Generative AI such as ChatGPT is an era defining technology and it merits the number of articles and videos created on this topic. However we are ignoring one core debate, we need to talk about what happens when this and related AI technologies scale, which they will. This article focusses on this important topic with […]

Niche topic, perhaps only of interest to technologists, however…. lets summarise the case for and against OCTO standards. What are the OCTO standards? When you connect a rez tech with an OTA, you have to make the product data continually align between the two platforms. This is tricky, e.g. on booking cancellation terms, how are […]

I haven’t been to a sightseeing industry conference, physically, for years. I haven’t even travelled outside of the UK for 3 years (!). So it is with some trepidation that I am off to the Arival conference in Las Vegas in October. I will be speaking (more on that below) but beyond that, I thought […]

Consumers love a cheap price and entire sectors of the travel industry are focussed on helping consumers save money. Much of the sector’s advertising is proclaiming how one platform’s prices are better than others. This works where a product is a commodity (like hotels, flights or attractions), but experiences are not commodities, experiences are moving […]

The project to transition bus owning sightseeing tour operators to autonomous vehicles is no more. I published my original industry transition proposal in 2018 and you can still read it. Fundamentally, since then, I have failed to convince any bus owning tour operators to the point of committed action. This article explains the mistakes I […]

2022 summer, by many accounts, seems to be a blockbuster for bookings. However under the surface the question remains, can this booking volume be carried into 2023 and beyond, or is this just a 2022 post COVID phenomenon? Beyond preparing for the market to go either direction, there are longer term issues bubbling away that […]

If you missed this, last week I was interviewed by PhocusWire about the role of autonomous vehicles within tours & activities. If you are a bus sightseeing operator (or retailer) this is a must listen – however there are wider topics covered, including hotel originated experiences, tour guides etc, and the new industry structure I […]

The in destination travel industry, as a whole, is not ready for the digital assistant future. This article lays out some of the challenges with designing and naming your digital assistant character, including beyond vehicles. Lets cover vehicles first: Vehicles LG with their Omnipod vehicle prominently incorporate a digital assistant into their leisure focussed autonomous […]

Does GetYourGuide need to make a strategy correction as a result of the recent downturn the global macro market position for VC backed and stock market listed startups? Only they and their backers know. SoftBank, one of GetYourGuide’s major backers, is certainly suggesting that SoftBank should take a “defense position” following a 27 billion USD […]

Tour buses have become a key part of the landscape for urban tourist experiences. When you think of sightseeing, you think of sightseeing buses. However many in the tour bus industry suggest that sightseeing tour buses have had their day (within an urban context rather than out of city buses). Tour bus insiders put it […]