Tour Operator Industry Statistics 2026: Market Size, OTA Share and Booking Benchmarks

Statistics about tours and activities travel fast and lose their sources on the way. This page collects the figures operators ask about most, and keeps only those we could trace to the research firm, company filing or platform that published them. Where a number is old, or where two sources measure different things, we say so.

In these sources, "experiences" means tours, activities and attractions together.

Key numbers at a glance

• $271 billion: global experiences market in 2025 (Arival and Phocuswright, 2026).
• $342 billion: projected market size in 2029 (same source).
• 33%: share of experiences gross bookings made online in 2025, against 64% for travel overall (same source).
• 37%: share of operators' bookings that came through OTAs in 2025 (Arival operator survey, 2026).
• 60%: share of travelers who booked tours and attractions at least three days ahead in 2025 (Arival, 2025).
• More than 70%: share of operators that are small or micro-businesses (Arival and Phocuswright, 2026).
• Almost 2 in 5: operators without a reservation system (Arival operator survey, 2024).

Market size and growth

• The global experiences market reached $271 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $342 billion by 2029, an 8% compound annual growth rate from 2023 to 2029, against 5% for the wider travel sector. Source: Arival and Phocuswright, The Outlook for Travel Experiences 2019–2029, February 2026.
• The market was $253 billion in 2024, when experiences bookings grew 17% against 6% for travel overall. Growth is expected to settle at around 6% a year through 2029; the 8% average for 2023 to 2029 includes that strong 2024. Source: Arival and Phocuswright, Travel Experiences 2026 market sizing, published by Phocuswright, July 2026.

Arival describes experiences as outpacing every other major segment of the travel industry.

Two cautions when quoting these numbers. First, the 8% growth rate is nominal, as PhocusWire's report on the study notes, so part of the increase is price rather than more trips. Second, $253 billion and $271 billion are consecutive years of the same series, not competing estimates: always quote the year with the number.

Online vs offline bookings

• Across the whole market, 33% of experiences gross bookings were made online in 2025, up from 17% in 2019 and projected to reach 42% by 2029. The comparable figure for travel overall is 64%. Source: Arival and Phocuswright, February 2026.
• Operators surveyed by Arival reported that 60% of their bookings were online in both 2024 and 2025. Source: Arival, Global Operator Landscape (4th edition), January 2026, based on more than 5,000 operators.

The two figures measure different things. The first is the share of booking value across the entire market, including walk-ups, attractions and businesses that never answer surveys. The second is what responding operators report for their own bookings. Quote whichever matches your question, and name it.

OTAs and direct bookings

• OTAs accounted for 37% of operators' bookings in 2025, while the share booked on operators' own websites fell, most sharply for tour and activity operators. Source: Arival, January 2026.
• In the previous survey wave, that share was one third in 2024, up from 24% in 2019. For visitor attractions, the OTA share more than doubled, from 8% to 18%. Source: Arival, Global Operator Landscape (3rd edition), April 2025.
• OTA gross bookings in experiences are expected to grow more than fivefold between 2019 and 2029, making them the fastest-growing channel. Source: Arival and Phocuswright, February 2026.
• Tripadvisor's Experiences segment, which includes Viator, reported about $4.7 billion in gross booking value in 2025, up about 13%, with revenue of $924 million and about 22.9 million experience bookings, up about 16%. Source: Tripadvisor earnings release, February 2026.
• GetYourGuide's chief executive said in October 2025 that revenue was approaching €1 billion for the past year, with a record 10 million experiences booked in the third quarter and the value of those bookings up 30% on 2024. Source: Skift, October 2025, reporting the company's statement.

For what that shift means for your own channel mix, see our guide to direct bookings vs OTA bookings.

How and when travelers book

• 60% of travelers booked tour and attraction tickets at least three days in advance in 2025. At the extremes, 17% of tour bookers booked a month or more ahead, while 20% of tour bookers, and slightly more attraction visitors, booked on the same day. Source: Arival, December 2025.
• Walk-up booking remains common: nearly 1 in 5 travelers under 55, and 24% of those 55 and over, booked as a walk-up on their most recent trip, among U.S. and European travelers surveyed. Source: Arival and Phocuswright, July 2026.
• Travelers who book experiences do so several times per trip, from 3.5 to 4.7 bookings depending on category and region. Source: Arival and Phocuswright, July 2026.

Why travelers book ahead, or don't

• Among U.S. travelers who booked attraction tickets ahead, the top reasons were liking to plan (43%), making sure they got the experience they wanted (39%), better prices (33%) and worry about availability in crowded destinations (32%).
• Among those who booked attraction tickets at the last minute, within three days of the visit, the top reasons were wanting flexibility on vacation (41%), a travel party that could not decide (24%) and simply not having planned (19%).

Source: Arival, December 2025. Both groups matter: early bookers respond to clear availability and price, late bookers to a checkout that works on a phone in a few minutes.

Mobile bookings

• Mobile accounted for nearly 40% of direct online bookings for tour and activity operators, and 52% of attraction website bookings, up from 37% in 2019. Source: Arival and Phocuswright operator survey, November 2022, based on more than 3,500 operators.

