Arival

Would you spend your last dollars on an event you knew absolutely nothing about? Gabriela Vazquez and Carlos Alcerreca of La Isla Tour Cabo San Lucas did, and it changed their lives forever. These are the stories we can't get enough of, stories of operators who found what they needed from Arival to find a community, grow, and prosper. Thank you to everyone who has taken a chance on Arival, not knowing what to expect, but trusting that we are doing everything in our power to support you. 💙 Congratulations to Gabriela and Carlos on taking a leap of faith and seeing the rewards of it! #arivalevent #thebestpartoftravel #travelnews #arivalinsights #tourism 

Reviews are great when they’re great, but when they’re negative? Mmm, not so much. 👎 We all have to learn how to cope with negative feedback, and who better to learn from than from  TourReview’s COO Juana Inés Muro and from top-rated operators? Check out this great resource and let us know - how do you plan on turning negative reviews into opportunities in the future? https://lnkd.in/diBrU5Kg #arivalevent #thebestpartoftravel #travelnews #arivalinsights #tourism 

𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞… 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐂! I just got back from my first-ever tourism conference—Arival in San Diego—and it was a game-changer. 😎 I arrived feeling a bit out of place among almost 1000 tourism pros, but by the end, I realized something important: it’s not about how you look or how many business cards you hand out. It’s about a shared passion for travel and the connections that come from that. ✈️🌍 I went to some truly insightful sessions and had many uplifting conversations, with every moment being packed with learning, laughter, and inspiration. And the best part? The people. 💫 To everyone I met—THANK YOU for making this experience so special. I greatly cherish the new connections with people like Beth Santos, Renee Ventrice, Joe Martin, Drew Fortner, Catharine Pear, Madison Rifkin, Boris Bijlstra, and many others! A huge shoutout to Douglas Quinby, Bruce Rosard, and the whole Arival team for bringing together such an incredible community of like-minded travel enthusiasts. I left San Diego with a ton of new ideas, some amazing new friends, and excitement for what’s next. 🚀 And the last thank you goes to the best boss and a great friend, Michaela Vaszi, who gave me the opportunity to represent Prague City Adventures in San Diego ✌🏼

Arival Conferences are the most fun I have all year. A special thank you to Bruce Rosard, Lynne Fetterman, Douglas Quinby and the incredible Arival team for hosting such an impactful event. I was proud to debut the new Propellic travel marketing strategic methodology, "Performance Bookings" at the conference and have so many people take our new marketing assessment (link in comments). Shoutout to all of the incredible people who joined us for our (dare I say famous?) annual dinner (apologies if I miss anyone): Daniel Hadden, Daphne Tsevreni, Dimitris Bistolas, Andrea "Dre" Merino, Coy Clayton, Greg Fisher, Amanda Krause, Arnaud (Arno) Azoulay, Dan Christian, Dario Valsagna, John Kelliher, Kim Kelliher, Joshua Carr, Kenneth C. Lippman, Lindsey Geores, Liz Philpot, Matt Mette, Preston Kwok, Shradha Bhatia, Soledad Rodriguez, Sujean Lee, Lance Zaal, David Long, and Ivan Garza! And, of course for Soledad Rodriguez for planning all of it (to perfection). We'll see you next year!

It was a great week at Arival San Diego last week. As I am settling back into the regular workweek back in the GMT+8 timezone, I thought I would reflect on an amazing couple of days spent in the company of partners and a carefully curated program by the brilliant minds at Arival that gently nudges us to ponder on the broader patterns of change in our industry. 😎 Curated experiences are very much in demand as we saw the likes of Batch (a party-planning OTA), TripShock (Water-based tour OTA across Southeast US) and Virgin Experience Gifts that emphasises on the value of gifting experiences present their booming businesses in the future of Distribution Forum. 📝 Content - The basics are key when we are in the business of capturing the minds of people on vacations. People only start to engage when there are at least 20 reviews. It is critical that content in the listings answer the concerns raised in reviews. And as always mobile first and the hero image/ title combination is key to the capturing the eye initially. Bravo to Peter Muttitt and Nicholas Merrett for the very entertaining and useful tips. 🎯 Dynamic Pricing - Back in the day, I used to spend my full working week consulting on strategy based on revenue management business intelligence tools to hoteliers that would be benchmarked based on the competitor set and market behaviours. This is possible partially because of the fairly standard attributes (and location) that hotels share despite each of them having their own unique USP. The landscape is vastly different in the attraction space where the world famous San Diego Zoo would be vying for the same limited time (and money) of a traveler who might choose to visit the shores of La Jolla to enjoy sunset with the sea gulls or even visit or choose to spend a restful day on the Old Town Trolley Hop-on Hop-off. It is amazing to see pioneers in the industry like Caitlin Montgomery, Evan Reece and Greg Loewen are producing amazing results by using history to predict future trends and set strategy and always, always testing and learning (if there's no calibration, it's not considered dynamic pricing!) The party that rounded it off at the Air & Space Museum located in Balboa Park (which I hear is even bigger than Central Park!) fascinated the Astronomy Club Schoolgirl in me.

