Tiqets is a Dutch-founded ticketing technology company that has rapidly grown into a global leader in the tours and activities sector. Since its launch in 2014, Tiqets has focused on digitizing access to museums, cultural sites, theme parks and attractions, connecting thousands of venues with millions of travelers worldwide .
The company has sold over 50 million tickets in more than 60 countries, underscoring its success in reshaping how tourists and locals discover and book experiences .
This industry report provides an in-depth analysis of Tiqets’ business model, growth strategies, market position, and the key factors behind its success.
It will examine how Tiqets differentiates itself from competitors, the technological innovations fueling its user experience and scalability, its strategic partnerships and global expansion efforts, the financial backing that has propelled its growth, and the competitive landscape in which it operates.
The analysis also considers broader travel and tourism trends that have enabled Tiqets to thrive.
Business Model and Differentiation
Tiqets operates an online platform (web and mobile app) that serves as a marketplace for cultural and leisure experiences, primarily focusing on tickets for museums, historic landmarks, attractions, and related tours.
The company’s business model is commission-based: Tiqets partners directly with venues and tour operators to list their tickets, and travelers use Tiqets to discover and instantly book those experiences.
This model bridges a critical gap in the travel industry – the shift of attraction ticket sales from on-site and paper-based methods to online and mobile channels . By offering an “instant ticketing” solution with mobile entry, Tiqets differentiates itself through convenience and immediacy.
Customers can purchase skip-the-line and even last-minute tickets on their phones and receive digital vouchers instantly, avoiding long queues and printed tickets . This emphasis on seamless, on-demand access has been a core selling point.
Tiqets often highlights its ability to deliver frictionless entry to popular venues – for example, enabling a traveler to buy a ticket to the Louvre or Vatican Museums on short notice and use a mobile QR code for direct entry .
Another differentiator is Tiqets’ focus on cultural attractions as opposed to general tours or events. Unlike some competitors that span concert tickets or broad adventure activities, Tiqets has deliberately stayed in the lane of museums, attractions, and cultural experiences (avoiding segments like sports or concert ticketing) .
This specialization allows Tiqets to build deep partnerships in the cultural sector and tailor its product features (like multi-attraction passes or audio guides) to the needs of museum-goers and sightseers.
It has also carved out a niche where technology adoption was lagging – many museums only recently embraced online booking, timed entry, and capacity management, areas where Tiqets provides expertise.
In essence, Tiqets differentiates by being a culture-focused OTA (online travel agency) with an emphasis on user convenience, positioning itself as a platform offering “easy booking and skip-the-line entry on your phone” for the world’s top cultural venues.
Tiqets’ value proposition extends to the supply side as well. For venue partners, Tiqets is not just a reseller but a technology partner helping venues reach a wider audience and modernize their ticketing.
Its platform offers venues a self-service onboarding system and tools to manage time-slot tickets, variable pricing, and real-time inventory updates. By 2019, Tiqets was already working with 3,000+ museums and attractions, including world-renowned sites like the Louvre, Sagrada Família, the Vatican Museums, and the Empire State Building.
Many of these partners benefit from Tiqets’ ability to offer “skip-the-line” admissions and to collect rich visitor data for them (with customer consent), adding value beyond a standard ticket sale.
This close cooperation with cultural institutions has reinforced Tiqets’ brand as a trustworthy, high-quality distributor (in fact, Tiqets has at times been the highest-rated ticketing app in its category ).
The strategy of focusing on convenience, cultural content, and strong venue relationships has clearly paid off: Tiqets is recognized as a leading platform in the online attractions ticketing market, particularly strong in major European tourist destinations where skipping the line and mobile tickets are now considered essential by many travelers.
Technological Innovations and Platform Features
At the heart of Tiqets’ growth is a robust technology platform designed for superior user experience and operational scalability. Tiqets has invested heavily in mobile-first technology, ensuring that every ticket can be delivered to and redeemed from a smartphone.
The result is an app and website that allow for instant, paperless ticket delivery, even for bookings made on the day of the visit. This was a significant innovation in a sector where, historically, tourists often had to print vouchers or buy tickets on-site.
By integrating QR codes and scanning technology, Tiqets enabled many venues to implement “show your phone” entry for the first time, streamlining admissions for both visitors and venue staff.
The platform also supports sophisticated features like timed entry tickets (in response to the rise of crowd management needs and capacity controls at popular sites) – an area that has grown in importance due to both the popularity of blockbuster exhibitions and new public safety norms.