This is the oldest figure on the page and the most recent public one we could trace to its source. In our view today's share is likely higher, but we have no newer public figure to confirm it. Our guide to mobile booking for tours covers what it means for your checkout.

Commission benchmarks

• Airbnb states that it typically charges Experience hosts a 20% service fee, deducted from the payout. Source: Airbnb Help Center, read October 2026.
• Viator and GetYourGuide set commission in their supplier agreements and do not publish a single standard rate.

Any precise "average OTA commission" you see quoted is an estimate. Our guide to OTA commission rates collects the ranges operators report, platform by platform, and how to negotiate them.

Operators and software

• More than 70% of operators are small or micro-businesses, and the supply base has never consolidated the way airlines, hotels and cruise have. Source: Arival and Phocuswright, July 2026.
• Almost two in five operators worldwide did not have a reservation system at the time of Arival's third operator survey. Source: Arival, Global Operator Landscape (3rd edition), November 2024, based on more than 7,000 operators, as stated in Arival's announcement, as published by Breaking Travel News.

What the numbers mean for operators

• The market is growing, but distribution is shifting. Online share is steady among surveyed operators while OTAs take more of it, so the growth is reaching operators increasingly through marketplaces.
• Most of the market is still offline. With two-thirds of gross bookings offline and walk-ups common, a phone, a desk and a QR code still matter, and need to feed the same availability as your online channels.
• Travelers book late and often. A fifth of tour bookers book on the day, and travelers make several bookings per trip, which rewards live availability and instant confirmation.
• Marketplaces are scale players. With Tripadvisor's Experiences segment alone handling about 22.9 million bookings in 2025, being listed well, with accurate live availability, is part of running a tour business rather than an optional extra.
• Direct still needs work. As the share booked on operators' own websites falls, a fast mobile checkout and a reason to book direct matter more each year, not less.
• The software gap is an opportunity. If almost two in five operators were still without a reservation system in 2024, those that connect to marketplaces and take bookings on a phone are competing with a lot of businesses that cannot.

The figures are most useful as a mirror. Pull last season's bookings and work out three numbers for your own business: the share that came through marketplaces, the share booked online at all, and the share booked on the day of the tour. If your marketplace share is far above the surveyed operators' 37%, your direct channel may need attention. If your online share is far below 60%, travelers who would rather book online may be finding it hard to do so. If almost nobody books on the day, check whether your cut-offs and mobile checkout allow it.

Travelity is built for that gap: one system for direct bookings, marketplace channels including GetYourGuide, Viator, Trip.com and Google Things to Do, offline bookings and the day's operations. The trial runs for 21 days with no card, and setup is free.

Who the sources are

• Arival is a research and events organization for the in-destination experiences industry. Its Global Operator Landscape surveys several thousand operators worldwide; its traveler studies survey travelers, mostly in the U.S. and Europe.
• Phocuswright is a travel industry research firm. The market-sizing figures here come from a joint study with Arival.
• Company figures come from Tripadvisor's earnings release and from GetYourGuide's chief executive, as reported by Skift. Airbnb's fee comes from its own help center.

How we sourced these figures

Every figure was checked in October 2026 against the publisher's own page or a company filing, with one exception noted beside it. We left out figures we could only find in statistics round-ups, paywalled databases or unattributed blog posts. Survey figures describe the operators or travelers who responded, not every business. We review this page every six months, and when new editions of these studies are published.

Frequently asked questions

How big is the tours and activities market?

Arival and Phocuswright size the global travel experiences market, covering tours, activities and attractions, at $271 billion in 2025 and project $342 billion by 2029, an 8% compound annual growth rate from 2023 against 5% for travel overall.

What share of tours and activities are booked online?

Across the whole market, 33% of gross bookings were made online in 2025, against 64% for travel overall, according to Arival and Phocuswright. Operators surveyed by Arival reported a higher figure for their own businesses: 60% of bookings online in both 2024 and 2025.

What share of tour bookings come through OTAs?

Operators surveyed by Arival reported that OTAs accounted for 37% of their bookings in 2025. In the previous survey wave, the share was one third in 2024, up from 24% in 2019.

How far in advance do travelers book tours?

Arival found that 60% of travelers booked tour and attraction tickets at least three days ahead in 2025. At the extremes, 17% of tour bookers booked a month or more ahead, while 20% booked on the same day.

What commission do OTAs charge tour operators?

Few marketplaces publish a standard rate. Airbnb states that it typically charges Experience hosts a 20% service fee. Viator and GetYourGuide set commission in their supplier agreements and do not publish a single figure, so operators should compare the rate in their own contract.

In short

Experiences are a $271 billion market growing faster than travel overall, still mostly booked offline, with OTAs taking a rising share of what is booked online. Travelers book late and often, and many operators still lack the systems to meet them there.

Related guides

• Tour and activity industry terms every operator should know
• OTA commission rates in 2026: what tour operators actually pay
• Direct bookings vs OTA bookings: getting the mix right
• Mobile booking for tours: why it matters and how to optimize