Vayable - Tours, trips and other things to do on vacation Custom Tours to Japan with Full Support from our Japan Office: Japan Roads Working Your Way Around The World U.S. Department of State Tours and activities: Still looking for breakthrough company This is part two of our three part series on the online tours and activities market, focusing on the buzz around venture-backed startups in the space. Part one here. There are only a handful of companies that matter these days in selling tours and activities, and they are a mix of old-guard established companies, a hungry wannabe, and an online travel agency making some overtures. And, although there has been venture capital money funneling into the sector, the track record has seen a paucity of success stories. “There are never any winners in the space,” one experienced travel-industry investor chimes in, dismissing the tours and activities sector. Viator’s long wait Case in point, observers say, is Viator, an established online player, founded in 1995, that has raised some $20 million in funding from investors, including Carlyle Venture Partners and Technology Venture Partners. GetYourGuide makes boasts and enters new markets Old guard Gray Line trying new stuff
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Global Travel & Tourism Summit - Home Ted Turner, Virgin Atlantic Airways’ CEO Steve Ridgway, Expedia’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Carlson Wagonlit Travel's CEO Douglas Anderson, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's CEO Frits van Paasschen, TUI AG's Chairman Michael Frenzel, Transaero Airlines’ Chairman Alexander Pleshakov, TripAdvisor’s CEO Steve Kaufer and more were among influential business leaders and opinion-formers sharing their insights into the potential of Travel & Tourism for Powering Global Growth. Together with a specially-invited audience of more than 1,000 senior delegates, they will helped shape the global agenda for the future health of the industry. The most influential Travel & Tourism event of the year, the Global Travel & Tourism Summit brings the most influential minds to bear on the most pressing issues facing Travel & Tourism today. It remains a crucial platform for those who truly wish to address opportunities to maximise the sustainable growth of Travel & Tourism.
Priceline’s Booking.com triples mobile booking transactions - Mobile Commerce Daily - Revenue The Booking.com Kindle Fire app Priceline’s Booking.com has seen the total transaction value of mobile hotel bookings rise from $1 billion in 2011 to more than $3 billion in 2012. In addition, more than 20 million mobile applications have been downloaded to date. The latest data is proof that mobile bookings are growing – especially because of its convenience. “The success is related to two major factors: the quality of our service with our broad reach in terms of accommodations, languages, guest reviews etc., and the quality of our mobile products on the various platforms,” said Olivier Voute, director of mobile marketing at Booking.com. “Having said that, the real driver of success is mostly related to the consumer shift towards mobile and our ability to offer them a great service on the various platforms with our apps on mobile sites,” he said. Driving bookingsThrough the booking.com mobile app, consumers are able to view their account, sign-in and browse their credit card details.
Tokyo's best souvenirs Going home to see the family? Got a client coming to visit? First time in Tokyo and searching for a hip souvenir? Selecting gifts can be a nerve-wracking experience, no matter if you’re just passing through or trying to take a bit of Tokyo home with you. It’s not just a matter of what to buy, but also where to get it. Omiyage (souvenirs) can be found practically anywhere and there’s a vast range of gifts and souvenirs on sale in the city. If you’re short on time, money or ideas the convenience of shopping culture in Tokyo has given rise to some of the most complete one-stop shops in the world. See also: Essential Tokyo souvenirs General Oriental Bazaar Probably the best-known gift shop in Tokyo, this is a useful one-stop outlet for almost everything: dolls, china, kimonos, yukata, woodblock prints, furniture, antiques and books on Japan. Tokyu Hands From stationery to toilet-seat covers, this is the largest household and novelty goods store in Tokyo. Loft Souvenir From Tokyo Bingo-Ya Tansuya
GetYourGuide raises $14M for tours and activities push in new markets In what could be one of the biggest investments so far in the growing online tours and activities sector, GetYourGuide has grabbed $14 million from Spark Capital and Highland Capital Partners Europe. The company says the Series A investment round will be used help with “rapid growth” into new markets. Spark has previous invested in companies such as Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare and Akamai, while Highland’s portfolio includes Lycos, MapQuest and VistaPrint. The level of investment in GYG signifies the major interest in the tours and activities segment of the industry. Previous high rounds included $7 million into US-based Zozi in May 2011. Despite attracting $2 million from PROfounders Capital, Andy Phillipps (founder of Active Hotels) and Karen Hanton (founder of TopTable) in March 2012, Europe-based GYG has been active on the capital raising circuit since late last year. Travelport also ramped up its tours and activities offering using partnerships with Flextrip and AdventureLink.
Japan JNTO Official Guide Monthly Mgazine Latest Topics News from Your Local JNTO Office Events TUI and GetYourGuide Join Forces to Revolutionize Travel Agency Distribution Press Releases TUI and GetYourGuide Join Forces to Revolutionize Travel Agency Distribution Exclusive partnership offers benefits for travel agencies and vacationers Hannover February 25th, 2013 - TUI, Germany’s leading travel agency, has added a new element to its marketing mix: an exclusive cooperation with GetYourGuide, the world’s largest online booking platform for tours, activities, and attractions around the world. “We’re extremely excited to join forces with a partner as well-known as TUI. The idea behind the cooperation is simple: before GetYourGuide was founded, the tours and activities market was highly fragmented and there was no centralized place that digitized the world’s vast offering. About GetYourGuide With more than 18,900 things to do in over 1,850 global destinations, GetYourGuide (www.GetYourGuide.com) is the web’s largest platform for tours and activities around the world.
Online Activity Portal, GetYourGuide, Expands Into France, Spain and Italy With Bespoke Language Websites Press Releases Online Activity Portal, GetYourGuide, Expands Into France, Spain and Italy With Bespoke Language Websites GetYourGuide, the world’s largest online portal for tours and activities at destinations around the globe, has announced today that it is expanding into the French, Italian, and Spanish markets. Berlin February 18th, 2013 -GetYourGuide, the world’s largest online portal for tours and activities at destinations across the globe, has announced today that it is expanding into the French, Italian, and Spanish markets. This marks a major step towards further developing GetYourGuide’s position as a leader in the European tours and activities market. To support GetYourGuide’s international growth, Frederick “Fritz” Demopoulos, one of the most successful Internet and media entrepreneurs in China, has been appointed to its Board of Directors. In less than three years, GetYourGuide has assembled the world’s greatest variety of tours, attractions, and activities.