Stephen Oddo

About Me

Stephen is a serial travel industry entrepreneur who co-founded multiple companies in experiences, tours & activities since 2005. He co-founded WalksofItaly.com, an online travel company for visitors to Italy offering sightseeing tours and travel activities, in 2009. Walks of Italy soon became one of the largest providers of experiential travel services in Italy. Walks (takewalks.com) is now a global brand and one of the largest providers of guided experiences in the world, handling hundreds of thousands of passengers annually. Walks operates travel experiences in 28 cities across 10 countries. During the pandemic, Stephen led the development of Walks’ virtual tour program “Tours from Home,” receiving tens of thousands of paid bookings and widespread acclaim in Travel + Leisure, Forbes, Skift, Boston Globe, and more. In early 2021, Walks joined Hornblower Group (Crestview) to start the next chapter of growth and expansion. He led the acquisition of Devour Tours, Europe’s premier food tour company, at the end of 2021, doubling revenue and tripling ebitda. Stephen moved on from Walks in late 2024 and continues to advise. He is developing a new consumer technology startup to launch in Q3 2025. Stephen is an active startup investor and advisor, also advising larger firms such as Airbnb. An expert in technology and digital strategy, he has spoken at numerous events & conferences on marketing, brand, influencers, immersive experiences, technology, distribution, and more recently, AI in travel. He was featured in a NatGeo/Netflix documentary about traveling smart in Rome, and has traveled the globe to over 50 countries.

Experience

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