TripAdvisor Is Fighting to Keep Its Lead in Attractions: The Inside Story
Photo Credit: TripAdvisor's headquarters in Needham, Massachusetts. The company said its tours and activities business enjoyed strong performance in 2017. TripAdvisor
Skift Take
The attractions booking sector is TripAdvisor's to lose, especially given its recent success. But unless it pushes faster on mobile innovation, rivals like GetYourGuide and Klook might overtake the company.
History is written by the acquirers. And TripAdvisor has been telling an ever more upbeat story about its attractions business since 2014 when it bought tours and activities booking leader Viator for $200 million.
TripAdvisor says its absorption of Viator has gone well. The division grew with a "positive margin," according to the company, in the past year.
In the third quarter of 2017, the non-hotel side revenue of TripAdvisor's business — which includes bookings of restaurants, vacation rentals, and tours and activities — was up 26 percent to $126 million versus a year earlier. TripAdvisor doesn't break out the financials of its tours and activities business, but company spokespeople said transactions sourced from TripAdvisor and Viator were double that of a year earlier.
Attractions are the fastest-growing part of that non-hotel revenue, the company said.
That's welcome news for the Needham, Massachusetts-based TripAdvisor, where recent quarterly earnings reports rai
