travelBulletin

Livn the dream

IN a move that is sure to rankle online travel agencies everywhere, Google has partnered with Aussie success story Livn to pilot a new project to drive more search traffic directly to smaller tour operators and circumnavigate the bigger reservation systems of multinational companies like Expedia and Booking.com.

IN A move that is sure to rankle online travel agencies everywhere, Google has partnered with Aussie success story Livn to pilot a new project to drive more search traffic directly to smaller tour operators and circumnavigate the bigger reservation systems of multinational companies like Expedia and Booking.com.

Under the trial partnership, Livn’s connectivity hub will power the ‘official site’ button for the new Things to do initiative, shifting the bookings trail for travellers via online searches from OTAs, who were previously partners in processing bookings for Google on the back end, to operators directly.

Livn CEO Mark Rizzuto believes pilots such as this one will ultimately “level the playing field” in the smaller tour and activities space and improve the choice of experiences on offer for travellers everywhere.

“There’s a real opportunity here for Google to provide a much richer consumer experience by reaching far deeper into the pond, [so] when people search for ‘what can I do in Sydney’, they’re not just getting the Sydney Opera House or a walk around the Rocks, they are potentially getting a surfing lesson with a world champion at Bondi Beach instead,” Rizzuto said.

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