McKinsey & Company’s re-imagination of the $9 trillion tourism economy – How TXGB plays a lead role
As the global tourism industry continues to face the challenges created by Covid-19, governments seek to assist the sector with a range of well-documented support measures.
A recent McKinsey & Company report shines the spotlight on this partnership between governments and the tourism industry, asking what it will take to “reimagine the $9 trillion tourism economy”. As part of this, it highlights the benefits that a Tourism Exchange (ie TXGB) can bring to help the tourism industry come back stronger and looks at how it is “enabling a digital and analytics transformation within the tourism sector”.
TXGB was born from the success of TXA – Tourism Exchange Australia and is the 3rd Tourism Exchange to go live globally, showing how the UK is leading the way. Created in partnership with the Australian government, McKinsey & Company describe the platform as “an example of enabling at scale”. It was precisely this functionality that VisitBritain sought to bring to our tourism businesses in launching TXGB (Tourism Exchange Great Britain) – a platform for Britain, and launched in England.
Each Tourism Exchange uses the same underlying technology to make tourism products bookable on a wide range of distribution platforms, but crucially is localised to meet specific territorial requirements. Allowing businesses of all sizes, and from multiple sectors of the tourism industry, access to a range of routes to market enables them to navigate the traditionally fragmented distribution landscape. In turn, it allows online travel agents, and other niche or destination-led distributors, to tap into and sell a wide range of previously unsurfaced accommodation, attractions, experiences and tours.
As the report highlights, “this mechanism allows online travel agents to diversify their offerings by providing more experiences away from the beaten track”. Because there is no joining fee for TXGB, it makes it easy for even the smallest tourism supplier, with no previous online bookability, to extend its reach.
And as part of the platform, both suppliers and distributors have access to a rich level of analytics, allowing them to further understand their customers and develop their product offering accordingly.
At TXGB, we are proud to be part of what McKinsey & Company call “a national booking-exchange platform providing a competitive marketing advantage by making products both visible and bookable on a multitude of distributors”. We have now developed distribution channels with around 40 DMOs, as well as niche domestic distributors, in order to support the demand for domestic staycations. In addition, via our own channels, those of VisitBritain, and of the DMOs, we are actively reaching out to tourism businesses, to encourage them to seize the benefits of TXGB, as we invite them to take part in what McKinsey & Company heralds as a “cost-effective way to market the industry”.
Read the full McKinsey & Company article here