Travel Trends with Dan Christian
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Travel Trends with Dan Christian
Growing Global Spanish Speaking Tourism with Civitatis
In this episode, we’re joined by Ismael García, Chief Marketing Officer of Civitatis, a leading Spanish-language OTA that’s reshaping how millions experience travel. From humble beginnings as a travel blog to becoming a major player offering tens of thousands of activities worldwide, Civitatis has carved out a unique space in the global tourism industry.
We discuss into their impressive growth trajectory (including a $50M raise and 30% annual growth), their strategic expansion into new language markets, and why offering 24/7 support in travelers’ native languages has helped earn a 9.1/10 satisfaction rating from over 4 million reviews.
Ismael also talks about:
- How social media is evolving into a search engine for travel inspiration
- Why Japan is becoming a top destination for Latin American and European travelers
- How curation, sustainability, and local expertise will shape the future of tourism
And for those building their career in travel? Ismael's advice: find the wave—and ride it.
👉 Listen to Transforming Spanish-Speaking Tourism Through Curation Now
🔥 Season 5 Title Sponsors: TravelAI, Stay22, Propellic, Flight Centre, Collette, Flywire, Traveltek and Protect Group
The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds. Season 5 In Progress.
https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/
I think it's clear that the future of tourism is linked with tourism activities. We're seeing a lot of companies entering the space, whether that's banking, whether that's bookings, airbnbs. The human nature is to go and discover and travel, and now it's easier than ever, and so tourism attractions and tourism activities are going to be part of that.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome back to Travel Trends. This is your host, dan Christian, and I hope you all enjoyed the multi-day tour series that we just wrapped up in partnership with our friends over at Tour Optima, and next week we're going to be starting our River Cruise series, brought to you by our friends over at Captio. So thanks again to all our partners for supporting us. And today we're actually going to be speaking to one of the companies that's going to be a title sponsor of Season 6. And I actually asked them to be a part of Season 5 because this company, civitatis, has been going from strength to strength over the last decade. They were actually founded in 2008 in Madrid and they were focused on the Spanish market. They have raised over $100 million. In fact, they raised about $50 million just in the last year from one of their key investors, vitruvian Partners, who clearly is very committed and focused on the potential growth, which has been pretty astounding when you look at the numbers. I mean they have already taken more than 30 million travelers around the world. They had 10 million last year. They've been growing by 30%. They're growing in places like Japan and New York and Rome and, of course, also Madrid, and the team has been focused on introducing local tours and activities for Spanish speakers, but they're continuing their global expansion. When you look at the growth potential they have in Mexico and Latin America, you can see why they've gotten the funding and they're continuing to see the growth and, as their CEO also highlighted, that they've actually been profitable since day one. So they have been using this funding to be able to rapidly grow and they've invested significantly in technology. That's certainly one of the big factors of their success, but clearly, across the journey, it's really all been about a strong focus on customer satisfaction, and one of the things that I talked to Ismael about is their commitment to sustainability. It really has been a core focus of their business and their commitment is very real and sincere, and so today I wanted to get a full understanding, speaking to Ismail, about the background of Civitatis and where this company is continuing to grow and evolve, since a lot of these OTAs, or online travel agencies, have been where many partners in our industry are looking to connect with and distribute their tours, and given that they have such a strong platform that is very focused on the user experience and I'll give you an exact example, and you'll hear this come up in our conversation. When you're looking at Rome and you're trying to figure out what tour of the Colosseum to do, they don't give you 150 options. They give you the three options that are best suited to what your experience should be, and I think this is where they've been putting a focus on the guest experience, and that is an optimal user experience. I think that's one of the reasons that they now have 93,000 activities across more than 4,000 destinations, and so that's one of the big reasons I wanted to bring Ismael onto the show and have this conversation with him. So get ready for many highlights and don't forget we do share clips on all our social channels, so you'll be able to find highlights from this conversation on Instagram, youtube and LinkedIn. At Travel Trends Podcast. We'll be right back.
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Speaker 1:Well, thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 2:For sure. I'd love to start further to the introduction with your background in tourism, because certainly you've worked with a number of travel brands before. You've also been a teacher. I think you've got such a unique skill set to bring as the CMO for Civitatis. But tell us a bit about your background and how you got into tourism and the travel industry in the first place the first place?
