Culture Trip is launching multi-day tours as part of its online travel agency, which it launched two years ago.
Called Trips, the tours element will be put together by travel experts and local insiders and combine places to stay with experiences, according to the company.
It adds that the tours are part of its evolution from a content publisher to a travel e-commerce brand.
Culture Trip says the experience packages will be available to book via its website with 30 itineraries initially available such as Colorado scenery, Costa Rica’s cloud forests and surf towns and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.
The company says the experiences will enable travelers to connect “with a place, its people and culture.”
Trips will last from four to 16 days with the first departures taking place in winter 2021.
Geraint Hamer, Culture Trip’s vice president for tours, packages and wholesale, says: “We know that exploring the world, discovering something new and meeting people is now top of the agenda for many. So we have created TRIPS by Culture Trip to offer something new and exciting that brings together people who want to experience the world like never before.“
Culture Trip raised $80 million in 2018 with a plan to build and launch an OTA combining its travel content with bookable hotels initially and a strategy to add flights later.
The OTA was launched in August 2019 with Codegen as its technical partner and Expedia providing an inventory feed with the promise of more partners to come.
Culture Trip was betting on the OTA being its big commercial play and travel retail experts, including Andy Washington, previously U.K. and Europe managing director for Expedia, were brought in to run the OTA.
Washington left the company in October 2019 shortly after the launch of the OTA, saying he was leaving with “a heavy heart” and describing the company as one of the most “entrepreneurial and future thinking in the travel industry.”
CEO and founder Khris Naudts stepped down as CEO in August 2020. He remains as chairman of the business.
While the multi-day tours segment has suffered during the pandemic, many are betting on its strong future at a time when consumers, particularly digital natives, are seeking experiences in small groups.