Tiqets’ architecture has been built for scalability, with a strong focus on API integration and cloud infrastructure. Early on, Tiqets developed a distributor API that allows third-party partners (such as travel agencies, airlines, hotel concierges, and other websites) to programmatically access Tiqets’ inventory of tickets.
This API-centric approach not only expanded Tiqets’ distribution (driving about 35% of its revenue via partners as of 2019) but also proved the platform’s ability to handle high volumes in a stable way.
For instance, Google selected Tiqets as a launch partner for its “Reserve with Google” initiative in the tours & activities space, integrating Tiqets’ instant ticket booking into Google Search, Maps, and Assistant.
Google’s decision to partner with Tiqets was attributed to Tiqets’ fully digital ticketing process, last-minute availability, and 24/7 customer support in multiple languages – and its capability to meet Google’s stringent technical requirements for seamless bookings.
Similarly, Tiqets integrated with Apple Maps to offer in-app ticket booking for attractions, reflecting its strategy of embedding into the digital ecosystems where travelers plan their visits.
These integrations demonstrate Tiqets’ innovation in being an early adopter of open distribution – essentially becoming a ticketing-as-a-service platform that other travel brands can plug into. This boosts Tiqets’ reach while showcasing the scalability of its tech stack (cloud-based, with high uptime to handle peak tourist seasons).
The user-facing side of the Tiqets platform is also rich with features aimed at enhancing the experience and encouraging higher engagement. The interface is localized into 14+ languages and supports numerous currencies, ensuring travelers globally can use it comfortably.
Tiqets uses data analytics to personalize recommendations; for example, the app and site can suggest popular or highly rated experiences nearby, or bundle attractions that are commonly visited together.
The company has indicated that it leverages AI and machine learning to improve this personalization and optimize pricing strategies . According to Tiqets’ CEO Laurens Leurink in 2024, applying AI tools has helped Tiqets “quadruple its sales without adding staff”, by automating marketing and customer service tasks and delivering smarter targeting of customers.
For example, AI-driven chatbots handle routine customer inquiries, and predictive algorithms identify which users might be interested in a museum plus an audio guide versus a combo-ticket for multiple attractions.
These technological initiatives have allowed Tiqets to scale rapidly while maintaining a lean operation. Notably, coming out of the pandemic, Tiqets saw a surge in online bookings – in summer 2022, its European bookings were up 220% compared to pre-pandemic levels – and the platform was able to handle this traffic growth without degradation of service.
In terms of product innovation, Tiqets has expanded its features to add more value for both travelers and venues. It introduced combination tickets and city bundles that let users buy one package for multiple attractions (often at a slight discount), encouraging travelers to explore more while simplifying the purchase process.
Tiqets also supports various ticket types – from basic entry tickets to skip-the-line passes, guided tour options, and even add-ons like audio guides or transport – all delivered digitally. The ease of use is consistently highlighted; as Tiqets’ motto suggests, it offers “More ways to culture” by making discovery and booking easy and mobile.
The company’s continuous platform updates (including faster load times, intuitive UI, and secure payments) reflect a user-centric design approach and a commitment to technological leadership in the space.
Overall, Tiqets’ tech innovations – from its instant ticketing system and multi-language support to its API integrations and AI-driven optimizations – have provided the backbone for its global scalability and strong user satisfaction.
Strategic Partnerships and Global Expansion
Tiqets has pursued strategic partnerships to expand its global reach, including a high-profile alliance with Klook (an Asia-Pacific market leader) that connects both platforms’ inventories for the benefit of travelers and attraction operators.
Partnerships have been a cornerstone of Tiqets’ growth strategy on multiple fronts: supply acquisition, distribution, and market expansion. On the supply side, Tiqets forged direct relationships with thousands of venues and cultural institutions worldwide.
These partnerships often involve integration into the venue’s ticketing system or the provision of Tiqets’ software to facilitate online sales. By earning the trust of iconic attractions (e.g., the Louvre, Vatican Museums, Sagrada Família, Empire State Building), Tiqets not only secured marquee content for its users but also built credibility to onboard other venues at scale.
The company emphasizes gratitude for these collaborations, acknowledging that its success is “built on partnerships” and close cooperation with museums and tour operators.
Tiqets even launched an annual Remarkable Venue Awards program to recognize excellence among museums and attractions, an initiative that further solidified its relationships in the industry and positioned Tiqets as a partner invested in venue success.