Speaker 1:Sure, well, as you said, I've worked for many companies and specializing in tech startups, two-sided marketplaces and event ticketing industry so more like live events, concerts, theater, plays and that kind of industry and at some point in my career, one of the startups launched a project where we started integrating, aggregating third-party inventory, and the most obvious start was with APIs from travel tech companies, and so that was back in 2018.
Speaker 1:In a startup called Ticketea, we started aggregating that inventory and I was amazed to see the opportunities that we had in that space, right, amazed to see the opportunities that we had in that space, right, like we were really bringing value to users and I really liked that. And so, six years later, when Civitatis and I got in touch, it was a direct match to me. I tried the product back in 2018. I had an amazing experience with Civitatis in Budapest and I still remember having an issue that was sold by customer care, and so that kind of experiences stick with you as a user, and so it really made a difference and Civitatis, for me, was really an easy decision. And it was more than an easy decision. It was really something I wanted to do in my life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's a great company, so perfect decision.
Speaker 2:And I think, even your role just before that at Eventbrite, where you were the global head of growth marketing. Most of our listeners, of course, are familiar with Eventbrite I mean, pretty much everyone has been to an Eventbrite event so they're familiar with the brand and the fact that you were there for five years before Civitadas and that is, I guess, a very well-known global brand. And that's part of what I want to discuss today, because I'm actually very familiar with Civitadas and have a great respect for the company and what you've built and really, where you're headed, because you're very unique in the sense that you guys are a Spanish, you know, based in Madrid, a Spanish speaking OTA or online travel agency. But I think I want to make sure all of our listeners can wrap their head around who Civitatis is, what you guys do. So if you wouldn't mind actually I know you weren't there at the very beginning, but if you wouldn't mind actually taking us back for those that are not familiar to tell us about Civitatis and the journey that the company has been on.
Speaker 1:Sure, so Civitatis is the leading creative marketplace for tourism activities in Spanish, right, so we now have more than 90,000 activities in more than 4,000 destinations across 160 countries. Right, but it wasn't the case when he was founded. Alberto Gutierrez, the founder, in 2008, started working with travel guides to earn some pocket money to travel actually and so his mindset was more hey, I'm going to create a few blog posts, a few blogs that are going to rank on Google and I'm going to earn some affiliation money, right, so affiliates marketing was kind of the gem, the spark. But then, suddenly, one day, he received a message from a supplier in Prague that wanted to advertise on his websites, on his blog, and the guy really wanted to do some normal advertising.
Speaker 1:Alberto, being an engineer, thought okay, I think I can deliver a better option for you. And so, instead of including a banner on the website, alberto, with his different mindset, found a new solution. He instead published the tour and generated direct bookings for this provider. Right, which was in Prague. And so, publishing the tour, he started generating real revenue and bringing real value to this supplier. So that's how, really, cvtac started, and for almost six years, alberto was working on his own. I did, did everything writing the websites, focusing on SEO, customer care, contacting new suppliers, finances, etc. And after that he had a small team of 10 people and now we are nearly 400 people. So that's Helitatis, and how it started. Like you can see, it's really, really from the ground.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know this is the thing that always fascinated me about the company and you know, seeing you and the team at various events over the last couple of years. It's the company has been growing and growing. Clearly there's a massive global Spanish speaking market and I really wish that we could be having this conversation in Spanish. I keep working on my Spanish, but it's not quite there yet. But let's make a commitment that one day in the future we'll maybe do this podcast together in Spanish. But when you think about Civitadas today, in 2025, you have that history and that background.
Speaker 2:But my understanding is you're starting to expand globally outside of Spanish-speaking markets. So tell us a little bit more about that plan and that objective, because clearly you had a great audience to be able to introduce all these experiences to in Spanish speaking and still lots of growth opportunity, and I can't think of another. I'm sure there are other competitors in that space, certainly nowhere near on the scale of Civitada. So, yeah, tell us a little bit more, if you wouldn't mind, about, I guess, the Spanish speaking market and those growth plans and then how you're looking at global growth outside of Spanish-speaking countries and obviously targeting some English-language countries as well.
