Analysing GetYourGuide's Travel Experience Trend Tracker | Fall 2025

We've read it, so you don't have to! BUT, if you do want to, you can take a look here!

We've examined the key findings and strategic recommendations presented in the Travel Experience Trend Tracker | Fall 2025 report, produced by the Online Travel Agency (OTA) GetYourGuide. 

The report’s primary objective is to make a compelling case for distribution diversification through OTAs, specifically addressing and seeking to refute the long-standing operator fear that OTAs cannibalise direct bookings.

This market insight article dissects this thesis, the supporting data, the strategic recommendations, and critically evaluates the model for tour, activity, and attraction (TAA) operators seeking to maximise their presence on third-party platforms.

The Billboard Effect: Myth vs. Reality in the TAA Sector

The report centres its justification for OTA partnership around the concept of "The Billboard Effect," which posits that listing a product on an OTA increases visibility and subsequently boosts direct bookings. This effect was famously proven in the hotel industry and the report claims to have now demonstrated it within the travel experiences industry.

Empirical Evidence & Interpretation

The research, which analysed 24 months of sales data across 238 experience creators and eight categories, concluded that partners' overall revenue (Direct + OTA) grew by 41% on average in the 12 months after joining GetYourGuide. 

Crucially, the net revenue from direct bookings also grew by a significant 16%.

This 16% direct booking uplift is the report's central proof point, effectively shifting the narrative from channel conflict (OTAs diverting sales) to channel symbiosis (OTAs driving discovery).

However, a critical analysis requires acknowledging the source of the data, an OTA itself. While the methodology used independent research partners (Ventrata, FareHarbor, Bókun) and monitored a large, anonymised data set, the core interpretation is necessarily promotional.

• The Incrementality Question: Is the 16% direct booking growth purely incremental due to the OTA listing, or is it a correlation linked to the operator's general business maturity and the global post-pandemic recovery of the travel market? The study attempts to account for this by tracking the 12 months before and after joining, but external market forces and operator-specific improvements during that time are always difficult to fully isolate.

• The Revenue Balance: The overall revenue growth of 41% indicates that the bulk of new revenue is still channeled through the OTA (the commissioned revenue), which is necessary for the OTA’s own business model. The 16% direct uplift is substantial but pales in comparison to the total growth, confirming that the OTA is primarily a transactional, high-volume sales channel, even as it provides a crucial branding benefit.

The empirical finding that smaller operators (<$100k revenue) saw the largest combined revenue growth (59%) and ticket volume growth (138%) is one of the most compelling arguments. For these operators, the OTA is not a mere billboard but a distribution lifeline, providing access to a "vast new audience" that they could not reach alone.

Understanding the Evolving Digital Landscape and Audience

The report contextualises the Billboard Effect by detailing a fundamental shift in the travel ecosystem that makes a diversified distribution strategy "more essential than ever".

The Multi-Touchpoint Customer Journey

The research highlights that the customer journey is non-linear, with travelers using an average of 12 online touchpoints to research their travels. This fragmentation necessitates a presence across various platforms, as increased exposure directly correlates with a higher likelihood of booking. The OTA serves as a critical node in this complex network, acting as a high-authority domain that appears prominently in search results and aggregates traveler intent.

The Value of the "Explorer" Segment

The report identifies a valuable traveler segment called "Explorers," defined as travelers who take trips and participate in experiences more than average. This segment exhibits a particularly strong preference for online booking methods, with 70% of Explorers preferring online methods over in-person options. GetYourGuide users show an even higher relative preference for online booking methods (118% uplift over average travelers).

The fact that OTA revenue growth (63%) outpaced OTA ticket growth (43%) further suggests that OTAs are effectively attracting a high-value, high-spending audience.

🚀 TOTAL's Strategic Takeaway: The TAA operator's primary goal in utilising OTAs should be less about converting on the OTA itself and more about audience acquisition and brand impression. By listing on a large OTA, an operator gains immediate access to the high-value "Explorer" segment that is already conditioned to book experiences online and is actively researching via multiple digital channels. The operator is paying a commission to gain an impression on a traveler who is highly likely to book, either directly later (the 16% direct uplift) or immediately through the OTA.

Actionable Strategies for Optimising OTA Performance

The report provides four key tactical steps to maximize the benefits of OTA partnership. These steps form the blueprint for "getting the best" out of the OTA relationship.

1. Connectivity via Reservation Management Systems (RMS)

The foundational recommendation is to connect inventory using a Reservation Management System (RMS) like Bókun, FareHarbor, or Ventrata.

• Critical Rationale: The complexity of a multi-channel strategy (website, direct sales, multiple OTAs) demands a seamless, real-time inventory connection. An RMS centralises booking management, ensuring real-time inventory updates and providing data insights. This minimises the operational risk (over-saturation, overbooking) associated with channel diversification, making the Billboard Effect achievable "without operational headaches". For operators, the RMS cost is a necessary overhead to transform a chaotic multi-channel presence into a controlled, efficient distribution network.

