Articles tagged “tours and activities”

Airbnb’s entry into the tours and activities market certainly brings the sector to the fore. If Airbnb sticks with a strategy to curate its tours and activities, going with unique and off-the-beaten-path experiences, then that is still important for the sector given Airbnb’s scale, but self-limiting. Competition is certainly a healthy thing and all the players will have to up their games.

Sophistication and adoption of back-end technology on the supply side is getting to a point where the big players in online travel are taking the tours and activities segment seriously. It's an expanding growth opportunity for new and direct revenue streams across the entire traveler journey, beyond core transport and accommodations products.

Startup Triip is now doing the reverse of unicorn Airbnb: Triip is adding lodging to experiences, powered by Booking.com. But it remains to be seen if this move will be enough to enable Triip to retain its novelty.

TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer has decided to make dramatic changes in the leadership of the company's attractions business, and that's not unusual for an acquiring company. Still, the move to import executives from the company's vacation rentals business to run a leading tours and activities business isn't exactly being welcomed with open arms by the rank and file.

We've known this day would come for quite some time now. The only question left to ask is this: Can Airbnb succeed in becoming a "super brand of travel" like it aspires to be?

Magical Trips has been an open secret in the travel industry for at least a year now, if not more. But on November 15, Airbnb's head of global hospitality and strategy more or less confirmed it's finally becoming an official reality for the company.

As consumers become more comfortable with last-minute mobile booking — and require more depth in their travel experiences — those who sell tours and activities need to adapt their offerings.

Peek is competing in the online tours and activities booking space because it built a mobile-friendly platform where tour operators can better manage and sell their product in real-time.

Another app-based start-up has failed to live up to the hype. And we're still waiting for a company in the tours and activities field to translate marketing buzz into a scalable and profitable business.

We expect there will be a lot of appeals — and that tourists who really want to swim with dolphins will just book that experience in another way. But TripAdvisor is trying to address a big issue, evolving issue in a measured, thoughtful way.