Start-ups are transforming the way people choose their vacation activities

Start-ups are jumping into the tours and activities scene and creating innovative new ways to connect consumers with inventory finds EyeforTravel’s new the Changing Face of Tours and Activities report.

A variety of start-ups have moved in to the tours and activities to capitalize on the fastest growing sector in travel, opening up new experiences for consumers and ways for them to purchase their vacation’s activities. EyeforTravel’s the Changing Face of Tours and Activities report, which is free to download now, has identified start-ups as key to understanding the development of the tours and activities market as they are innovating across the entire supply chain and broadening access to the sector.

Core to all of their businesses is the development of cheaper technology. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and cloud computing are allowing suppliers and vendors to sync up and distribute inventory, and start-ups are aiming to make this as easy as possible. Tours and activities suppliers can now independently upload their inventory to a variety of start-up services, such as Bokun or GetYourGuide, or they can work with other that provide them with templates to allow them sell online, such as TrekkSoft. These start-ups are then marketing tours and activities suppliers’ services across their own and thousands of third-party partners and interfacing directly with the suppliers’ reservation systems to make the process as smooth as possible. 

The upshot of this is it is allowing the sector to be brought into the digital age and giving consumers access to tours and activities that just five years ago would have been impossible. Consumers can now both book far in advance online from centralised databases of inventory and also use their smartphones to make reservations as they travel. They are also far better armed with information, for example Arrivedo aims to create neighborhood guides and use these to link together tours and activities, hotels and consumers.

Erik Tengen, Co-founder, Oaky App believes one day we could see a single platform capable of handling all activity bookings. “Traditionally offline-oriented people are making the shift towards online. And because of the growth in API possibilities, we're likely to soon get a market where people book all their activities on one platform,” he says.

This is not only to the benefit of the consumer, who has more choice, more personalized packages, and ways to plan and pay, but also travel brands across all verticals. “Think about the following: without technology, a personalized tour desk could only be available in the biggest hotels. Now, with technology, virtual and personalized desks could be in the smartphone of any user when reaching any hotel lobby, despite the size of the hotel,” says Alonso Franco, CEO and Co-founder of Arrivedo. Whereas previously, huge resources would be needed to put in place a distribution system for this most diverse sector of the travel industry, now even the smallest players can jump in to tours and activities.

Not only have start-ups helped to digitalize inventory, but they are also now the power behind the throne to several of the internet’s largest online travel companies. For example, Bokun teamed up with Expedia Local Expert at the end of 2016 with the aim of streamlining the booking process for tours and activities. GetYourGuide has integrated with Booking.com and lists its tours inventory via KAYAK’s dedicated tours and activities product and has recently partnered with EasyJet to offer tours and activities direct to the airline’s customers. TourRadar has been working with Amadeus since 2015 and TrekkSoft works with Viator.

Tours and activities start-ups are therefore becoming a key piece of the travel industry and everyone should keep an eye on who becomes the next big thing.

This entirely free report from EyeforTravel can be downloaded by clicking here. The report investigates:

• The current state of the tours and activities market.
• The technical challenges of incorporating tours and activities into a digital travel product.
• New start-ups and disruptors.
• How OTAs, hotels, and airlines are including tours and activities.
• Technology and how it is shaping the future of this market.

Also make sure to check out all of EyeforTravel’s free reports and white papers by clicking here.

Why everyone in travel is getting excited about tours and activities

As the last major sector to be brought into the digital distribution ecosystem, there is now a rush to grow business in tours and activities says EyeforTravel’s new The Changing Face of Tours and Activities report.

From the big online travel players, to airlines, to hotels, to a host of start-ups, tours and activities are seeing huge interest and investment according to EyeforTravel’s report, which is free to download now. This is because advances in technology and platforms have opened up the market and all of the aforementioned players are eyeing the area as a major growth opportunity.