2. Content Customisation and Full Inventory Listing

The report strongly advises operators to list all products and tweak content/products for different OTAs.

• The "List Everything" Mandate: Providing full inventory access is presented as essential to maximize potential reach and unlock actionable data. The analysis frames conversion rates (e.g., 5%) against impressions (95%), emphasizing that for every booking made on the OTA, 95% of impressions contribute to brand exposure and potential cross-channel bookings; the essence of the Billboard Effect. By maximising listings, the operator maximises the impression volume, driving both direct and OTA sales.

• Content Resonance: Operators must customise visuals and content to resonate with the specific traveler segments they wish to target. For example, a single experience may require multiple listings with tailored images and descriptions - one highlighting family fun, another emphasising historical depth for a cultural traveler - to leverage the OTA’s capacity to reach niche audiences the operator may struggle to access alone.

3. Long-Term Distribution Investment

The final strategic advice is to "Think long term," comparing distribution channels to an investment portfolio. This is a crucial, non-tactical insight. Tourism, like all industries, fluctuates, and the long-term view built on "consistent investment and optimisation across channels" is what builds resilience and access to new, non-cannibalising revenue.

Critical Gaps and Operator Concerns

While the report successfully makes the business case for OTAs from an OTA’s perspective(!), a truly critical analysis must address the operator’s residual concerns regarding cost and control, which are not directly emphasised in the promotional material.

Commission Costs and Net Revenue

The core challenge for operators remains the commission cost associated with OTA bookings. A 41% total revenue growth is an excellent return, but the operator must weigh the cost of the commission against the 16% direct booking uplift.

• The Profitability Trade-off: The high-volume OTA sales come at a lower margin than the direct sales. The operator's goal, therefore, is to optimise the OTA listing to serve two functions:

  1. High-Volume Channel: Generating significant, albeit lower-margin, revenue via OTA transactions.

  2. Marketing Channel: Generating a sufficient volume of high-margin direct bookings (the 16% uplift) to offset the cost of using the OTA as a marketing platform. The OTA is thus re-categorised as a Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) rather than merely a distribution partner.

Data Ownership and Customer Relationship

While the report advocates for using full inventory to unlock "actionable data", the vast majority of customer data (email, future purchase history, direct communication) for an OTA-booked customer remains under the control of the OTA. The operator receives transactional data but often lacks the deep customer relationship necessary for effective retention and re-marketing.

• Mitigation Strategy: Operators must use the data provided by their RMS to segment and analyse the direct booking customers driven by The Billboard Effect. They must then establish robust CRM and loyalty programs to convert those incidental direct bookers into loyal, repeat direct bookers, thus protecting their long-term customer equity.

Avoiding Over-Reliance

The report’s finding that operators with multiple existing OTAs still saw growth encourages platform proliferation, suggesting "each OTA has its own audience". However, this strategy carries the risk of over-reliance. An operator who lists everything on all platforms risks surrendering too much market control to third parties.

🚀 TOTAL's Strategic Takeaway: Operators should maintain a "flagship" direct experience (e.g., a premium, unique tour with added value like a free photo package) that is only available via their own website. This ensures that the Billboard Effect drives traffic to a desirable, exclusive product that is commission-free, leveraging the OTA for discovery while retaining the highest-value conversion for the direct channel.

Conclusion

The Travel Experience Trend Tracker | Fall 2025 report provides a data-driven, actionable framework for TAA operators to stop viewing OTAs as a threat and start utilising them as a necessary component of a modern, resilient distribution strategy. The findings successfully validate The Billboard Effect in the experience sector, confirming that OTAs like GetYourGuide are powerful drivers of overall revenue and, critically, a significant source of incremental direct bookings (16% uplift).

"Getting the best out of OTAs" is achieved not through minimal effort, but through strategic technological integration and maximal exposure. The operator must:

1. Embrace RMS Connectivity: To eliminate operational friction and enable real-time, multi-channel management.

2. Leverage for Discovery: Maximise the listing volume (full inventory) to turn the OTA into a massive, low-cost marketing engine for brand impressions.

3. Optimise for High-Value Audiences: Use customised content and product tweaks to capture the high-spending "Explorer" segment.

Ultimately, the successful operator treats the OTA relationship as a strategic partnership where the commission is a calculated Customer Acquisition Cost to gain market exposure, rather than a lost sale. By maintaining a long-term perspective and robustly optimising their direct channel to capture the 16% Billboard Uplift, operators can effectively transform their OTA listing from a necessary evil into a critical, high-performance sales and marketing pillar.

Your business can embrace GetYourGuide as well as other OTAs and thrive by attracting more customers! Connect with our experts today at hello@theotalife.com to discuss a strategic approach tailored for your success.