Articles tagged “tours and activities”

Expedia, Booking.com, and Ctrip are boosting the supply of sightseeing and experiences options that can be booked in merely a few clicks. But several factors are complicating any plans they may have to dominate bookings in this sector the way they have in flights and hotels.

FareHarbor and Bokun act as if they're unstoppably on the way to becoming giants. But the market for booking systems for sightseeing and experience operators remains very much in flux.

Airbnb may never become a clone of its online travel agency competitors, but it will eventually go more mainstream to attract a wider range of travelers and locals, as the Tiqets investment suggests.

Wellness has long been an important part of the travel experience, but it has just recently exploded as a full-fledged trend. Travel industry stakeholders looking to attract wellness-minded consumers need to understand what wellness tourism means today in order to successfully find a place within it.

Touring Bird gained no traction in the real world outside Area 120, and for all the inroads metasearch has made in hotels, flights, and cars, it has really struggled in emerging categories where the products aren't cookie-cutter such as in vacation rentals, and tours and activities. After all, when experiences are unique or varied, comparing them is hard.

Is everything on target in the evolution of Airbnb's Experiences business? It's clearly not profitable yet after three years, and the leadership change at the top signals problems. That doesn't mean it's fatally flawed although this isn't precisely the portrait you want to paint on the cusp of Airbnb going public next year.

Since Klook's launch five years ago, big changes have occurred in the sector. TripAdvisor bought Viator, TUI-Musement, and Booking-FareHarbor, and most recently, Airbnb invested in Atlas Obscura. All this, plus competition from online travel agencies, will test Klook's playbook, even though its strategies seem sound for now.

Expedia Group doesn't intend to hoard piles of cash for a rainy day. The company purports to favor share repurchases over acquisitions, all things being equal, but if a rainmaker of a deal comes along, then Expedia may pounce.

TripAdvisor's new ad campaign is more hip than its usual fare. It also shows where its business is heading with hotel booking eventually having to share the limelight with tours and dining.

TripAdvisor and Booking Holdings are seemingly playing nice and fair with the tours and activities companies for now, but what happens five years from now when competition gets more intense and extracting profits is more of a mandate? Will push come to shove?