On the distribution side, Tiqets has been very proactive in forming alliances that put its ticket inventory in front of more customers globally. An early example was integrating with major online travel agencies (OTAs) and travel portals.
Tiqets built an affiliate network and API partnerships with over 2,500 travel companies by 2019, including online agencies, hotel chains, airlines, and tour operators.
Notably, China’s largest OTA Ctrip (Trip.com) became a partner, using Tiqets’ API to upsell attraction tickets to Chinese travelers booking trips abroad. Such third-party channels contributed a significant portion of revenue (around 35% in 2019) and allowed Tiqets to tap into established user bases in various markets.
More recently, Tiqets has embraced partnerships beyond the travel industry’s usual suspects. For instance, in 2025 it teamed up with Kruidvat, a large Dutch retail and pharmacy chain, to sell attraction tickets through the retailer’s online store.
This collaboration enabled Tiqets to reach everyday shoppers in the Benelux region, illustrating how creative distribution partnerships can open new customer segments (people might discover a zoo or theme park ticket on a retail site and book it just as they would a product).
Likewise, Tiqets partnered with a mobile data provider (Firsty) to bundle connectivity with attraction tickets for travelers – a convenience play for tourists who need internet access on the go.
And in mid-2025, Tiqets announced a synergy with Italia.it, the official Italian tourism portal, integrating Tiqets’ full inventory of Italian museum and tour tickets into that national platform.
This government partnership not only drives more bookings to Italian cultural sites but also serves Italy’s goal of promoting lesser-known destinations via digital distribution, demonstrating Tiqets’ value as a partner in destination marketing.
Perhaps the most noteworthy strategic partnership has been with Klook, one of Asia-Pacific’s leading travel experience platforms. In September 2022, Tiqets and Klook entered a global partnership to share content across their platforms, effectively connecting Tiqets’ strength in Europe/North America with Klook’s strength in Asia.
This move was unprecedented among major competitors in the tours and activities sector. The integration means a Tiqets user can book experiences that were originally sourced by Klook (such as attractions in Asian destinations where Klook has deep inventory), and vice versa, a Klook user can book Tiqets-listed venues in Europe or the US.
Both companies retain their customer interfaces, but behind the scenes their supply channels are linked, creating a “world-class selection” for consumers and greater market reach for their venue partners. “Two of the biggest players in the OTA space have joined forces,” noted Tiqets’ announcement, highlighting that this alliance would give each other’s suppliers much broader visibility in new regions.
For Tiqets, this partnership was a strategic shortcut to expansion in Asia-Pacific without building everything from scratch; Klook’s content instantly bolstered Tiqets’ offerings in that region.
In return, Klook gained access to Tiqets’ strong portfolio of museums and attractions in Europe and North America. Luuc Elzinga, Tiqets’ President and founder, explained that Tiqets’ network of 4,000+ museums and attractions (many with guided tour options) would “benefit from greater visibility in the APAC market,” while “Tiqets will benefit from new supply that Klook already has connected” in Asia .
This pragmatic approach – partnering with a would-be competitor – underscored Tiqets’ focus on the end-goal of global coverage. It also reflects how fragmented and large the tours & activities market is; even big players found it advantageous to collaborate to meet surging post-pandemic demand.
Indeed, as travel rebounded in 2022, Tiqets saw booking surges, and alliances like the Klook partnership positioned both companies to capture the pent-up demand for experiences as international tourism recovered .
In terms of physical presence and localization, Tiqets’ global expansion has been deliberate and well-supported. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam but has established offices and teams in strategic markets – including cities like Seattle, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia for the U.S. market; London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, and Copenhagen in Europe; and even Bangkok to have a foothold in Asia.
As of 2022, Tiqets employed 180+ people across these global offices. This on-the-ground presence aids in building partnerships with local venues and understanding regional traveler needs (for example, tailoring payment methods or content to local preferences).
Tiqets also expanded its platform to cover 1,300+ cities worldwide with over 7,000 bookable experiences by 2022, an impressive breadth made possible by its combination of direct sales efforts and partner integrations.
Moreover, Tiqets has pursued localization beyond just language translation – it adjusts its marketing and product offerings to fit local tourism dynamics. A clear example is working with national tourism boards (like Italy’s) to highlight second-tier destinations, or offering region-specific promotions through affiliates.
