A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destination. Travel agencies can provide outdoor recreation activities, airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, travel insurance, package tours, insurance, guide books, VIP airport lounge access, arranging logistics for luggage and medical items delivery for travellers upon request, public transport timetables, car rentals, and bureau de change services. Travel agencies can also serve as general sales agents for airlines that do not have offices in a specific region. A travel agency's main function is to act as an agent, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier. They do not keep inventory in-hand unless they have pre-booked hotel rooms or cabins on a cruise ship for a group travel event such as a wedding, honeymoon, or other group event.
Rakuten Group, Inc. is a Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997. Centered around Rakuten Ichiba, its business-to-many ecommerce platform and one of the largest e-commerce sites in the world, its businesses include financial services utilizing financial technology, as well as digital content and communications services such as messaging app Viber, e-book distributor Kobo, and Japan's fourth mobile carrier Rakuten Mobile. Rakuten has 14,826 employees worldwide, operating in 29 countries and regions, and its revenues totaled US$7.2 billion with operating profits of about US$347.9 million as of 2016. Rakuten is the official sponsor of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona as of 2021. It is often referred to as the "Amazon of Japan".
Adventure travel is a type of niche tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk, and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in recent decades as tourists seek out-of-the-ordinary or "roads less traveled" vacations, but lack of a clear operational definition has hampered measurement of market size and growth. According to the U.S.-based Adventure Travel Trade Association, adventure travel may be any tourist activity that includes physical activity, a cultural exchange, and connection with nature.
Tripadvisor, Inc. is an American online travel company that operates a website and mobile app with user-generated content and a comparison shopping website. It also offers online hotel reservations and bookings for transportation, lodging, travel experiences, and restaurants. Its headquarters are in Needham, Massachusetts.
Kayak is an American online travel agency and metasearch engine owned and operated by Booking Holdings.
Agoda.com or just Agoda is a Singaporean online travel agency and metasearch engine for hotels, vacation rentals, flights, and airport transfer. It is owned by Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., headquartered in Singapore, and it is currently a subsidiary of Booking Holdings.
HomeAway was a vacation rental marketplace. It operated through 50 websites in 23 languages through which it offered rentals of cabins, condos, castles, villas, barns, and farmhouses.
Rakuten Viki is an American video streaming website. It streams videos similar to other services, but also allows users to subtitle content available in 200 languages as well as provides original programming. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, it has offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea.
Tours4fun is an online travel booking website where travelers can book vacation packages, hotels, cruises, tours and activities. The company partners with local and international tour and travel suppliers worldwide. The website also offers an interactive travel companion forum, travelers reviews and photos.
Tripfez Travel is an online travel agency and metasearch engine focusing on Muslims and Halal tourism.
MakeMyTrip is an Indian online travel company founded in 2000. Headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, the company provides online travel services including airline tickets, domestic and international holiday packages, hotel reservations, rail, and bus tickets. As of 31 March 2018, they have 14 company-owned travel stores in 14 cities, over 30 franchisee-owned travel stores in 28 cities, and counters in four major airports in India. MakeMyTrip has also numerous international offices in New York, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, Bangkok, and Dubai.
HotelQuickly was a hotel booking website and smartphone app. The company was bought and lead by Rising Sun Jerome Cle in August 2017 The company then ceased operations in December 2018, cancelling thousands of bookings without providing refunds.
Musement is an online platform for activities, tours, museums, shows and art events which launched in March 2014 a service initially focused in Europe and then progressively expanding to the rest of the world. Musement aggregates third-party activities and tickets for users to book online. Tour suppliers have access to upload and manage various activities through the platform. The company's offers are available via website, iOS and Android. Once a customer books an activity, they receive a digital voucher or e-ticket for the reservation which can be saved on their device or printed. The company has four major competitors in this market, Viator, GetYourGuide, Berlin-based startup, Klook, Hong Kong-based startup, and Peek.com, a U.S.-based startup. The headquarters are located in Milan.
GetYourGuide is a Berlin-based online travel agency and online marketplace for tour guides and excursions. It is accessible via website and mobile app for iOS and Android.
Trip.com is an international online travel agency. The website is owned by Trip.com Group, one of the world's largest online travel agencies with over 400 million users worldwide, and also the parent of Skyscanner.
Carousell is a Singaporean smartphone and web-based consumer to consumer and business to consumer marketplace for buying and selling new and secondhand goods. Headquartered in Singapore, it also operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Carousell is available on both iOS and Android devices.
Grab Holdings Inc., commonly known as Grab, is a Southeast Asian technology company headquartered in Singapore and Indonesia. In addition to transportation, the company offers food delivery and digital payments services via a mobile app.
Traveloka is an Indonesian unicorn company that provides online airline ticketing and hotel booking services, and it presently has a strong presence in Southeast Asia and Australia. It recently expanded to offer lifestyle products and services, such as attraction tickets, activities, car rental, and restaurant vouchers. Traveloka is regarded as functionally similar to Expedia.
Withlocals is an experiential travel company that connects travellers to local hosts who offer private, personalised tours. Describing itself as trying to achieve "mass personalisation" rather than offering group or package tours, Withlocals is cited as an example of the role and impact of the sharing economy on tourism – particularly culinary tourism – and the consumer trends for "authenticity" and "experiences".
Thomas Cook Tourism (UK) Company Limited, known as Thomas Cook UK, is an Anglo-Chinese package holiday provider which offers 'Flight + Hotel' packages and Hotel only bookings. The company was launched in 2019, when Chinese firm Fosun International purchased the brand from the insolvent Thomas Cook Group, and began trading in September 2020.
