Last Updated: 3rd January, 2024
As the world economy strives to regain lost ground, disrupted by the worldwide pandemic, sectors affected the most, are catapulting back to greater strengths. In fact, the pandemic – instilled value of eCommerce, has been providing a robust launchpad across industry spectrums. The tourism industry as well, stands to benefit from online channels.
Interestingly, the global online travel market size is estimated to reach $1,835.6 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 14.8% from 2023 to 2031. This growth has led to a surge in the demand for digital tourism marketplaces.
Since, tourism marketplaces are online platforms connecting travelers with multiple service providers of travel-related services, such as flights, accommodations, tours, and activities, it is easier to gain user traction due to the often wide-ranging options available. This ease in gaining popularity amongst users, further fosters growth.
In this blog, let’s explore the growing opportunity of tourism in eCommerce and how to build a tourism marketplace.
Table Of Contents
Factors Fueling The Growth of Digital Tourism Marketplaces
The growing popularity of Digital Tourism Marketplaces are pillared by the following growth drivers:
- One of the primary drivers has been the rise of the internet and mobile devices, which have made it easier for travelers to research, compare, and book travel services online. This has led to increased demand for online tourism marketplaces that can offer a one-stop shop for all travel-related needs, including flights, accommodation, tours, and activities.
- The growth of the sharing economy and peer-to-peer travel services have disrupted traditional travel industries such as hotels and rental cars. Online tourism marketplaces have been able to capitalize on this trend by offering alternative accommodations and transportation options, as well as unique and authentic travel experiences that are not typically available through offline channels.
- Changing consumer preferences have also played a role in the growth of online tourism marketplaces. Modern travelers are seeking more personalized and tailored travel experiences, which they are able to conveniently custom curate through eCommerce websites.
- The increasing use of social media and other digital platforms has also contributed to the growth of online tourism marketplaces. Travelers are using these platforms to research and book travel services, share their experiences, and connect with other travelers. Online tourism marketplaces that offer a seamless and mobile-friendly experience and social sharing features are better positioned to capture this market.
Overall, the growth of digital tourism platforms has been fueled by the convergence of technology, changing consumer preferences, and the need for more flexible and personalized travel experiences. This technological advancement and preference for convenience has given rise to different business ideas, creating possibilities in the online tourism domain. Let’s explore a few of these ideas, below.
Travel Marketplace Business Ideas
A Tourism marketplace potentially brings together multiple services, for a very broad audience. However, new e-marketplaces in the industry can focus on specialized roles, to drive a more focused market positioning – making it easier for travelers to identify their business with a specific purpose. Some specialized business models ideas for new tourism marketplaces are as follows:
Vacation Rental Booking Marketplace
Airbnb is the dominant player in the market for short-term vacation rentals. Travellers who prefer staying in condos or apartments rather than hotels, as these rental options often offer affordable and larger accommodations than hotels, use the services of marketplaces like Airbnb.
Explore This Profitable Business Idea and Kickstart Your Entrepreneurial Journey Today
Further, these platforms give options to property owners to add revenue channels by listing their properties on the platform. Visitors can easily search for available properties in their desired location and access requisite details, such as rental costs and apartment size.
The website owner generates revenue by earning a commission on each booking made through the website, as well as through advertising. This business model offers tremendous potential, and aspiring entrepreneurs can launch their own vacation rental booking marketplace.
Online Travel Discussion Platform
In today’s world, individuals seek comprehensive information about a destination before embarking on a journey. As a result, there is a growing need for online travel discussion platforms. A prime example of such a platform is Tripadvisor, which generated $1.49 billion in revenue in 2022.
The platform enables travelers to engage in discussions concerning current travel advisories and alerts related to hotels and other travel destinations. Additionally, visitors can read reviews from fellow travelers, providing insight into their experiences visiting various locations. The website owner generates revenue from hotel subscription packages and advertisements, while the platform is a hub for travel-related discussions and information sharing.
Online Tour Booking Marketplace
These platforms display a range of travel packages offered by various travel agents, including flights, accommodations, and holiday trips. Travelers can easily compare different packages and select the one that meets their needs. TourRadar is among the top players in online marketplaces for booking tours.
These websites generate revenue for marketplace owners through commissions on each booking and advertising. As a result, such tour booking marketplaces have become a highly profitable business idea, attracting many aspiring entrepreneurs who are interested in launching their marketplace.
Online Adventure Activity Booking Marketplace
Adventure activities are one of the key components of the tourism industry that continues to drive interests of travelers . Tourism Marketplaces that cater specifically to adventure activities present a compelling business proposition. Businesses like Get Your Guide and Viator are some of the leading players in this sub-niche. As adventure activities typically take place in locations far from cities, these marketplaces help travelers easily connect with activity hosts and book their desired adventure activity in advance.