By forging partnerships at multiple levels (from small local tour operators to tech giants and governments), Tiqets has embedded itself in the travel distribution ecosystem globally. These alliances have been key to outpacing competitors in certain areas and securing Tiqets’ position as a truly international ticketing platform.
Funding History and Financial Backing
Tiqets’ growth has been fueled by a series of funding rounds and financial deals that provided the capital needed for technology development and market expansion.
The company’s funding history illustrates a steady trajectory with increasing investor confidence. Tiqets received seed funding in late 2013 and early 2014, followed by a formal Series A round of $4 million in 2015 led by Capital Mills.
This early capital allowed the startup to refine its platform and scale beyond the Netherlands. By 2017, Tiqets had demonstrated strong traction – reportedly growing 3,500% in 2015 alone as it expanded into European tourist hotspots – and it secured a $17 million Series B in 2017, led by HPE Growth, a European growth equity firm.
HPE Growth would become a repeat backer, also leading a $23 million follow-on round in late 2018 . These rounds financed Tiqets’ entry into new countries and the build-out of its partner network. They also coincided with Tiqets surpassing the milestone of covering thousands of venues across dozens of countries by 2018.
The pivotal moment came in October 2019 with a Series C round of $60 million led by Airbnb. This raise – which brought Tiqets’ total equity funding to roughly $105–106 million to date – put Tiqets on the global map.
Airbnb’s participation as the lead investor was particularly noteworthy: it signaled a strategic alignment with Airbnb’s broader vision of moving into the “experiences” and in-destination services space.
Although the investment was described as financial (Airbnb took a minority stake without an immediate commercial integration), Tiqets valued Airbnb’s expertise in scaling a marketplace and its “beautiful brand” that went from startup to global leader rapidly.
The Series C funding was earmarked for accelerating growth, improving product features, and developing more self-service tools for venues to manage bookings on the platform.
At the time, Tiqets was already in 69 countries and over 2,000 venues, but the fresh capital allowed it to push deeper into second-tier cities and smaller attractions, as well as invest in localization for new markets.
The confidence of a major travel giant like Airbnb and existing investors (HPE and Investion) underscored Tiqets’ leadership potential in the tour and activity segment.
Beyond equity funding, Tiqets has also utilized debt financing to support its growth. In mid-2025, Tiqets secured a €25 million loan from ABN AMRO Bank to refinance existing venture debt and strengthen its balance sheet for further expansion.
According to ABN AMRO, this financing provided Tiqets with significant cost savings and flexibility, effectively bolstering its war chest for future growth initiatives. The loan was a vote of confidence from a major bank in the company’s financial stability and prospects.
Stef Pillen, Tiqets’ CFO, noted that refinancing with ABN AMRO was a milestone that would “unlock new opportunities for growth” and help Tiqets continue to innovate and expand its platform’s capabilities.
By 2025, Tiqets had been operating for over a decade and demonstrated resilience (surviving the COVID-19 tourism shutdowns) and agility in bouncing back quickly – in fact, Tiqets reported that its 2022 business volumes were double those of 2019, indicating a strong post-pandemic recovery. Such performance likely contributed to its ability to raise debt on favorable terms.
The company’s financial backing also includes strategic and institutional investors beyond Airbnb and HPE Growth. Early investors included Investion (a Dutch fund) and personal investors from its seed phase.
Later stages saw participation from firms like Kreos Capital (known for venture debt), and possibly regional funds as Tiqets expanded (for example, there were reports of investment from funds in 2018 tied to its growth).
While Tiqets has not publicly disclosed its valuation, the cumulative funding of around $100+ million and its sustained growth suggest a substantial enterprise value, placing it among the top tier of experiences-focused travel startups (though slightly behind giants like GetYourGuide in total capital raised).
Financially, Tiqets appears to have been on a path toward sustainable growth and potentially profitability. CEO Laurens Leurink in 2024 hinted at a focus on balancing growth with margins, noting that efficiency measures (like use of AI and not over-hiring) allowed sales to multiply without a matching rise in costs.
The travel recovery in 2021–2023 also lifted Tiqets’ revenues significantly; the company celebrated selling its 30 millionth ticket by May 2023 and indicated that 2022’s performance exceeded pre-COVID 2019 by a large margin.
Given that Tiqets primarily earns commissions on ticket sales (typically in the range of 10–30% of the ticket price, depending on venue agreements), its revenue growth tracks closely with booking volume growth. Reaching 50 million customers by early 2025 implies a substantial cumulative gross booking value through the platform.
