Travel agents working with TUI in Germany will have their pick of tours and activities by way of a new supplier after the tour operator turned over responsibility to GetYourGuide.
As a result of the deal, TUI has stopped sourcing its own supply lines of attractions, things-to-do and tours for customers booking via offline agents and will only source product via GetYourGuide.
The partnership has the potential to be a substantial one for GetYourGuide as agents in Germany are currently booking around 30,000 city sightseeing tours 20,000 cards and 10,000 attraction tickets alone through its network of 9,000 shops across Germany.
GetYourGuide, which recently closed a funding round of $14 million and has 18,000 products on its system, says it hopes to extend the partnership to other parts of the TUI empire in the long-term, including online channels.
Similar to the agreement signed in late-2012 between Travelport with FlexTrip and AdventureLink for Rooms & More, agents will be able to search and book tours and activities from within their existing desktop system.
TUI will remain the merchant of record in the transaction.
GetYourGuide CEO Johannes Reck says the company has spent more than a year building “a sophisticated API” to allow its system to connect to the core TUI interface, in order for agents to browse and book its product.
The deal with TUI comes a few weeks after Kayak ended its mobile partnership with GetYourGuide, citing low usage.
That particular partnership didn’t work out, Reck says, because Kayak app users were looking for flights and hotels, and therefore further forward in buying cycle to when they would be considering buying a tour ticket.
In destination “is a different story”, Reck claims.
Although the TUI partnership is, once again, early in the chain, having the agent talking one-to-one with the customer (and up-selling other product) will ensure the opportunity to reach potential customers is at least different to trying to position product on a mobile device.
NB: Tour bus image via Shutterstock.
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About Kevin May
A relationship with great potential, indeed…
What a news for tours and activities market.
Kevin,
your photo at the end of blog post is clear sign you are not relevant, nor passionate person. Taking picture by yourself shows you have no visual skills at all. This kind of practice is sad reality of 21st century. Go back to school->
@”blade runner” – (putting aside and forgetting the personal insult) your comment is relevant to this post in what way?