Discover the Potential of an Online Adventure Booking Marketplace
While these were some examples of how businesses have implemented the marketplace business strategy in sub-niches within the tourism industry, let’s explore the journey of a US-based startup, Voyij that has experiential travel to another level by implementing a unique business model. It combines elements of adventure travel and commemorative merchandise retail using unique eCommerce features.
Significantly, Voyij was developed from concept to a marketplace by adding Yo!Kart with purpose-driven customizations. Read ahead to find out how.
Voyij – An End-to-End Travel Marketplace Powered by Yo!Kart
Voyij, a pioneering eCommerce platform established in 2014 in Alaska by siblings Greg and Olivia Klupar, offers tour and retail bookings and commemorative merchandise sales in Alaska. The marketplace has successfully scaled to on board over 100 service providers and sellers across 10 markets in Alaska and is now expanding operations internationally.
Voyij allows travelers to book adventure activities in Alaska using a booking calendar. Additionally, it also lets them buy merchandize in advance using a unique functionality BOPIS. It includes a vast assortment of locally-sourced gifts, rare collectibles, fresh seafood, and activities, which is the most prominent selection available in Alaska. Thus Voyij lets travelers plan their complete vacation using the eCommerce platform.
Voyij has been built with exclusive functionalities to allow the marketplace owners to implement their vision. Team Yo!Kart, employed their versatile turnkey solution to establish a direct path between travelers’ expectations and activities discovery. The team customized Yo!Kart by leveraging the agile product development cycle to engineer a secure and stable travel marketplace that builds a profitable travel business.
Ready to Transform the Way Travelers Explore the World?
Key Features & Integrations in Voyij
| FEATURES | INTEGRATIONS |
| Tiered Pricing | Sojern |
| Activities Availability Calendar | FareHarbor |
| Activities Time Slot | Stripe |
| Activities per Time Slot | Google Analytics |
| Products In-Store Pickup | |
| Multiple Pick up Locations | |
| Codes to Redeem Gifts | |
| BOPIS |
How to Build an Online Tourism Marketplace?
There are two significant approaches to creating an online tourism marketplace.
1. Custom-made eCommerce Platform: In this approach, the tourism marketplace platform will be developed from the ground up. It may require hiring an in-house team of experts or outsourcing the marketplace development requirement to a renowned development firm. Each aspect spanning from feature integrations to coding and testing of the platform will be executed by the developers, adding to the development cost. Furthermore, it is a lengthy process increasing the product’s time-to-market.
2. Turnkey/Readymade Solution: Leveraging turnkey eCommerce software is another approach ideal for building an online tourism marketplace. It comprises all the essential eCommerce features required to easily run a tourism platform. Additional customizations are supported to fit your specific needs. Using such ready-to-use software reduces the time-to-market, helping you get your online tourism platform up and running within a few days.
Wrapping Up – Leverage Yo!Kart’s Versatility
Tourism niche in eCommerce has a promising future via online channels and tourism marketplaces present an opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to manage backend operations and infrastructural management, and set up their own tourism marketplaces. Services and any products on sale are offered by third party sellers.
To set up a tourism marketplace, entrepreneurs can use contemporary turnkey marketplace solutions like Yo!Kart.
Yo!Kart is a customizable marketplace software that comes with essential eCommerce features out of the box. Significantly, it has multi-vendor support, rich featured product catalog, support for multiple revenue streams, and wide range of features to cross sell/upsell, flexible underpinnings that allow ease of third party API integration, tested high performance, and a secure system.
Moreover, the software is backed by an in house team for customization and after sales support. This makes it convenient to tailor the software to specific business needs.
Entrepreneurs can leverage the versatility of Yo!Kart and the customization support to launch a tailored tourism marketplace in a niche that they have identified.
FAQs:
Q1. How much does it cost to build a travel/tourism marketplace platform?
Ans: The cost to build a tourism marketplace platform depends on multiple factors including features required, design complexity, and scalability preferences. The aspects such as development, payment processing, and maintenance contribute to the cost. Besides, selecting between a custom-built approach and turnkey eCommerce software is vital to getting a clear cost estimate. For details, visit here.
Q2. Is there any specific B2B travel eCommerce software available?
Ans: There are plenty of B2B eCommerce software available to streamline and enhance business-to-business transactions within the travel industry. One such software, Yo!Kart B2B, stands out for its comprehensive features, facilitating efficient management of bookings, payments, inventory, and communications among travel agents, suppliers, and distributors. Its user-friendly interface and customizable solutions make it a valuable asset for simplified B2B travel operations.
Q3. How to choose a technology partner to build your travel/tourism marketplace?
Ans: Selecting a tech partner to build your travel marketplace involves several key considerations. Evaluate the experience of tech firms and their expertise in delivering scalable solutions and integration of booking systems. Verify their capability to adapt to evolving trends in the travel industry. Furthermore, assess their communication, customer service, and commitment to long-term collaboration for a successful venture.