The company has not released public revenue figures, but industry analysts point to the overall tours and activities market growth as a positive indicator for Tiqets’ financial future.
With continued investment in technology and marketing (often funded by its VC/PE backing), Tiqets aims to maintain its competitive edge while eventually driving toward profitability as the market matures.
In summary, Tiqets’ funding history – from modest beginnings to Airbnb-led injection and beyond – has provided the necessary fuel for its global ambitions, and recent financial moves (like the ABN AMRO loan) suggest a company preparing for its next chapter of expansion.
Competitive Landscape and Market Position
Tiqets operates in the “Tours, Activities & Experiences” sector of travel, a space that has seen intense competition and growth in recent years. Major competitors include Viator (Tripadvisor Experiences), GetYourGuide, Klook, and a host of other regional or niche players like Headout, Musement, and Fever.
Despite this crowded field, Tiqets has established itself as one of the leading platforms, especially in the attractions ticketing sub-segment. In 2024–2025, industry analyses recognized Tiqets as a top-tier player in online attractions ticketing, with a particularly strong footprint in Europe’s cultural cities.
Unlike some rivals that have extremely broad inventories (Viator and GetYourGuide list everything from multi-day tours to cooking classes and airport transfers), Tiqets has largely stuck to its specialty of venue-based experiences.
This focus has been a double-edged sword in the competitive landscape: on one hand, it gives Tiqets a reputation as the go-to for museum and attraction tickets (with skip-the-line convenience), but on the other hand, competitors with broader offerings can cross-sell other types of experiences that Tiqets historically hasn’t offered (though Tiqets has started diversifying modestly into things like guided tours at museums and small workshops).
Viator, owned by Tripadvisor, is a formidable competitor with global reach and the advantage of Tripadvisor’s massive user base and review ecosystem. Viator offers many attraction tickets as well, often alongside tour packages, and leverages Tripadvisor’s brand recognition and content (user reviews, rankings) to influence bookings.
Tiqets differentiates from Viator by emphasizing instant mobile ticketing and by curating a more tightly focused selection (Tiqets often highlights the “best” or most popular venues, whereas Viator lists thousands of options including long-tail activities).
GetYourGuide (GYG), based in Berlin, is another major competitor. GYG has raised over $600M in funding and aggressively expanded worldwide; it offers a broad array of experiences including attractions, and even develops its own branded tours in some cases.
GetYourGuide’s strength lies in online marketing and exclusive partnerships (they’ve at times secured exclusive ticket allotments for certain attractions).
Tiqets competes by providing a simpler, perhaps faster booking flow specifically for attractions – for example, Tiqets often emphasizes that you can book right up to the last minute and immediately use the ticket, a scenario where GYG or Viator might have cut-off times or require a voucher exchange for some activities.
Additionally, Tiqets’ deep ties with museums give it credibility; in some instances, venues feature Tiqets as a recommended booking channel on their official site or on signage, thanks to the partnership (something GYG/Viator don’t typically have, as they are seen more as third-party aggregators). This shows Tiqets’ strategy of integrative partnership rather than just marketplace listing.
Klook, as discussed, was both a competitor and now a partner in supply sharing. Klook’s dominance in Asia and its huge catalog (nearly half a million activities) could overshadow Tiqets in certain markets, but the partnership mitigates direct conflict by turning competition into collaboration in those regions.
Interestingly, Klook in recent years also focused on theme parks and attractions, much like Tiqets, and achieved profitability by 2021-2022 after refocusing during the pandemic (Klook even started providing SaaS tools to attractions).
This indicates that Tiqets faces competition not just in selling tickets to consumers, but also in providing technology to venues – for example, Bookingkit or PrioTicket are companies offering reservation systems to attractions which could overlap with what Tiqets’ venue tools do.
However, Tiqets primarily positions itself as a distributor/OTA, not a pure software vendor, so its competitive set remains the online marketplaces.
There are also smaller competitors and local incumbents. In the U.S., Peek.com and Headout target tours and attractions with last-minute availability; in Europe, Musement (now part of TUI) had a model similar to Tiqets and strong Italian presence.
Groupon (and similar deals sites) can indirectly compete by offering discounted tickets to attractions as well.
That said, Tiqets’ ability to maintain a significant market share in the attractions segment is evidenced by its recovery and growth post-pandemic. An analysis noted that by 2022, Tiqets’ bookings surpassed 2019 levels, outpacing many rivals in rebound speed.
