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.

News / Online

VIDEO: How Booking.com will weave every element of a trip together

By Kevin May | September 12, 2019

Details of exactly how the giant will achieve its ambition to connect hotel guests with activities and transportation, plus a myriad of other travel-related services, are becoming clearer now. Read More

News / Online

Klook on target to hit 60M bookings in 2019, outlines expansion plan

By Jill Menze | September 10, 2019

By the end of 2020, Klook plans to double its headcount from 1,200 to more than 2,500 across 30 offices; it also plans to continue to penetrate the Asia-Pacific region as well as bolster its presence in... Read More

Interview / Startups

STARTUP STAGE: Sherpa wants to shake up walking tours with AR avatar guides

By Linda Fox | September 4, 2019

Sherpa was founded earlier this year to bring augmented reality avatar guides to walking tours. The Chicago-based company wants to have 100 tours in major cities around the world by the end of 2020. Read More

News / Online

Festicket in double acquisition for Event Genius and Ticket Arena

August 28, 2019

Event Genius is a ticketing and point of sale system for customers, whilst sister brand Ticket Arena is a competitor of Festicket. Read More

News / Online

Zhiketong raises $42.5M to develop WeChat-led hotel marketing tool

By Kevin May | August 27, 2019

The service is designed entirely around using the WeChat social media platform for brands. The latest round brings its total raised to date in the region of $53 million. Read More

Interview / Startups

STARTUP STAGE: Clear Chain Travel wants to reimagine distribution through blockchain and AI

By Linda Fox | August 22, 2019

Clear Chain Travel is bringing blockchain principles and AI-driven robotic processes to the groups and meetings space to improve transparency, drive efficiency and save costs. Read More

Travel Leaders tours and activities from Viator

News / Distribution

Travel Leaders adds Viator tours and activities for business travelers staying on

By Mitra Sorrells | August 9, 2019

Travel Leaders Corporate has created a new service that offers more than 200,000 bookable activities for business travelers who want to add a leisure component to their trips. Read More

News / Online

TripAdvisor focuses on good news in Experiences as overall revenue continues to fall

By Kevin May | August 8, 2019

Revenue increased from $376 million to $422 million over the course of the first and second quarters of 2019 but year-over-year the business is down 3% in the comparable three-month periods. Read More

News / Online

Booking Holdings integrates brands, develops payment capabilities in quest for “connected trip”

By Mitra Sorrells | August 7, 2019

Booking Holdings reports positive financial results as it works toward what CEO Glenn Fogel called the "connected trip." Read More

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

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