Tech comes of age in tours and activities

There is some irony to the fact that, when it comes to arranging their leisure tours and activities, travelers often have little choice but to reserve and book offline.

After all, it’s what they plan to do on their trips that gets people excited about traveling in the first place.

So why do so many T&A bookings remain mired in inefficient, offline processes?

Roughly 40% of global tours and activities suppliers do not even accept online bookings, and some eight in 10 T&A bookings occur offline.

This lack of automation contrasts with other segments such as air, hotel, car rental and rail, where consumers have a multitude of options for searching, shopping and buying online and last-minute – either via intermediaries or direct from suppliers.

But according to a new white paper from Phocuswright, in partnership with Arival, the global tours and activities segment is growing and changing rapidly, as more activity providers leverage the online booking opportunity, and new technology powers the segment forward for suppliers, intermediaries and travelers alike.

Travel activities now represent about 10% of the global travel market – larger than either the rail, car rental and cruise segments.

Booking pattern outlier

Despite significant advances, however, one challenging characteristic distinguishes the T&A segment from most others: tours and activities are typically booked at the last minute, often after the trip has begun, and not uncommonly on the actual day of the activity.

A recent survey of destination activity businesses revealed that one in five bookings happen on the day of the activity, with an additional 33% of transactions occurring just 1-7 days in advance.

Luckily, a range of technology companies have begun to offer reservations systems and booking software designed to bring tours and activities content online and immediately bookable.

The features and capabilities of these platforms and APIs vary considerably.

To take full advantage of the last-minute opportunity that is somewhat unique to the tours and activities segment, it’s critical that these tools and services provide access to live inventory that can be reserved and booked in real time. 

This is especially important as travelers become more accustomed to booking tours and activities while on the go, via their mobile devices.