Tiqets attributed this to its focus on convenience and an efficient digital product, which appealed greatly when attractions implemented capacity limits and required timed tickets – travelers sought guaranteed entry online rather than risk a sell-out on-site. In contrast, some smaller operators and traditional tour agencies struggled to adapt as quickly.
Furthermore, Tiqets’ partnership strategy has influenced the competitive dynamics. Its integration with Google’s and Apple’s platforms meant Tiqets inventory often appeared by default when a user searched for a museum on those maps or search engines.
Competitors also partnered with Google (GYG and TripAdvisor listings can show up in Google’s “Things to Do” as well), but Tiqets being a launch partner gave it early mover advantage in that channel.
And the Klook alliance effectively created a combined force that, in aggregate, could rival or exceed GYG in inventory count. This suggests that Tiqets’ market position is one of a collaborative leader – willing to form strategic ties (even with competitors or former competitors) to enhance its value proposition. By 2025, Tiqets is often mentioned in the same breath as GetYourGuide, Viator, and Klook as one of the key global OTAs for experiences .
Each has its strengths: Viator’s Tripadvisor integration and breadth, GYG’s funding-fueled growth and original content, Klook’s APAC supremacy and superapp strategy, and Tiqets’ cultural attraction specialization and tech partnerships.
Tiqets’ niche focus – and its strong recovery – actually positions it well as the travel industry normalizes. Travelers and venues now expect online booking for attractions as the norm, a trend Tiqets helped accelerate.
The competitive landscape remains intense (with ongoing marketing battles and even regulatory scrutiny, such as in Italy where authorities fined some operators for hoarding popular attraction tickets ), but Tiqets has thus far navigated it by playing to its strengths and fostering an image as a reliable, high-quality platform.
Travel Industry Trends Enabling Tiqets’ Success
Tiqets’ rise has coincided with – and capitalized on – several broad trends in the travel and tourism industry. One of the most significant is the digitization of travel experiences.
Over the past decade, travelers have grown accustomed to booking every element of their trip online or via apps, yet the attractions and activities segment lagged behind flights and hotels in online penetration. In the mid-2010s, a majority of attraction tickets were still being bought offline (at the venue or through traditional tour operators).
Tiqets entered the market precisely as this sector began catching up, offering a solution that met a clear demand: the ability to book experiences digitally, on short notice, and with confidence.
As TechCrunch reported, museums and attractions represented a $60 billion ticketing opportunity within a larger $160 billion attractions industry, and they were just starting to embrace technology to sell tickets.
Tiqets educated many venues on the benefits of offering online and mobile tickets (e.g. reducing friction to visit, encouraging advance bookings, capturing visitor info) and rode the wave of cultural institutions looking to modernize their operations.
This digital transformation in tours and activities has been one of the fastest-growing segments in travel – by 2023, online booking of experiences globally surpassed pre-pandemic levels and continued to grow at double-digit rates, indicating a permanent shift in consumer behavior favoring digital channels. Tiqets, being a fully digital platform from the start, was ideally positioned to benefit from this shift.
Another trend has been the changing preferences of travelers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, who often prioritize experiences over material goods. This demographic wants immersive cultural engagement and “authentic” local experiences, not just to check off famous sights quickly.
Tiqets’ focus on cultural attractions and enhancements like audio guides or combo experiences speaks to this desire for deeper engagement. In a Skift interview, Tiqets’ CEO noted that younger travelers seek meaningful cultural experiences rather than superficial sightseeing, and Tiqets’ offerings (from museum fast-track tickets to unique venue tours) cater to that trend.
Additionally, the trend of spontaneous travel and mobile planning has played to Tiqets’ strengths. Modern tourists increasingly plan on the go, using smartphones during their trip to decide what to do next.
Tiqets reported that many of its bookings happen in-destination, even on the day of visit – for example, the customer who bought Tiqets’ 30,000,000th ticket did so just after midnight for a visit the same day.
By enabling last-minute, instant bookings, Tiqets aligned perfectly with this move towards spontaneity and the “mobile concierge” role that smartphones now play for travelers.
The COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021) was a shock to the travel industry but also a catalyst for certain changes that benefited digital ticketing platforms like Tiqets. When venues reopened after lockdowns, contactless ticketing and controlled capacity became essential.
