Tour & Activity Operators Discuss the New Reality of OTAs

One of the toughest decisions facing Tour, Activity & Attraction operators is if and how to work with OTAs.

Participants:

Will Obbard, Business Development Director at Merlin Entertainments

Peter Syme, Managing Director at 1000 Mile Journeys

Stephen Oddo, CEO and co-founder at Walks

 

 

 

They can bring a lot of customers, but are they worth the cost? This expert panel of experienced operators weighs in.

“It’s not 20-30% of revenue. We the supplier base need to stop thinking about revenue, we need to start thinking about profit. I understand numbers and 20-30% going to the OTA, that’s over 50% of the gross profit. That’s unsustainable if you’re running a business that loses the majority of distribution to the OTAs.” – Peter Syme of 1000 Mile Journeys

There are no easy answers to these questions, but the Supplier’s Say panel below provides some great things to keep in mind if your company is asking these same questions.

Arival co-founder Alex Kremer sat down with Will Obbard of Merlin Entertainments, Stephen Oddo of Walks, and Peter Syme of 1000 Mile Journeys at the Arival conference in Las Vegas to dig into all things distribution and OTAs.  

Watch this provocative roundtable on where the industry is heading and how tour and activity operators should think about distribution.

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