GetYourGuide’s COO Tao Tao: On Platform Curation, Competition, Innovation, and Anthony Bourdain

Tourpreneur hosts Mitch Bach and Peter Syme come to you live from Berlin! They attended GetYourGuide's Unlocked conference, where over 300 of their tour, activity, and attraction partners gathered from around the world to have a day-long discussion that will shape the future of the platform, and our industry in part. (Last year's supplier discussions focused on the need for curation, leading directly to a major shift in the platform's direction.)

Peter and Mitch spent most of the day speaking with tour operators there, but when end-of-day drinks happened, GetYourGuide's COO Tao Tao said "let's grab some beers and go have a chat!" And we couldn't resist the chance to pepper him with questions.

In an age of carefully scripted, PR-focused corporate conversations, we appreciated Tao's candor and willingness to answer everything we threw at him. Our questions were a little wacky, a little philosophical and extremely eclectic. But he didn't shy away from anything. And the result really exposes GetYourGuide's vision (and bet) for how an experiences marketplace should look in 2025 and beyond.

This conversation is wide-ranging to say the least, and a good follow-up after our podcast in January (which is also a must-listen).

In this episode we cover a lot of terrain:

• Mitch gets a little wacky with social commentary: Are reviews actually good for our industry? Are we all better off experiencing travel through serendipity and wandering, rather than organized, booked experiences?
• Pete notices an end-of-day discussion on "moods" and asked Tao whether GetYourGuide should be developing mood and feeling filters!
• Tao shares why they created a conference to show up for their suppliers, even when there's tough love in the room.
• We ask how, 9 months later, the shift to a more curated marketplace is progressing. Are we nearing the end of the process, or just the beginning?
• We veer into a strange conversation around which movie or TV show best describes the current OTA situation, and how GetYourGuide thinks about what they're doing as an organization that partially sets the tone for what tours & activities are.
• Tao shares how in the age of AI, product differentiation and curation will only get more important.
• We all agree our industry needs to grow the pie. But how? In what direction?
• New AI reviews and filters point to a future possibility where the right tour is surfaced in a more personalized way, and quality is assessed beyond star ratings.
• Finally, we get Tao's advice for new businesses and how they should position themselves in the industry and the platform for best success.

And GetYourGuide is a sponsor of TourWeek 2025, our global conference with 400 tour & activity industry players coming to Charleston, SC for more meaty, frothy conversations!

More show notes and resources on tourpreneur.com