Tours and Experiences: The Next Great Untapped Market in Online Travel
Photo Credit: The global tours and activities sector is going through seismic shifts. Pictured are tourists using a selfie stick at Castello di Amorosa, an attraction in California's Napa Valley. Skift
Skift Take
Vacationers want to experience something new and are tired of the same old tours and activities. While global tour operators are baking more customization into their products, digital distribution is changing the way local operators do business.
What, exactly, is a tour? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a very different answer.
For some, the idea of going on a tour conjures images of a packed motorcoach bumping along the countryside somewhere or exploring a city with forty of your closest friends. Others may think back to an intimate museum tour or being led into a home of a local chef for a dinner so delicious it still makes your mouth water.
It could be access to a guided walk purchased from a booth in a city center somewhere, or an indie concert in a laundromat somewhere purchased through Airbnb.
The truth is, the tours and activities space is undergoing a radical reinvention of what exactly it means to experience something on vacation.
Projections of the absolute scope of the global tours and activities market are inconclusive, but it likely hovers around $150 billion annually, according to Skift Research estimates, and is expected to grow nine percent annually over the coming years.
Tourism is one of
