Articles tagged “tours and activities”

In the school of online travel hard knocks, new entrants have learned that barriers to entry can be substantial. Amazon, Google, and Airbnb should realize that the devil is in the details, and the complexities.

Tripadvisor had been working on a turnaround even before Covid-19 hit. We take a deep dive into the company's financials, business strategies, and challenges for 2020 and beyond.

Amazon is dipping into virtual tours. Competitors should fear that Amazon is primed for disruption, virtual or otherwise.

KKday has returned to growth thanks to domestic tourism in countries such as Taiwan and South Korea. Notably, these modern democracies have contact tracing programs that work, enabling domestic activities to recover during a pandemic.

For the fragmented tours and activities sector, delivering a diverse, globally distributed set of product offerings at scale requires technology solutions that can benefit travel advisors, procurement teams, and individual travelers alike.

With parent company Alphabet generating $79 billion in revenue in the first half of 2020, Google is relentlessly rolling out new travel products. Not to mention, it is dictating content-licensing and advertising terms to cash-strapped partners while a pandemic rages. Enough said.

While many travel companies are struggling to survive, Google has the resources to keep innovating and rolling out new products despite the travel advertising downturn. As with flights and hotels, Google's new tours and activities advertising business will have a far-reaching impact — unless regulators step in.

After missteps in thinking it could grow its own attractions business and catch larger competitors, Booking.com's relaunch is the next stage in its evolution. The tours and activities sector is a lot more competitive now than it was even two years ago when Booking acquired FareHarbor. Hence, the need to reboot.

Tapping one person to head "hosting" for both homes and experiences isn't the most savvy of moves. Airbnb has a ton of work to do to mend relations with alienated home rental hosts. Experience hosting is likewise complex — and a very different animal.

GetYourGuide's Johannes Reck is underplaying the Google threat in tours and activities. Sure, Google has much larger priorities, but how much will it cost to build the GetYourGuide brand with Google controlling the airspace?