Attractions
& Ticketing
Working Group

Working groups provide opportunity for ETOA’s members and partners to cooperate on issues to do with the business environment for tourism in Europe. They are topic or destination focused. Activities can range from in-person meetings to ad hoc consultation and information sharing. Their composition is not fixed and expressions of interest are welcome. We try to ensure access to insight from various business models and origin markets, and specialist expertise where applicable.

This group has been set up as a response to the ongoing challenges regarding B2B ticket availability and related process as emerged from the meetings of our Group Tourism Working Group.

Its purpose is based on ETOA’s members interests:

• Support ETOA’s members to solve problems and create opportunity
• ‘Bookability’ and manageable, fair T&Cs with sufficient quota for travel trade
• Confidence of supply prior to inclusion in packaged product
• More scope for multi-year agreements to optimise budgeting and marketing
• Managing client expectations (B2B and B2C) and service recovery options
• Product diversification and support for value-adding
• Improve travel trade literacy among destinations and attractions
• Encourage and support digitalisation across the sector

An ETOA survey in 2024 confirmed availability and process issues across Europe, especially in state or church-run attractions, with initial results indicating that Italy is the most challenging business environment.

In early 2025, new surveys indicated that product development was the topic of least interest for respondent attractions, whereas ticketing and distribution was the topic of least interest to respondent destinations. These results illustrate the scope of the opportunity.

The group will continue to analyse the problems, suggest solutions, and develop resources to explain the benefits that good practice would bring.

The recent meeting reviewed industry need and external context of the 2025 season so far: growing demand; evolving product, client need and preferences; problems at major attractions, from short notice changes to slot management and booking conditions to response.

The group also discussed recent engagement with major attractions and DMOs, the results of survey to Attractions and Destinations, recognition of ETOA’s Tour Guide ID card by attractions looking to influence tour design and client-facing advice, and our strategic partnership with Arival. Future plans include an Italy-focused research project, destination-based pilot programmes, and a programme of outreach and advocacy on topic, to include:

• Presenting the travel industry as part of the solution to destinations’ strategic need
• Explanation of different business models and how they complement direct sales
• Good practice among attractions and destinations including tech literacy and adoption