Tours & Activities

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PhocusWire's in-depth coverage of the tours, activities and activities sector is produced in partnership with Arival, the essential resource for the in-destination experiences industry.

Opinion / Distribution

OTAs, margins and supply - lessons for tours and activities from battles elsewhere

By Olan O’Sullivan - TrekkSoft | August 6, 2019

Are the investments by Booking Holdings and TripAdvisor about supporting their consumer offerings rather than offering compelling solutions for operators to run their businesses? Read More

Interview / Online

STARTUP STAGE: GreatGuides wants adventure travel guides to control their own destiny

By Jill Menze | August 6, 2019

GreatGuides is a marketplace to connect adventure travelers with adventure guides. Guides create and control their itineraries and pricing and keep up to 90% of trip fees. Read More

Opinion / Distribution

Threatless: Why the OTA-tech alignments in activities aren’t a big deal

By Douglas Quinby - Arival | August 5, 2019

These developments may only pertain to a few thousand operator customers across these systems that also use these OTAs. And really only a smaller few that closely follow the industry politics across the... Read More

News / Startups

Fever raises $35M to accelerate growth of experience booking tool

By Linda Fox | August 5, 2019

The city experiences platform brings its total funding to date to more than $70 million. Read More

Opinion / Distribution

Suppliers, beware: A threat lurks in tours and activities distribution

By Tao Tao - GetYourGuide | August 1, 2019

There is a growing threat to the future of tours and activities: the loss of independence in reservation systems, thanks to acquisitions by TripAdvisor and Booking Holdings. At GetYourGuide, we don’t... Read More

News / Online

Vrbo ticks revenue growth as Expedia Group gets brand "back on track"

By Jill Menze | July 25, 2019

For the quarter ending June 30, revenue for Vrbo was up 17% compared to the second quarter of 2018, while gross bookings were up 2% compared to the same period. Read More

News / Online

Cruise line apps are igniting early onboard spending

By Tom Stieghorst - Travel Weekly | July 24, 2019

Cruise lines are expanding and refining their mobile device apps, and one result is a growing stream of onboard revenue as more people book activities through the app before boarding. Read More

News / Online

A tale of two startups - a booming tours and activities sector has a dark side

By Kevin May | July 23, 2019

For all the money pouring into the likes of GetYourGuide and Klook, spare a thought for other businesses that are finding the sector extremely tough. Read More

News / Online

Inflyter and Grab get funded, airport service app market heats up

By Kevin May | July 19, 2019

Inflyter and Grab will both receive undisclosed investment from Collinson as part of its strategy to support up-and-coming startups in the sector. Read More

Opinion / Online

Being your own boss - the importance of web content for tour and activity providers

By Chris Torres - Tourism Marketing Agency | July 19, 2019

If you run a tour or activity company in 2019, you cannot succeed without a high‐performing website. Read More

News / Online

TripAdvisor still inspires booking confidence, new study shows

By Jill Menze | July 16, 2019

Despite cries of fake content infiltrating reviews sites, travelers are still turning to TripAdvisor ahead of booking trips, a new study shows. Read More

News / Online

VIDEO: GetYourGuide says raise big or go home

By Kevin May | July 15, 2019

CEO Johannes Reck talks about why the race to scale is so important and what happens if they don't get to it. The answer is very black and white. Read More

Opinion / Online

You’re not in tourism - a digital world means you’re in entertainment

By Charles Cunningham - Sparkloft Media | July 12, 2019

In today’s social-focused world, competition for double taps, likes, favorites and shares is more intense than ever, with distractions not only coming from other brands, but also your audience’s own... Read More

Interview / Startups

STARTUP STAGE: Tryps.Tech is digitizing tour and activity distribution for the Middle East

By Mitra Sorrells | July 12, 2019

Tryps.Tech is an online distributor of more than 14,000 tours, activities, attraction tickets, airport lounge access, events and transfers in 130 countries, focused on serving Middle East travelers. Its... Read More