Skift Take

The lack of digital connectivity in the tours and activities sector concerns more than racing to get more tour operators online. It is about adding the right digital approach for that particular tour operator's business.

Selene Brophy

Amid the experience sector's digital transformation, a notable trend is emerging: the importance of direct bookings, with smaller tour operators looking to capitalize on the next wave for experience travel businesses.

While leading online travel agencies (OTAs) are keen to expand their digital footprint in a market where only 30% of bookings occur online, a growing preference for authentic, immersive experiences is reshaping how tours and activities are discovered, booked, and distributed.

Skift interviewed intermediary businesses, including management software solutions and business-to-business marketplaces, to get the inside track on these latest trends.

1. Google Things To Do Disruption

Lasse Kjær, founder of Holdbar, which offers management systems software for experience businesses, called Google's Things To Do an "interesting disruptor", offering tour operators direct traffic opportunities. "It changes the way bookings flow to the end provider of the experience," said Kjær, calling it a leveling of the playing field for smaller providers by reducing dependency on OTAs.

Google's Things To Do tool introduced a display update in July that makes the unpaid search and discovery of tours and activities easier, and it could be an important driver of direct bookings in the experiences market.

Skift Research's recent analysis of 40 cities on Thi