Adventure Together Industry Event Wraps with a Record Attendance and Inspiring Discussions from 37 International Speakers TourRadar announced an increase in travel advisor commission from 8 percent to up to 12 percent for the rest of the year
Vienna, Austria
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October 20, 2022 12:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time
TourRadar, the Adventure Booking Platform that offers more than 50,000+ multi-day organized adventures across the globe from 2,500+ reputable and niche operators, hosted its second annual Adventure Together event which was a hybrid, held both online and in Vienna, Austria Oct. 18-19, 2022. Furthermore, the company announced increasing travel advisor commissions to up to 12 percent for bookings for the rest of 2022.
With more than 2,100 people in attendance, the event brought together thought leaders and practitioners in multi-day touring including travel agents and agencies, tour operators and suppliers, influencers, OTA, and airlines, to provide inspiration, education, and insights into the technology and trends that shape the industry. Sessions covered subjects ranging from marketing, sustainability, distribution, and technology, to indigenous and inclusive tourism. The event theme ‘‘Now What?’ kept topics focused on what adventure travel and multi-day tours will look like in the future and how to plan for success.
“Adventure Together gathered industry leaders together for much-needed discussions around the trends and opportunities for organized adventures and group travel in today’s global landscape,” said Travis Pittman, CEO, and Co-founder of TourRadar. “We recognized that there wasn’t a single global event or conference dedicated to the multi-day tour industry with a focus on technology, so we created one.”
In his opening keynote, Pittman announced the company is raising commissions on its Agent Marketplace for both new and current travel advisors from up to 8 percent to up to 12 percent until the end of 2022. Agent Marketplace launched in November 2021, and now has more than 3,500 advisors.
Pittman told attendees that since the company launched it has had 100 million travelers visit the platform, who have booked more than half a billion dollars in travel, experiencing 4 million days of adventures. Pittman revealed his three predictions for What’s Next; 1. trust, payments & financial technology products will be more critical and top of mind than ever, 2. data-driven storytelling will highlight and drive community impact and sustainability, and 3. digital distribution & tooling will come of age in the multi-day adventure market.
In the session Targeting Net Zero – How Is the Multi-Day Tours Industry Responding to the Climate Crisis? Michael Edwards, CEO of Explore! shared insights on their comprehensive carbon-reducing strategy and Nadine Pino shared how The Travel Corporation is collaborating with destinations to build a shared agenda for climate action. Moderator Graeme Jackson, Head of Strategic Partnerships at the Travel Foundation, and one of the co-authors of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism reinforced the need for travel businesses and destinations to make a commitment publicly and set a deadline for action. The panel also addressed the need to move beyond measurement and offsetting and to start looking at all strategic business decisions through a climate lens.
In the Adventuring through Data session, Sher Khan, Industry Lead at Google, and Lia Costa, Analytics Lead at TourRadar discussed how a post-pandemic world brought on different user behaviors and unveiled new travel trends. The two shared data about search terms and shorter booking windows. Costa indicated that 42 percent of TourRadar sales were booked less than 2 months in advance and that Google search volume for multi-day tour & adventure-specific terms increased 44 percent YoY. In addition, Costa reported that the top 10 destinations for summer 2022 TourRadar bookings were all in Europe with Italy, France, England, German, and Switzerland taking the top 5 slots.
A panel on Responsible and Sustainable Indigenous Tourism included Anniina Sandberg, Founder of Visit Natives, Sebastien Desnoyers-Picard, Vice President of Operators of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), and Aurélie Debusschère a Europe agent for World Indigenous Tourism Alliance. Together, they discussed how the travel trade can make indigenous tourism more responsible by ensuring that businesses are working with majority-owned, operated, and/or managed indigenous people. The panel suggested operators directly engage indigenous people, their elders, and the community to ensure they share the right experiences and content. They also encouraged operators to ensure communities are benefiting from tourism.
TourRadar also announced its new brand positioning ‘Adventure Begins Here’ which came from months of consumer and industry research and collaboration with agency partner Park & Battery. TourRadar, the Adventure Booking Platform, helps people seize and savor every opportunity global travel has to offer.
“TourRadar has built considerable bonds with its customers but there is an opportunity to form a deeper connection, said Pittman. “The range of options TourRadar provides in the multi-day sector gives us a differentiator that no one else can own.”
The announcement, film, and all sessions from the event were recorded and can be found here.
About TourRadar
TourRadar is the world’s first Adventure Booking Platform, where you can effortlessly book private, group, and tailor-made multi-day organized adventures from 160+ countries worldwide. Founded in 2010, TourRadar was the first to transition multi-day tours to an online marketplace, making them the global leader in the industry today. In 2021, TourRadar further revolutionized the industry by introducing the Adventure Booking Platform, connecting travelers, operators, and travel agents to organized tours through one, easy-to-use platform. www.tourradar.com
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