Articles tagged “tours and activities”

Anytime you can talk to TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer and the discussion ranges from "Mr. Sharples" at HomeAway to William Shatner, the Trivago Guy and the co-existence of the mobile Web and mobile apps, it is a very interesting conversation.

Tripadvisor has been dancing around tours and activities for a while, as it is a natural fit for it, and with Viator, it makes its first large foray into it.

Brands are jumping on the experiential travel trend, but their marketing messages are empty without on-the-ground research needed to deliver a truly authentic, one-of-a-kind experience.

Qunar is a technology company with a big vision and an enormous opportunity as the Chinese traveler busts out into the world. He won't say it outright, but it's clear that CEO CC Zhuang likes where he sits, and wouldn't want to stop the momentum with the complications that a merger with Ctrip would bring.

As online travel agencies expand their grip into vacation and business travel destinations, their large mobile user base gives them an advantage, as does the fact that as a rule they have much greater technology resources than do hotels.

Although a stretch, GetYourGuide has frequently likened its desire to ramp up and aggregate the most tours and activities it can for each destination to that of Booking.com. Along with the founder of Qunar, GetYourGuide now has a Booking.com veteran, its former CEO, on board to help in the tour and activities company's expansion efforts.

TripAdvisor isn't an online travel agency because it doesn't take flight or hotel bookings. But, given its desire to expand further into a solution for in-destination tours and activities, you can make the argument that it is a more well-rounded one-stop shop for travel than many of the travel booking sites.