Amazon Explore launched recently, tries to capture consumer demand for experiencing virtual tours and activities in destinations, such as how to cook a dish, personalized guided tours of cities and attractions.

Some local experiences executives believe that this is Amazon's initial step toward entering in full force the highly lucrative and digitally-underserved "Tours & Activities/ Local Experiences" travel sector and that it would be an "easy implementation" for Amazon to become an online retailer/online travel agency in the local experiences sector and can do this "just by opening a category" on their site.

Other industry experts believe that these virtual tours are more like curated reality cooking and travel shows, more like Amazon Prime TV series, and not yet another attempt by Amazon to enter the travel business as an OTA and that the online retail giant does not have the expertise and technology to enter the travel space as a major player.

The question is, is Amazon Explore yet another attempt by Amazon to enter the travel space as a major player and online travel agency/retailer?

Max Starkov
Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant

Amazon has tried unsuccessfully to tackle the online travel space twice in the past. Back in 2013-2015, Amazon attempted to do this “organically” with its ill-conceived Amazon Local and Amazon Destinations. In 2019 Amazon launched a flight search and booking service in India, powered by online travel agency Cleartrip, buried deep into its Amazon Pay section.

I do not believe Amazon Explore is yet another attempt by the online retail giant to enter the travel business. I see this selection of curated virtual tours (how to cook a dish, personalized guided tours of cities and attractions) more like a new Amazon Prime Streaming video series. With only 30 “virtual episodes” in North America, 25 in Europe, and 5 in Australia, how serious a threat is this to any existing player? TripAdvisor's Viator has over 1 million local experiences, 200,000 bookable in real-time!

Now, if Amazon with its gargantuan market cap of $1.6 trillion acquires TripAdvisor with its puny market cap of $2.6 billion, then this will be an entry into the travel industry with a bang!

Amazon knows better than any other player how to sell online. By integrating its retail offerings into TripAdvisor's local experiences offerings and v.v. Amazon could change online local tours, activities, and experiences forever.

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