the tourism season

2015Original CodeIgniter platform designed, developed and launched by C-Tech Solutions
2Languages, with English source content automatically translated to editable Spanish
57Connected Prisma models covering content, commerce and operations
32Permission-controlled administration modules managed from one system

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Review the new customer experience while the client adds the remaining content and prepares for launch after the current season.

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A long-running product, not a blank-slate rewrite

We designed and developed the original CodeIgniter application for Kyoto Daily Tours in 2015, then added features as the business evolved. Its value is not only in the interface: years of tour definitions, booking history, customer communication, content and operating rules sit behind it.

The replacement therefore had to preserve business continuity while changing the technical foundation. We mapped the existing SQL records into a relational Prisma model, rebuilt the public pages in Next.js and reshaped the private workflows around how administrators and guides actually use the system. Development is complete, and the client is now adding content around its day-to-day workload. Launch is planned for 2027 after the tourism season, when the client team is no longer occupied with its busiest operating period.

A bilingual introduction to the business

The team adds source content in English and the system automatically creates the Spanish version through the Google Cloud Translation API. Both languages share one visual and data model, and administrators can still review and edit the generated Spanish content whenever local nuance or a business-specific phrase needs refinement.

English homepage — Kyoto Daily Tours — **English homepage**Tours, trust signals, reviews, travel stories and a direct search path introduce the service in one coherent journey.

Spanish homepage — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Spanish homepage**The translated experience keeps the same discovery structure while serving Spanish-language content from the managed platform.

Company story — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Company story**The about page combines the team, local expertise, service principles and recognition behind the Kyoto Daily Tours brand.

From tour discovery to a confirmed reservation

Structured tour data flows from browse and detail pages into a reservation-fee journey, so the public experience and back-office record describe the same product.

Tour catalogue — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Tour catalogue**Filtering and consistent tour cards help visitors compare destinations, formats, duration and pricing.

Tour detail and booking path — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Tour detail and booking path**A detailed itinerary brings together availability, highlights, inclusions, pricing and the information needed to reserve.

Reservation fee payment — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Reservation fee payment**The checkout stage makes the reservation, customer details and payment amount clear before the transaction is submitted.

Planning help and durable travel content

Visitors who are not ready to select a packaged tour can request a tailored itinerary, read local guidance and resolve common questions without leaving the platform.

Plan your trip — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Plan your trip**A guided enquiry captures the destination, group and travel preferences needed to begin a custom itinerary.

Travel journal — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Travel journal**Editorial content supports research and organic discovery alongside the transactional tour catalogue.

Travel article — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Travel article**Long-form publishing gives the team a reusable format for practical Kyoto and Japan travel guidance.

Frequently asked questions — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Frequently asked questions**Searchable answers reduce uncertainty around tours, reservations, guides, accessibility and payment.

Migration means preserving relationships, not copying tables

The new data layer models the business behind each page: tours connect to languages, cities, types, places, itineraries, pricing, media and add-ons; bookings connect customers, payments, notes, promotions and guide assignments; publishing connects pages, navigation, FAQs, reviews, awards and articles.

That structure allows existing SQL data to move forward without flattening the relationships that make it useful. Migration tooling can reconcile old identifiers, normalise records and verify counts while the application presents a cleaner operational model to the team.

The operations product behind the public website

The custom administration system makes the entire business manageable from one place. Its 32 permission-controlled modules cover tours, prices and itineraries; bookings, payments and guides; promotions and business rules; reporting and traffic; website pages, navigation and editorial content; customer communication; on-site SEO and generated JSON-LD structured data. The dashboard then surfaces revenue, balances, new bookings, enquiries, expiring promotions and work requiring attention instead of reducing the back office to a list of database records.

Operations dashboard — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Operations dashboard**Revenue, booking demand, balances, enquiries, traffic, recent activity and urgent follow-up are brought into one operational overview.

The tour catalogue as structured operational data

Tours are not treated as decorative pages. The CMS connects bilingual copy to cities, places, itineraries, add-ons, prices, imagery and the records used during booking.

Tour catalogue management — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Tour catalogue management**Operators can find, filter, publish and maintain the complete tour inventory.

English tour editor — Kyoto Daily Tours — **English tour editor**Core tour content, booking rules, pricing context and search metadata are maintained in one structured record.

Spanish tour editor — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Spanish tour editor**Spanish content is managed alongside the canonical tour rather than duplicated as a disconnected product.

Tour itineraries — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Tour itineraries**Ordered itinerary stages can be updated independently while remaining attached to the right tour.

Tour add-ons — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Tour add-ons**Optional extras extend a reservation without hard-coding each variation into the public page.

Places and attractions — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Places and attractions**Reusable destination records keep location content consistent across the catalogue.