Speaker 1:Sure, so we again, as I was saying, the company resorted by trying to field trips for Spanish-speaking users. We're now offering that to other languages, so it's part of the growth playbook as well. So we have Portuguese, italian, french and English-speaking users. The core focus is still on Spanish-speaking users. As you were saying, spain is, worldwide, a small market, but LATAM is a big one, right? There are like nearly 700 million Spanish-speaking users that we can basically offer our inventory to, and so the play is really let's go for Latin American countries, and so, when you think about that, you go to Mexico, which is 150 million people, you go to Argentina, you go to Colombia and others, and obviously, naturally, if you want to target Latin American users, you're probably going to go after, also, brazil, which is a continent on itself, right, with more than 250 million users, and so that's really how the company started thinking about it. But it's not only about the language, right? One of the things that was really rooted in the company's DNA is, as I was saying earlier, having a top-notch customer care service, and so that customer care service needs to be localized. You need to give the customer care service 24-7, right, because you have people traveling all around the world in their language. You want to serve them in a manner in which you can solve the issues quite fast.
Speaker 1:Simplicity is at the core of the company, and the quality of the tools we select through creation is also a key differentiator for us. And so expanding into new markets, again, is not just about translating copies, it's about adapting paywalls, it's about adapting the inventory. You have the supply, you have right. Brazilians travel a lot internally in the country, or they go a lot to Argentina. They don't have the same routes, they don't have the same corridors than Argentinians will have, and so on, right. And so we need to really work on that inventory that we create with our team internally. So that's really how we are thinking about this is expand into new markets, spanish speaking first, then Portuguese speaking, Italian, french, adapting all the services we have to those clients. With this unique approach of creating the marketplace. We don't want a thousand tools for the Coliseum, right? We select the three best options for the user.
Speaker 2:You mentioned something really interesting there, ismael, and I want to go back to it, which is you talked about, like your unique selling proposition or what it is that you're offering your customers, and I think this is something that I always find fascinating.
Speaker 2:When I get a chance to speak to a CMO like yourself and, given part of my background, this is where I love marketing and I love speaking to other really clever marketers that need to work out what is it about this business that is special or unique and how can I communicate that to get new customers or keep people coming back, and so I would love for you to actually share some details on that and I guess what I'd specifically ask you.
Speaker 2:Clearly, there was this incumbent advantage of being kind of one of the largest and leading Spanish speaking platforms, and now you're obviously entering, you know, multiple language markets and you know you have really unique activity offerings. I know you guys have, like you know, 24 seven customer service and you've got millions of reviews. You've got so many things going for you when you stack yourself up against the competition, and I'm not going to list them all because there's obviously a number of other companies that are in the activity space, but I would like to hear if you wouldn't mind sharing for us and our listeners, what is it that really sets Civitatis apart from all the other online travel agencies that are out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure. So what sets us apart and that is increasingly more relevant is that we are that creative marketplace and we're truly creative, right. The example I gave you is a real example. We have competitors offering more than a thousand options to visit the concert. We offer three, and we offer three in Spanish for Spanish speaking users, we offer three in Portuguese for Portuguese speaking users, and so there is a team behind that really makes sure the quality is there. That quality is then also backed by our users reviews.
Speaker 1:Like you said, we have more than four million user reviews with 9.1 out of 10 as a score. That means we have quality. When we see inventory or we see suppliers that aren't matching the quality standards that we have, that's a plug that we raise internally, and so we make sure that the quality stays there, either by contacting the supplier and trying to improve the situation, fix those issues that we are, we are seeing or we are being communicated, or directly by finding another supplier, and and the creation gives us that opportunity to really work hand in hand with a supplier, right, and so that's very important. Again, customer care, as I was saying in language 24 7 we're there, we're here with for the, for the client, for the traveler, we are like your companion.
Speaker 1:So, right, we make sure we offer a simple experience on sites, on the, on the website, uh, through our distribution partners, we make sure the inventory we have is in your language and its quality, and there is this customer care experience that we really cherish.