It was a great week at Arival 360 in San Diego with the team. At Walkway we learned a ton, and remain confident but humble in the ways we can help solve some real problems faced by the Experience Travel Industry. Special thanks to Douglas Quinby & Bruce Rosard for welcoming us into the industry and conference! I left feeling very excited for the next one ;o) A few thoughts below: 🚀 Dynamic Pricing is the Future Many savvy operators are experimenting with dynamic pricing, but connectivity between reztech and OTAs is still limiting full implementation. While interest grows, many are managing prices manually—or not at all. As booking platforms start to embrace this shift, it’s only a matter of time before dynamic pricing becomes standard. The real question is: how easy will it be to implement across multiple channels? 💡 Benchmarking Business Performance Operators spend hours manually tracking competitor prices, which underscores the need for automated tools that make it easier to gather critical insights. As pricing strategies get more complex, current methods for gathering competitive intelligence just won’t scale. 🛠 Navigating Copycat Tours and Market Saturation With digital platforms making it easier to duplicate successful tours, standing out in crowded marketplaces is becoming harder. Like e-commerce, the next “best-seller” is only a click away, pushing top operators to innovate to stay ahead. 🔑 Unlocking Value in Capacity-Constrained Experiences Certain experiences, like exclusive boat tours, hold unique value because of limited availability. Identifying these “cornered assets” can be a game-changer, allowing operators to boost profitability and rise above the competition. ⭐ Challenges for New Entrants in Review-Weighted Markets Star ratings dominate search results, keeping established players at the top and often stifling innovation from new entrants. There’s an opportunity to level the playing field and foster fresh, innovative experiences. 🔥 Rising Competition Among OTAs While many distribution channels remain stable, agile players like Civitatis and Headout are carving out niches by targeting specific demographics. Meanwhile, established platforms are innovating to maintain their market advantage. The experiences industry is evolving fast, and while change can be daunting, it’s also opening doors for operators ready to embrace new opportunities. We’ve had amazing conversations this week, and they’ve inspired us to double down on building tools to help experience operators thrive. 🌟 👉 What trends did we miss at Arival? cc: Alex Grant, Harry White I'm glad the corgi sales team was able to connect us at the hotel restaurant! #TravelTech #DynamicPricing #ExperienceEconomy #MarketTrends #Walkway

I can’t believe that just happened… If you had told me a few years back that a Walt Disney Exec (thanks Caroline Boone!) and the CEO of Arival (Douglas Quinby) would be discussing my once 'crazy idea' of starting a sandwich walking tour business (A Man and His Sandwich) on the main stage of the travel industry's preeminent conference in front of 1000+ attendee, I’d tell you that you were dreaming. But that’s exactly what just happened. On Day 1, presentation 1, main stage of Arival San Diego. And that’s why I attend - the opportunity to meet the incredible people at the forefront of the travel industry. To take inspiration from conversations with them back to NYC. I only wish I said that quite as eloquently on Dan Christian's Travel Trends podcast when we recorded at Arival... 😂 From connecting with fellow tour operators to learn how we can uplift our individual businesses and industry as a whole Justin Buzzi, Christy Hunter, Pete Kootsikas, John O'Sullivan, Brian Cain, Kai Kaapro, Shannon Largen, Renee Ventrice, Hana Robinson. To meeting with leaders at OTAs that are fundamental to the survival of niche tour businesses like mine Douglas Weiss, Matt Orr, Mike Petrakis, Penny McNamara, Shauna S., Coco Nunez, Anna Cashman, Carolina Ramirez. And having chats with new and old mates who represent the full spectrum of what makes the travel industry really tick Joe Martin, Vitaliy Levit Lorena Q., Mark Topley, Christopher Lovatt, Chris Murray. And yet the biggest impact always come from the intangible moments created over dinners, drinks or activities that occur when you drop so many likeminded travel pros in the same place. Although its going to take me a while to recover from some of those tour operator war stories John… Can’t wait for next year already.

At Arival 360 | San Diego we had a great kickoff session for attendees eager to learn the in-destination lingo. It’s helpful when so many of our industry terms are abbreviations or blanket terms (like tour operator). We also have a great online version (recently updated) that you can check out here: https://lnkd.in/eAfPkRG5 #arivalevent #thebestpartoftravel #travelnews #arivalinsights #tourism 

Get ready, Washington D.C.! 🏛 Next fall, we're bringing our flagship event to the East Coast on 30 Sept - 3 Oct, 2025. Join us at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on the waterfront. This convenient location, with easy access for hosts and operators worldwide, will provide a stunning backdrop for our in-destination conference. Tickets are at their lowest price right now, starting from just $679 (for small Insider Pro operators) for four jam-packed days of learning, networking, and celebrating. Click here to get yours: https://lnkd.in/ej77hn4X #arivalevent #thebestpartoftravel #travelnews #arivalinsights #tourism 

Yes, I do keynotes and have these opportunities to interview amazing industry leaders in travel experiences, but nothing makes me more proud or delighted than to see this team shine. A huge thanks to our nearly 1000 attendees from 450 companies at Arival San Diego, to our 35 global partners and sponsors, our 5 media partners, to our more than 60 speakers from around the world. But most of all thank you to best team in the Best Part of Travel. All of the magic at Arival happens because of you.