Tours, activities, attractions, and experiences, the fastest growing sector of travel and tourism pre-pandemic, has seen a lot of interest from tech entrepreneurs and investors over the past half-decade. 60 companies have raised US$2.4 billion since 2017.
While travel may have all but stopped from March 2020, fundraising has not. One-third of those companies have raised capital since the onset of the pandemic, reaching nearly $500 million.
Arival’s new free report on the state of startup funding in tours and activities provides a complete list of companies, including their funding both before and since the pandemic, the type of company, and region. The report is included in the Arival Insiders Free membership.
Five key takeaways from our analysis:
- The big dollars flow to consumer businesses. Online travel agencies (OTAs) dominate fundraising, accounting for 94% of all capital raised.
- Klook and GetYourGuide, the two major online travel agencies, account for nearly 60% of total funding and more than two-thirds of funding since Covid.
- Asia and Europe are where the action is. Even when excluding Klook and GetYourGuide, more than 80% of the funding has gone to companies in Asia and Europe, and more than 70% of funded startups are based in those regions.
- Technology providers represent 42% of all companies but just 5% of all capital raised. These companies include reservation systems and B2B distributors. None made it into the top 10.
- Funding will accelerate. The increasingly positive outlook for the sector is sure to drive more funding activity as new and established startups seek to capitalize on travel’s rebound.
Here are the top 10 startups by funding.
- Klook
- GetYourGuide
- Huangbaoche
- evaneos
- KKday
- Tiqets
- Tourlane
- TourRadar
- MyRealTrip
- Fever
Members of Arival Insiders Free and Insider Pro Access can download the full report here.
To see the complete list with company details and Arival’s analysis, sign up for Arival Insiders Free. It’s easy, and gives you access to Arival’s entire library of free Arival Guides and presentations. And yes, it’s free!
