Unique Experiences Vs Traditional Tours - The Big Showdown

A big debate that is making the rounds in the Tours & Activities sector these days is whether the ‘traditional’ tours would eventually fade in popularity and lose their crown to the unique ‘experiences’, that seem to be gaining a lot of momentum in the world of Destination Products. Majority of Trends & Predictions call out that travelers don’t want the same old group tours but rather, prefer to immerse themselves in authentic experiences served by locals. The challenge is really understanding to what extent this is accurate.

Based on personal experiences from exhaustive travels to more than 500 destinations across the world -that has included both kinds of destination discovery modes - I have my own take on this! And via this blog post, I am sharing my personal predictions and forecasts around how the industry might evolve in this context.

What do you mean by ‘Traditional’ Tours & Activities?

At this risk of sounding like I am grossly oversimplifying this complicated segment, I’d like to define this category as the sightseeing, activities & experiences you get to do at a destination, that are being delivered by ‘Tour Operators’ – professionals who are well versed in organizing these. These are typically organized for groups of travelers, includes more of the stereotypical (and sometimes cliched!) elements, and delivered in a potentially uninteresting format. Like the Half-day City Tour, Hop-on-Hop-off Buses, Attraction Visits, etc. A key thing to note here is these kinds of activities– more often than not – follow a fixed plan and not usually customized for the customer.

What is Unique about Unique Experiences?!

What is typically included in this category of Destination Products are ‘activities’ in which travelers connect with (and pay) locals who are sharing their skill, hobby or passion for their city. This involves an Experience Host taking Guests to secret spots and unique activities that only adventurous locals know how to find. This also involves activities where the guests go through an ‘exercise’ to learn a new skill (like cooking, photography, etc. with an expert)

While Airbnb is arguably the leader in this segment, there are a lot of other players like WithLocals and Vayable - with their own Value propositions – boosting the buzz around this flavor of Destination Discovery. And, almost all the players in this segment pitch these Experiences as Unique, Off the tourist track, Bespoke opportunities with a local, that travelers cannot typically discover on their own.

So, are Experiences going to overshadow Traditional Tours & Activities?

Most Popular trends and research data seem to suggest that millennials and generation Z want authentic and localized experiences instead of traditional tours. Whilst there are those travelers who try and remove themselves from the “tourist” stigma and want to “live like a local” wherever they go, these are not the majority. So, whilst they may choose to search via platforms like Airbnb instead of a TripAdvisor kind of marketplace, this might not be a threat to most larger Tour Operators. Below are some reasons why I believe so:

• When traveling to a city for the first time, most travelers still want to see and do the typical iconic activities. Traditional tour operators don’t need to worry as people still go to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, they’ll still go up the Empire State building in New York, etc. In fact, Airbnb kind of Experiences aren’t trying to directly compete with the operators, but instead appeal to a more niche, alternative market
•  Experiences are intimate activities between the guest and the host, and even travelers who are well versed in hostel lodging, and shared taxi rides might be wary of exploring a new city with a stranger from the internet. It’s definitely not going to be for everybody.
• Finally, whether we like it or not, we now live in a world of Social-Validation Obsessed Travelers who’d always like to collect ‘Instagram-Worthy’ Travel Snapshots. In spite of their stated desire for authenticity, they would still want to take and post selfies in popular spots (even if doing so is sometimes inappropriate), etc. So, while they might indulge in a few Unique experiences that might be offbeat, they are never going to return back home without their load of pictures and memories in Popular spots on the traditional Sightseeing circuit!

Should traditional tour & attraction operators reinvent their product offerings?

While I do believe Traditional Tour Operators don’t need to worry too much about Unique Experience Providers - at least in the near future – they surely need to evolve a bit to match the needs & desires of the next generation of travelers.

The way I see it is that irrespective of other Unique Experiences the Traditional Iconic Attractions & Sightseeing activities - like the Universal Studios, Petronas Towers & Louvre Museums of the world - will still have a high ranking in the list places travelers want to visit. There is no going around that! However, I think the way that popular tours and activities are delivered has to change. Below are some ideas that I can think of, and am sure there are plenty more to make cliched traditional tours more appealing:

• Unique Options to Experience Standard Sights: For example - an option like ‘Skip the lines’ alone won’t cut it when the activity/tour involves visiting a popular attraction. Operators need to complement that with more interestingly unique alternatives like: Visiting the attraction at non-peak hours, A Sunrise experience at the sight, Chilling in the sight with Sundowners, etc., These might be small alternatives to the way a sight is experienced but will go a long way to attract the segment of travelers that prefers to avoid sharing experiences with a bigger crowd and traditional tourists.
• Enhancing the Experience through Personalized Guides: In case of other components of travel – like flights and hotels - you really don’t bother as much about Who is providing the service. All you care about is you are treated to fine service. But when it comes to on the ground experiences it is an entirely different story. The guide (or the host) who is taking you around through the tour makes a huge difference! This is the element of a traditional tour that makes or breaks the experience. So, finding out more about the customers in advance and allocating the right travelers into the right groups is very important. And also, attaching the right kind of Guide who will cater to their specific interests, taste, and background is very key. For example, in a group that is primarily interested in just taking Insta-Pics and selfies don’t bother adding a history expert who could keep talking a lot in order to share the rich heritage behind various spots. And similarly, if you allocate a guide who is not savvy enough about what he is explaining to a group that’s really hoping to get rich information about what they are checking out, then you have a very negative experience in store! A foodie guide with a Foodie group will make even the most boring City sightseeing tour more than memorable! So – the recommendation is: Know your customers better and in-depth!
•  Making them more Bespoke: While most old school travelers don’t mind sticking to a ‘mass itinerary’ created for a group, the next generation of travelers prefer tailor-made tours and would like to add their touch and feel to the routine. So, instead of making a one-size-fits-all kind of itinerary, allow customers to change the ingredients of some tours as they wish (with additional charges if required, as money is not a concern for these unique experience seekers) Example: instead of taking everyone to the same kind of food and drink outlets, spice it up by allowing some customers to choose a riverside romantic lunch or a historic pub for break in between, or a craft beer/wine bar etc.
• Spontaneity: This is a very important factor that seems to be to be missing in most tours today – whether traditional or new age. The best way. To explain what I mean by this is by sharing a unique personal experience that was packed into a traditional tour. We were on a road trip along the coast of Yemen and while most of the multi-day. Tour had been stereotypical, there was this one element that got added to it spontaneously by our driver that changed the whole trip. We were on the road, on our way back to Oman - and it was around breakfast time. We were a starting to get a bit impatient as our driver kept driving without stopping in any of the towns we kept passing through (as we were expecting a typical restaurant stopover), and we were starting to feel hungry. Then all of a sudden, he hit the brakes, reversed the car and pulled into beachside parking. While we were still wondering what he was up to, he had spread out the carpet on the beach, right next to colorful fishing boats with an unobstructed view of the thundering waves hitting the shore. A meal with a million dollar view that he(on his own) had just created for us, completely out of the planned itinerary. Sitting there on the beach, with no crowd and savoring fine Yemeni food is a memory that will never fall out of our most memorable experiences list forever! That is Spontaneity served warm and with a view! And am sure every operator can do things like this if they want, customized to the kind of customers they are taking around.