Speaker 2:There's a specific pain point there and I've heard it brought up by Douglas at the Douglas Quindby at the Rival Conference about the challenge from a consumer point of view when there's dozens, if not hundreds, of options and you're trying to sift through, as a consumer, ones that have the best reviews and the pricing and the availability on the day. So that question about the complexity of consumers navigating marketplaces is a great example of what Civitatis sets you apart. Certainly, and like what is the problem you solve as a startup that you've grown successfully and being mindful of the fact that there's customer pain points out there and you can address them and that's a reason why people choose Civitatis. So I appreciate you sharing that with us because I think that's super valuable and highly relevant. The other thing I wanted to dive a little deeper on given, of course, you are the CMO globally for this brand and it's got an incredible success trajectory, which I'm sure is exciting for you just in terms of, like, budget resources team.
Speaker 2:But clearly, obviously, every new business needs to be profitable.
Speaker 2:You've got to be focused on ROI and so I would be really keen just to get an overview of how you're marketing the brand globally and if you can share some of your marketing strategies and priorities for 2025.
Speaker 2:And part of that, of course, is the typical customer profile, like who you're trying to reach, and I'll just share this Ismael with our listeners as well, because this is where to bring everyone along on the journey.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I always found fascinating was the big OTAs between Expedia and Booking, and Expedia was always great at brand marketing and Booking was really fantastic at performance marketing, so they really got SEO and SEM and Expedia was on television and billboards and ultimately, as they entered each other's markets, as Expedia went to Europe and Booking came to America, they both had to shift their strategies and one was 70% brand and 30% performance and one was 70% performance and 30% brand, and both of them have more or less had to start to net out where they actually are half brand and half performance. And so I guess that's where I'm going with this question for you. I just genuinely keen to know, based on what you can share about how you are marketing Civitatis globally and some of the secrets to your success, and where you're planning to take it in 2025 and beyond.
Speaker 1:So we have this obviously famous local approach, right, civitatis is focused on the languages, so obviously we market to the languages we serve and to those users, and Spanish has a particularity. Right, we are targeting different continents, we're targeting very different cultures, and so we need to really adapt that, and so we created a very strong brand. I think we're very, very visually recognizable, and so that is a really good anchor for us to then go and localize. And so localizing means I go to Colombia, I need to speak the Colombian way. I go to Mexico, I need to feel like I'm Mexican and culturally, mexicans are probably closer sometimes in some regions to US cultures versus Spanish cultures, and so, even if it's the same language, we need to adapt there. So that's again, that's marketing 1.0 is the basics, but it matters and it's very, very, very important. What I would say is also creating a brand globally is many times and often is seen as work from the marketing team here. What I think is it's also about the product. It's how we localize the product, how we localize payments, is how we localize descriptions, is how we localize the inventory we select for local tours and activities. I was saying, for example, brazil lots of people traveling internally in the country and the destinations the international destinations are very different from the ones you can find for Argentinians, for example, and so really having that inventory in their language activities that really resonates with what those coaches are looking for and adapting the language to all users right Content, tours, customer care, it's all there.
Speaker 1:In terms of the plans for 2025, I think there is a trend that everybody is seeing Not going to discover anything new here, but it's social media. First, users are searching on TikTok, now they're searching on Instagram. It's not anymore just a discovery or inspiration platform. Now people go and search for it, they save it and really use it to start their experience. And it's very, very interesting because it complements very well traditional search engines and what we're seeing right now with AI, with more and more people just going and trying to build their journeys through AI. But there is still that first visual, video inspiration and search that you want to see, especially obviously in your audiences. We're also seeing audiences 50 plus that are using those social media channels. So social media is a key part of the marketing plan for Civitatis.
