Articles tagged “getyourguide”

Operators of tours, activities, and attractions are taking a crash course in online classes, virtual tours, and digital souvenir sales. We doubt these efforts can fully replace the revenue of in-person experiences. Yet there are needs to fill. Many housebound people and remote teams could use the human connection, while many hosts are eager for income.

Along with its dining reservations business, Tripadvisor's tours and activities unit had been a bright spot. But well-funded competitors such as GetYourGuide and Klook have tightened the race, and Tripadvisor is feeling it.

Expedia, Booking.com, and Ctrip are boosting the supply of sightseeing and experiences options that can be booked in merely a few clicks. But several factors are complicating any plans they may have to dominate bookings in this sector the way they have in flights and hotels.

Since Klook's launch five years ago, big changes have occurred in the sector. TripAdvisor bought Viator, TUI-Musement, and Booking-FareHarbor, and most recently, Airbnb invested in Atlas Obscura. All this, plus competition from online travel agencies, will test Klook's playbook, even though its strategies seem sound for now.

TripAdvisor and Booking Holdings are seemingly playing nice and fair with the tours and activities companies for now, but what happens five years from now when competition gets more intense and extracting profits is more of a mandate? Will push come to shove?

Expedia and Ctrip are the two large online travel companies that have so far not acquired a technology partner to foster the growth of their tours and activities' businesses. GetYourGuide argues that these tech/connectivity companies should remain independent, but how long will it be before some of these smaller companies get scooped up?

SoftBank has upended the sales of tours and attractions by investing record-breaking sums in GetYourGuide and Klook. That's boosted valuations to such lofty levels that it may leave only a few options: Merge or go public.

GetYourGuide may close an approximately $300 million funding round this year with possible participation by new investors like SoftBank and Temasek. If true, investors would be betting that the attractions booking agency can continue to defy several assumptions about young travel companies.

The vast majority of tours and activities are still being booked offline the old-fashioned way, so theoretically, the digital players can each have their piece of the pie.

GetYourGuide is betting that travelers will prefer to book GetYourGuide-branded tours over locally branded ones. This diagonal integration echoes marketing moves made by Oyo in hotels and RedAwning in lodging rentals. But will it work?