Many attractions required advance reservations to limit crowds, and travelers were keen to avoid physical ticket counters. Tiqets, with its fully mobile and time-slot capable system, became an even more valuable service in this context. The company actively helped venues implement timed entry and promoted flexible cancellation policies to rebuild traveler confidence.
Broader tourism recovery trends also played a role: as international travel resumed, there was a surge of demand (“revenge travel”) to visit iconic landmarks and museums.
Tiqets saw a sharp rebound – e.g., a 220% surge in European summer bookings as noted earlier – and it was among the platforms facilitating this pent-up demand. Industry-wide, tours and activities were projected to recover and even exceed their 2019 market size by the mid-2020s, thanks to travelers having saved discretionary income and being eager to spend on experiences once travel restrictions lifted.
Tiqets’ quick recovery (doubling 2019 performance by 2022) suggests it captured outsized share during this rebound, likely due to its strong online presence and the trust it had built with users and venues to handle reliable ticketing during uncertain times.
Another trend is the increasing involvement of big players in the in-destination experiences market. Google’s integration of tours and activities into search results, Airbnb’s creation of an Experiences division, and even Tripadvisor’s renewed focus on Viator all signal that this sector is now seen as a core part of the travel journey (not an afterthought).
Far from being squeezed out, Tiqets has been validated and boosted by these developments. Airbnb’s investment was one example, highlighting how important the attractions segment is to the broader travel ecosystem.
The notion that “things to do drive travel” has gained traction – travelers often decide on a destination because of what they can see and do there. This works in Tiqets’ favor: as a specialist in attractions, it becomes a key enabler of those destination choices.
Furthermore, as distribution channels diversify (with super-apps, OTAs, tourism boards, etc., all selling experiences), having a solid API-driven platform has allowed Tiqets to plug in everywhere.
This aligns with the trend of connected distribution, where the boundaries between travel planning platforms are blurring. Tiqets doesn’t rely solely on people coming to Tiqets.com or the app; it reaches users through many entry points (whether that’s a flag on Google Maps saying “Buy tickets via Tiqets” or a national tourism site integration).
The trend of collaboration, as exemplified by the Tiqets-Klook partnership, also reflects a maturing industry where leading companies sometimes partner to expand the pie, especially after surviving the pandemic’s challenges .
Finally, it’s worth noting the macro-trend of travel as a growing sector of the global economy. Pre-pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for over 10% of global GDP. While 2020 saw an unprecedented drop, the long-term outlook remains robust, with expectations of a return to growth and new markets (emerging middle classes traveling more).
Tiqets, by making “culture more accessible”, taps into an enduring human desire for exploration and learning.
As long as people continue to prioritize travel and cultural experiences, the demand for convenient ticketing solutions will remain high.
Tiqets has shown that it can adapt to industry changes – whether technological, demographic, or unexpected crises – and leverage them to strengthen its position.
Conclusion
In just over a decade, Tiqets has grown from a Dutch startup into a global leader in ticketing technology for the travel experiences sector.
Its success can be attributed to a clear and consistent strategy: provide superior convenience and technology in a segment hungry for innovation, build strong partnerships on all sides (with venues, distributors, and even competitors), and carefully expand its global footprint with local sensitivity. T
iqets’ business model of connecting travelers to cultural experiences via instant digital tickets proved differentiated and scalable, allowing the company to surf the wave of the tours & activities boom.
By focusing on user experience – from easy mobile booking to skip-the-line access and personalized recommendations – Tiqets earned a loyal customer base that sees it as a go-to resource for “making the most of a city’s culture.”
At the same time, by focusing on operational scalability – through APIs, AI, and automation – Tiqets managed to quadruple sales without a commensurate increase in headcount, indicating efficiency gains that bode well for its financial health.
Strategically, Tiqets has demonstrated agility and openness: it embraced integration with major platforms like Google and Apple early, it sought out an investment (and guidance) from Airbnb, and it even turned a competitive threat (Klook in Asia) into a collaborative partnership.
These moves have solidified Tiqets’ market position and created a network effect: as more venues and partners join, Tiqets’ platform becomes more valuable and harder to displace.
Today, Tiqets stands strong against competitors like GetYourGuide and Viator by maintaining a clear value proposition – an authoritative selection of the world’s cultural and leisure attractions, available at one’s fingertips, with a smooth digital journey from discovery to entry.
As travel continues to evolve, Tiqets appears poised to maintain an authoritative role in the ecosystem, ensuring that wherever travelers go, remarkable experiences are just a few taps away.