TripAdvisor, believes we are at a turning point in the tours and activities market. “It’s an exciting time to be in the attractions space – it’s entering a significant growth phase as it continues moving online. It’s TripAdvisor’s largest long-term growth opportunity outside of hotels,” says Laurel Greatix, Director of Communications. Indeed, the report notes that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the company’s hotel revenue from 2013 to 2016 was 10% but its non-hotel revenue grew 85% a year.

Key to tapping into the growth will be mastering technologies, principally mobile and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Tours and activities booking engine GetYourGuide has seen a phenomenal shift towards mobile bookings. “Only four years ago, less than 5% of our customers booked tours and activities via mobile devices. This year we expect more than 50% of bookings to be mobile driven,” says Johannes Reck, the company’s CEO. Smartphone access to tours and activities is critical, as around half of consumers continue to book during the vacation itself according to EyeforTravel research, and consumers are getting better and cheaper access to data as they travel.

APIs are the second main technology transforming the space as they allow a much wider variety of brands to access inventory and offer this to their customers. In the case of tours and activities these are typically, response-request systems that allow developers to access inventory and present it to end users through incorporating HTML code. The ease of integration means many more players across the industry can sell tours and activities direct to the consumer. There are now more than 50 APIs that can be used to access torus and activities inventory, including Viator, Expedia, Musement, Trip.com, Rezdy, BeMyGuest, mTrip, Trekksoft, G Adventures, GetYourGuide and TourCMS to name just a few.

This is creating an exciting mix of new and established companies rushing into the space and expanding consumer access to tours and activities, which will push the sector to become a major growth engine in travel and tourism.  

This entirely free report from EyeforTravel can be downloaded by clicking here. The report investigates:

• The current state of the tours and activities market.
• The technical challenges of incorporating tours and activities into a digital travel product.
• New start-ups and disruptors.
• How OTAs, hotels, and airlines are including tours and activities.
• Technology and how it is shaping the future of this market.

Also make sure to check out all of EyeforTravel’s free reports and white papers by clicking here.

Tours and activities market powering ahead

The tours and activities market is experiencing a major boom, according to EyeforTravel’s new The Changing Face of Tours and Activities report.

The report, which is free to download now, finds that tours and activities providers are experiencing growth rates of between 9% and 30% as the sector benefits from a growing proportion of the consumer’s spending power, inward investment, and increasing connectivity. This likely makes it the fastest growing sector in the travel industry.

Tourico Holidays has seen a 20% increase in tours and activities bookings in 2017 compared to 2016 levels. Steve Skidgel, Executive Vice President of Operations and Head of Activities at Tourico, says the amount of spending per trip has definitely increased with consumer interest in niche services, such as Segway tours, cooking tours, zip-lining, four-wheeling to give a few examples, leading the growth. Stefano Zeni, Head of Commercial Management & Destination Services at GTA, believes the market will grow by up to 9% over the next five years and Johannes Reck, CEO and Co-founder of online booking engine GetYourGuide, estimates that the sector is expanding at a rate of 10% each year.

In particular, the market is seeing particularly strong growth at the top end as big-spending travellers look to put more of their disposable income into unique experiences. Christian Wolters, Managing Director of TourRadar, which sees an average spend of USD1,500 to USD2,000 per tour per person, is seeing growth of as much as 30% year on year.

The sector, which is already the third largest in travel after accommodation and air is set to grow in importance as a wide variety of different players across the travel space look to move in and make it more available to online travel shoppers. Currently the market is worth around $250 billion a year according to EyeforTravel and accounts for roughly of 10% of travellers’ vacation spend. Both of these figures are sure to expand dramatically over the next five years as consumers focus further on experiences and a growing number of different actors from across the travel space move into the sector.

This entirely free report from EyeforTravel can be downloaded by clicking here. The report investigates:
• The current state of the tours and activities market.
• The technical challenges of incorporating tours and activities into a digital travel product.
• New start-ups and disruptors.
• How OTAs, hotels, and airlines are including tours and activities.
• Technology and how it is shaping the future of this market.
Also make sure to check out all of EyeforTravel’s free reports and white papers by clicking here.