TourRadar: How a B2C Booking Platform Became B2B | Travel Research Online

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TourRadar: How a B2C Booking Platform Became B2B

TourRadar, a company that aggregates 2,500 international adventure operators offering 50,000 tour products on a single booking platform, has made its network of operators commissionable to the retail travel community. The company is offering 12 percent commission till June 30 as part of its efforts to invite potential travel advisor partners to its network.

Of course, any travel advisor is free to book with virtually any of TourRadar’s 2,500 operators independently. Many agents find the platform useful for research when trying to find good boutique operators of various specialties. But booking through TourRadar has advantages, and the company has continued to expand its value proposition since its founding in 2010. In November 2021, the company invited travel advisors in as partners. Now a travel advisor who is using the site for research can follow through and make the purchase, then get paid commission through the network. It’s a more streamlined solution than approaching the operators individually.

The company is now making a concerted push to attract travel advisors. Agents can use the tools on the platform, gain searchable access to a large volume of curated adventure tour operators and their products, and earn commission from the sales. Commissions are 10 percent for most purchases, but the company just extended an offer of 12 percent commission until June 30.

The 12 percent applies to almost all the products available through the platform. According to Christian Wolters, chief marketing officer, “Ninety percent of our operators will offer 11-12 percent. Less than 10 percent of the time, we offer a bit less, depending on the operator booked.”

A significant feature of the arrangement is that TourRadar does not pay the operators till the tour departs. That provides a layer of security to anyone who may want to book with a boutique operator in some exotic country, but is hesitant about wiring thousands of dollars to a small operator in a remote destination.

Because there is still some stigma surrounding the word “tour,” left over from the historical period when tours became known as standardized and dull, TourRadar prefers the term “organized adventure” to describe the programs offered through its platforms.

From a Half Shell

TourRadar seems to have evolved, more or less organically, from a series of events. It was founded by two Australian brothers, Travis and Shawn Pittman. Their intent was to establish a technological platform that could be “the epicenter of the $200 billion global adventure travel ecosystem, by connecting travelers, operators, and distribution partners like travel advisors, OTAs, GDSs, airlines, influencers, and content providers,” according to the company’s website.

The founding of the company happened almost by accident. It was the result of a dismally failed attempt to go on a sailboat adventure with a few friends. I learned the story from Christian Wolters.

Christian Wolters, Chief Marketing Officer, TourRadar

“Travis’s inspiration,” said Wolters, “was that he booked a sailing trip with his friends in Croatia. He had to do everything, had to call the sailboat rental company, coordinate his friends, the payments, and everything else that goes into a sailing trip. Then he showed up in Croatia, and he couldn’t find the boatyard. It was a bit of a nightmare. He thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there was some technological solution to this problem?’”

By that time, Travis Pittman already knew that there are multitudes of great operators out there providing great products, but they’re difficult to find. After his own frustrating experience, he set out to create that technological solution. The first thing he did was bring his brother on board.

Travis Pittman, CEO, TourRadar

“Travis’s brother Shawn is a more financial person,” said Wolters. “He’s concerned about the payment side of things. If you find a Kenya operator that’s going to take you into the Masai Mara, it’s kind of strange to suddenly wire $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 dollars to a little operator in Africa and hope that when getting off the plane there’s someone waiting with a sign with your name on it. So, one of the earliest things was protecting payments.”

The company is now based in Vienna, with offices in Toronto and Brisbane, Australia. But the Pittmans grew up in the Northern Territory of Australia, the home of Ayer’s Rock (now known by its native name of Uluru), a lot of aboriginal territory, such as Arnhem Land and Kakadu National Park, and is the apex of adventure travel in Australia.

Travis developed a passion for adventure from an early age. He spent as much of his time as he could in outdoor activities, such as mountain biking, wakeboarding, running and hiking.

Today Travis is chief executive officer of the company. His brother and partner Shawn is chief financial operator. Travis is based in Vienna, Shawn is based in Brisbane, Australia.

From B2B to B2C

Shawn Pittman, Co-Founder, TourRadar

TourRadar made the transformation from B2C to B2B during the dark hibernation of the early pandemic period.

“During the pandemic, we had a look at the business, as many travel companies did when there was a lull in sales,” said Wolters. “We looked at our role in the industry, as we were connected to so many operators. We realized there is a lot of bookings that are happening offline, with travel agents, or directly with our tour operators as well.”

Many of the people interested in the kind of travel offered through TourRadar want to book through travel agents. So TourRadar decided to try to bring travel advisors into its business.

“That’s when we hatched the category of adventure booking platform,” said Wolters. “We wanted to define what our role was within the industry, in which we are basically connecting tour operators with our platform and offering distribution solutions. One is through our marketplace, and another can be through travel agents. From that point forward, we decided to connect with travel agents in a number of different ways. They’re going directly through the platform as individual agents or connecting through consortia or large agency groups.”

Since the initiative to attract agents launched, the company has brought 5,000 agents on board. Wolters expects travel agent revenue to rise to 20 percent of the company’s business in the next couple of years.

The Australian brothers who came in fresh from outside the industry soon caught on to the value of the retail segment.

“We realized that the service that they provide is exceptional,” said Wolters. “And they have a unique group of customers, special customers, and they offer services that we don’t. We don’t offer flights. We don’t offer other travel products. We know the client has to somehow put together a full package, beyond the tour itself, the organized adventure. So there’s a lot of value in travel agents, to get flights and everything else, and the organized adventure that we’re providing as well.”

Action Against the Climate Crisis

As TourRadar continues to evolve and find new ways to redefine its role in the industry, it is now leaning into ways that the travel industry can help with the climate crisis.

The company recently unveiled its Climate Action Plan, which will begin to set standards and requirements for its active operators to have sustainability initiatives in place by 2030. It’s developing an impact measurement tool to simplify carbon measurement and reporting for tour operators. It’s a modest first step toward dealing with the climate problem. The strategy is to start with the measurement of carbon output, in order to begin efforts to reduce that output, and eventually move toward efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere, through emerging technologies.

“My thought is that technology got us into this,” said Wolters, “it’s going to take technology to get us out of it.”

According to a company statement: “The Impact Measurement Tool, which TourRadar aims to develop in collaboration with its partners, will provide a simple and centralized way of carbon measurement and reporting, allowing operators and industry supply chains to focus more energy and efforts on decarbonizing and mitigating the footprint of their adventures and operations. This tool will be available as an open-source solution in the TourRadar Operator Dashboard.”

According to TourRadar CEO Travis Pittman: “By leveraging our position at the center of the Adventure Booking Platform (ABP) ecosystem, we can educate and drive sustainability initiatives and rebuild travel in a better way.”

This move will not by itself save the world from climate change, but it’s a step in the right direction, a contribution to the worldwide effort. Meanwhile, this is another episode in which the retail travel sector has proven its strength and value to those previously standing outside of it.


headshot of David Cogswell

David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.

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