Skift Forum Europe Preview: What Travelers Want From Activities

By and large, travelers are no longer forced into booking tours and activities on site, on paper, with cash, just moments before taking part in them. Booking online is now common — not necessarily far in advance — but do people consider activities to be a "lead product," or worthy of as much consideration as flights and hotels? Activities make or break a trip, and should be researched and booked accordingly, said Tao Tao, co-founder and chief operating officer of Berlin-based tours and activities booking platform GetYourGuide. A great many travelers don’t stay in the high-end boutique hotels that are really Instagrammable — they brag about more accessible experiences, like going up the Empire State Building at sunset. The activities sector is strong these days; TripAdvisor is still a lead player with Viator, which it acquired in 2014 for $200 million. However, GetYourGuide secured a $75 million Series D funding round in November, the sector’s largest single fundraising amount to-date, led by Battery Ventures. GetYourGuide has now raised $175.5 million total since its founding in 2009. Tao wants the company to keep growing under the vision of its founders and said it's premature to think about getting acquired. Though GetYourGuide has competitors like Peek or Klook, or even Airbnb Experiences, Tao said there’s ample room for everyone to grow, mostly because the vast majority of the world’s activities aren’t bookable online yet. It’s not the size of GetYourGuide’s slice of the pie he thinks about most; it’s that the pie can be so much bigger. Speaking of a bigger pie, GetYourGuide seems amenable to going further with sporting events in the future, especially to iconic places like Fenway Park that a