Untapped Opportunities? How mobile itineraries bring travelers curated tours and activities at the right time and place
} Travel brands and advisors are leveraging the profitable potential of distributing tours and activities to travelers inside their mobile itineraries. } With the rise of mobile changing the way travelers discover, book and experience travel activities, the in-destination events, tours, and activities marketplace remains the biggest untapped market in the digital travel industry. As technology and companies like Umapped continue to develop their tools for mobile, travel companies will have more opportunities then ever to cultivate increased add-on sales of in-destination spending and pre-arrival bookings (think algorithm-based tourism). Bringing travelers curated experiences via mobile itineraries at the right time (closer to their trip departure and while they are in destination) and in the right place (in their mobile itineraries) can lead to increases in overall spend and satisfaction. 02
The Tours & Activities Market The market for tours and activities is enormous: according to studies cited by business intelligence platform Skift, total spending reaches somewhere between US$100 and $200 billion. In the USA alone, there are approximately 67,000 businesses valued at $20 billion in the tour and activity space. As described in recent global industry report, the beachside vacation or regular sight-seeing holidays are losing market share to adventurous activities such as skydiving, surfing, rock or mountain climbing, caving, and deep-sea diving. The adventure tourism segment is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 45.99% during the period 2016-2020. At the same time, according to Phocuswright, 83% of tours and activities suppliers still work with traditional methods for their daily management, which means that digital customers are not able to encounter the products in an online channel. This leaves the opportunity wide open for travel brands and advisors to curate the T&A content they serve up to their customers, leveraging customer data and their relationships with their customers. Travelers will naturally turn to those they trust to buy local services, and with the high cost of customer acquisition, local providers cannot compete. 04
A thoughtful series of communications leading up to departure, introducing all the wonderful add-on activities at hand, would cause excursion booking activity in advance of the trip. That s where a personal advisor and concierge accessible via Umapped can be a real breakthrough. With a reward back to the advisor (the revenue boost) for providing and managing the purchases. Bill Diebenow VP Business Development, GoBe.com 05
In-Destination Spending
TRAVEL SPENDING INFLUENCERS A 2017 Travel study by Choice Hotels reveals that leisure/personal travel budgets are up 42 percent over 2016 and according to JD Power and Associates new study, travelers spending is influenced by the reason they chose to visit the destination. For example, respondents who said they visited because of attractions spent the most per day ($402 on average) and $100 more per day than those who visited because of personal recommendations and $60 more per day than those who visited because of what they read on online review sites. WHAT TRAVELERS SPEND ON Top categories for in-destination spending include: Shopping Food & dining Entertainment (i.e. tickets for events and shows) Excursions (including tours) Attractions Car rental Spas Other tourist activities 07
Mobile Technology Delivers a Personal Concierge in Your Pocket Smartphones are changing travel industry trends by enabling people to be more spontaneous when they arrive at their destination
85% of leisure travelers decide on activities only after having reached the destination. 9 out of 10 travelers expect their travel provider to share relevant information while they are on their trip. 67% of travelers feel more loyal toward a travel company that shares information during their trip that improves their travel experience. 09
To accommodate this evolution in consumer behavior, travel companies should increase their focus on the time after the booking and throughout the travel experience in terms of both personal service and incremental sales with attractive margins. This also means an amplified focus on mobile bookings of in-destination services. Through collaborative mobile itineraries, two-way text messaging and timely push notifications linked to personalized preferences, travel brands and advisors can use Umapped to organically target customers to enhance their trip before, during and after their journey. Travelers can also add their own content and seek recommendations from friends and social media, giving them a truly unique, personalized experience.
Umapped is the award-winning collaborative B2B2C itinerary and experience platform for the travel industry. Available as a white label and API solution, Umapped helps leading global brands, and travel advisors engage with their customers throughout their travel journey by delivering interactive, media-rich consolidated mobile itineraries with relevant offers, content, messaging and advice. The pioneering platform also maximizes productivity and streamlines business workflow. With the Umapped API, developers can easily incorporate the unique functionality as part of their own applications and solutions. www.umapped.com info@umapped.com T. +1 800-975-6713