Have you ever considered the benefits of open connectivity for tours, activities and attractions?

Recently at Globick we have become involved with a not-for-profit organization called OCTO that has been set up to achieve just that. 

The objective of OCTO is simple: to help tours and attraction operators, distributors of tours, activities, attractions and experiences – plus technology providers to the sector – connect more efficiently.

In order to achieve this OCTO defines and certifies technical messaging standards for technology and software serving the industry – hoping to advance the adoption of those standards through its network of industry participants. 

Behind the organization are some of the tours, activities and attraction industry’s leading figures, including Olivier Morgan, Oskar Bruening, Douglas Quinby, Christian Watts, Stephen Joyce, Chris Neal, Menno Bieringa and many others. 

What role is Globick playing? We’ve joined OCTO as a technology member of the organization. We’re 100% bought into the idea so as to give better times to market, clarity and security for all the stakeholders. 

As part of our involvement we’ve decided to implement the standard in its most advanced format for all our future integrations. We want to be a leader in championing this change. We will participate actively in its development, bringing our experience to bear and contributing to the future forums and debates. 

Want to find out more about how to get involved? Click here to sign-up:  https://www.octo.travel/take-action

Xavier Boixeda

CEO

As we wrap up 2022, it’s a good time to reflect on the year that we leave behind and set expectations for the year ahead.

2022 has seen an effective industry recovery; travelers have come back at full speed in every region except for Asia, where things are slowly getting back on track.

Recent news about the reopening of the Chinese market, putting the quarantines to an end as part of the end of the Covid-zero policy, will help, although later, to see the numbers returning to where they were in 2019.

There may be tensions because of the Ukraine war, high inflation, and other crises, but we can look ahead to 2023 as the first normal year since 2019.

As Globick CEO, there’s the normal tendency of every post like this one only to highlight what has been great about the year, to show off our successes, and we’ll be no exception. But honesty and trust also come from sharing what could be better.

Let’s start with what has been great. At the core of our value proposition lies being the best- and most-connected API Hub for the Tours and Activities industry; in 2022, we have taken decisive steps forward toward that vision. We have integrated more APIs from the most relevant systems in the world, and what it’s more important, new resellers have taken the step to use our technology to get to operators and aggregators directly.

We have onboarded new clients from Brazil, India, Italy, the United States, Spain, Switzerland, Colombia, Egypt, and many more countries.

Our value proposition is more evident than ever, and that will provide focus, guidance, and trust to our team, customers, partners, and investors.

We have deepened our relationship with our 2021 partners, Juniper, Musement, Tiqets, and NTTData, and we have signed three new agreements with travel technology companies that we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks. Globick is now a member of the OCTO community. Our presence at Arival conferences or WTM has seen tremendous success.

Every year has also its downs, what it was far from perfect. In our case, let me mention one: Things could move faster. Faster in the sales process, faster client onboarding, faster contract closing, faster API integrations, faster everything. The world doesn’t wait, doesn’t stop.

We have a clear goal for 2023. Be faster.

2023 looks promising. We’ll have all the clients signed in 2022 at full speed and have high ambitions for the business. We want to 3x our revenue while keeping margins as they are today. Quite challenging.

We feel more prepared than ever to strengthen our position in the sector by focusing our efforts on closing more deals, attracting new clients, and doubling our investment.

New supplier integrations, improved APIs, and new versions of our recommendation engine will follow.

I also wanted to give our kudos to other companies in the B2B space for Tours and Activities. This is often an underrepresented space in the industry, and our fair competition and our collaboration make everyone better. We feel stimulated by you to be better every day.

2023 will be a good year for the industry. Travel is one of the biggest industries worldwide. The desire to explore is embedded in the human brain and will never change.

A final word to our team. You have been outstanding throughout the year in Barcelona and Hong Kong offices, and your passion and dedication have been the key to making this challenging 2022 successful.

Take your deserved holidays with pride, and come prepared for 2023.

Merry Christmas and happy 2023 to everyone!

Xavier Boixeda, not ChatGPT, promised 😉

CEO