OCTO, a member-based nonprofit for the tours,
activities and attractions industry, has released its open source messaging
specification to streamline connections and communications across the industry.
The OCTO Core Specification V1 is an API
specification with standardized field names, properties and end points, offering
a new way for reservation systems, distributors, resellers, channel managers
and operators to communicate without the need to create multiple API connections.
“With the proliferation of distributors and
booking systems in the growing travel experiences sector, connectivity for
tours, activities and attractions space has become increasingly difficult and
expensive over the past 10 years,” said Carrie Keplinger, chief commercial
officer at Virgin Experience Gifts and board president at OCTO.
“This specification is already in use by 114
trading partners worldwide, and that number is constantly increasing. By
using the OCTO Core Specification to build their APIs, these companies are
saving hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of development time.”