Tour cities — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Tour cities**City-level organisation supports navigation, filtering and the relationship between tours and destinations.

Bookings, calendars and guide coordination

A reservation becomes operational work. The back office provides table, calendar and detail views, then connects the booking with the guide responsible for delivery.

Booking workspace — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Booking workspace**Search, status and payment context help the team move quickly across the active booking pipeline.

Booking calendar — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Booking calendar**A calendar view exposes workload and timing conflicts that are difficult to see in a table alone.

Booking details — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Booking details**Customer, tour, payment, itinerary, guide and internal operational context meet in one booking record.

Guide directory — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Guide directory**Guide records give administrators a practical view of the people available to fulfil tours.

Guide access management — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Guide access management**The team can maintain controlled portal access while keeping guide identity and operational data together.

Commercial controls and reporting

Promotion management and business reporting sit beside bookings, giving operators a clearer view of revenue, demand and tour performance.

Promotion codes — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Promotion codes**Discounts can be searched, scheduled and reviewed from a dedicated commercial workspace.

Promotion editor — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Promotion editor**Usage limits, date windows and applicable tours turn promotions into controlled booking rules.

Booking report — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Booking report**Revenue, balances, booking status and trends provide an operating view of sales activity.

Tour performance report — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Tour performance report**Tour-level comparisons help the business understand demand and commercial contribution.

Governance for a system used by a team

Module permissions, account administration and activity records make responsibility visible as more people work inside the platform.

Administration users — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Administration users**Administrators can manage who has access to the private operational system.

Role and module permissions — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Role and module permissions**Granular permissions align navigation and actions with each team member’s responsibilities.

Audit history — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Audit history**Recorded actions provide a traceable history of meaningful administrative changes.

Traffic monitoring — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Traffic monitoring**Request activity can be reviewed from the same operating environment as the site and bookings.

Publishing and site configuration in one place

The custom CMS also manages editorial content, navigation, reusable pages, email templates and site-wide settings, reducing reliance on code changes for everyday publishing.

Blog publishing — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Blog publishing**The editorial team can review and manage travel articles from a consistent collection view.

Article editor — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Article editor**Rich content, imagery, categorisation and search fields remain part of one publishable article.

Navigation manager — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Navigation manager**Menu structure and ordering can evolve without changing the frontend source.

English page editor — Kyoto Daily Tours — **English page editor**Reusable page sections give non-technical users controlled flexibility over public content.

Spanish page editor — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Spanish page editor**Language-specific page content follows the same structured publishing workflow.

Email templates — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Email templates**Operational and customer messages can be maintained without burying business copy in application code.

Website settings — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Website settings**Shared contact, payment, integration and site configuration are consolidated into a controlled workspace.

A focused workspace for guides

Guides receive a smaller, role-appropriate portal that surfaces their own assignments without exposing the full administration system.

Guide dashboard — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Guide dashboard**Upcoming work and the information that needs attention are summarised immediately after sign-in.

Guide booking list — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Guide booking list**Assigned tours remain searchable and focused on the guide’s delivery responsibilities.

Guide calendar — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Guide calendar**Calendar presentation makes upcoming assignments and availability easier to understand.

Guide booking details — Kyoto Daily Tours — **Guide booking details**The guide sees the tour and guest context needed to prepare, without unrelated administration controls.

The screenshots show the development environment and are included to demonstrate platform structure and workflow.

Engineering decisions worth explaining

Migrate the business graph

Legacy identifiers and connected records are preserved across tours, bookings, guides, customers, prices and content so the new system inherits operational meaning, not just raw rows.

Translate automatically without removing editorial control

Administrators enter content in English, and Google Cloud Translation automatically prepares the Spanish fields. The generated translation remains editable in the CMS, keeping the workflow fast without preventing human refinement.

Treat payments as server-verified events

PayPal and Square flows verify transaction state on the server and use stable booking references so a repeated callback cannot create duplicate financial effects.

Separate responsibility by role

Module permissions constrain the administration interface, while guides receive a focused portal for their own bookings, calendar and assignment details.

Cache public content deliberately

Tagged caching, incremental regeneration and sitemap warming keep public pages responsive while allowing changed tours and content to be refreshed precisely.

Build accountability into operations

Audit records, traffic monitoring, session controls and dashboard warnings give administrators evidence when they need to understand a change or follow up on risk.

Built with

Application

Next.js App Router
React
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS
shadcn/ui
Server Components
Incremental Static Regeneration

Data & migration

Prisma ORM
MySQL / MariaDB
CodeIgniter data migration
Relational tour and booking model
Migration reconciliation tooling

Operations & integrations

next-intl
Google Cloud Translation API
FullCalendar
TipTap
PayPal
Square
Nodemailer
Sharp image processing

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