Speaker 1:It focuses Spanish, spain as a market and then a couple of Latin countries that we really want to target for next year, and these new markets that we are expanding obviously are helping us reach new customers, and that's a constant challenge right locally. Opening those new markets and markets that are in constant digitalization are a great source for user acquisition, so that's really where we are focusing. Again, you are mentioning the split between performance and, and Civita is a company that is always, since its inception, being a BGA positive, and so we are really looking at where we invest the money and the value it generates and, in parallel, we are creating that brand In Spain. We have a very strong brand. Well, we are creating that brand In Spain. We have a very strong brand, and we really now need to bring that to Mexico, brazil, argentina as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I appreciate sharing all of that. It's such important context, and especially when I look at the world in 2025 and thinking through, you know, the next few years with geopolitical events. Certainly there is a strength in Europe and there's a huge opportunity in the LATAM markets. I'm already very bullish on Colombia, for example. I happen to sit on the board of a tour operator there, as some of our listeners know, but it was traveling to Colombia that really made the difference to me. When you see a market that is so well-primed for traveler growth. It's got the infrastructure in place, it's safe, the people are lovely, the food, the activities it's got so much to offer. The people are lovely, the food, the activities like it's got so much to offer, and that's one of several amazing countries in South America that you're then able to capitalize on, especially for Spanish speaking travelers. That's something that really stands out to me, especially looking at the US market for Spanish speaking Americans that are more likely to travel to Spanish speaking destinations, whether it be Puerto Rico or Mexico and certainly South America. So so there's, yeah, there's. I really appreciate you sharing a number of those insights and highlights of what you're up to. We'll be right back. Are you looking for ways to grow your travel business through paid media and optimized SEO, then you have to check out our friends at Propeleccom. They are the leading digital agency for growth in travel and tourism. Propelec offers bold digital marketing strategies to ensure your travel company's success. They have a remarkable methodology that has actually been implemented by TravelAIcom, and they are a leading SEO agency globally and offer a range of resources a podcast of their own, a blog on their website, propelliccom that's P-R-O-P-E-L-L-I-Ccom. And don't forget to mention Travel Trends for your free marketing audit.
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Speaker 2:Thanks again for your continued support. And now back to the show. I would love to ask you how you're utilizing AI in marketing, because certainly marketing and technology have been the two kind of best use cases for starting to leverage AI, and I'm not trying to put you on the spot with this question, but I'm just genuinely curious and I'm sure our listeners are too if how you might be incorporating AI into your marketing activity and then if you wouldn't mind sharing, as we segue into technology, how you're utilizing AI to scale this business more efficiently, which seems to be one of the major undertakings most companies are leveraging AI for today. So, yeah, I'd love to hear how you're looking at that, both in marketing and then as it relates to technology.
Speaker 1:Sure. Well, I think in marketing, we are leveraging it in several ways. The first one is going to be on content generation, and so you can now create images, you can now create videos and we're just at the beginning of this right and so this has always been one of the challenges in travel, and especially in experiences. You want to have great contents that doesn't look like Shutterstock images. You need 90,000 activities to be shown, and so there is this huge diversity where it was a real challenge to go and find this content. You cannot generate a lot of that, and so that's the first way in which it really helps solve a real problem.
Speaker 1:We've always looked at AI as a tool that is going to help reach an end. Right, we don't want to use AI, for using AI, it needs to really help us bring value to the user, and so, on top of that, after creating and generating that content whether that's the image, video or text we also obviously use it through the platforms where we are, we are investing, and so the googles, the metas, the tick tocks they are all using ai now to increase audience, improve audience reaching and also optimization of campaigns, and so all that is obviously tuned. You can imagine promoting 90,000 activities is not done by a human, and so we need to leverage those capacities and it really helps us deliver campaigns everywhere and optimize those. We just launched a new campaign yesterday. The video, the first, the teaser is all done through AI as well, and so this is not. We're not only talking about performance marketing and just creating some small visuals. We're going that far, and so that's how we're using marketing-wise. On top of that, then, we are going to use it to obviously generate internal resources, analyze data and all the efficiencies that you can find through AI tools.
Speaker 1:That's not specific to marketing, though. In terms of technology you were asking. What we are doing is we're looking at potential improvements in how we find the inventory, how we can improve some of the descriptions, how we can filter images. We have more than four million reviews, as you were saying, so we need to find efficiencies. We can't be looking at four million images or text contents, and so sentiments and how we use it in the technology here is a clear winner. So, again, as I was saying, really need to find those use cases and how AI can solve those. You've got the obvious ones customer care, content generation and then how it helps us really solve this creation.
Speaker 2:So one of the things I'm also keen to understand, given your background with marketing and technology, is your roadmap. I've been intrigued to see some of the developments I'm also keen to understand, given your background with marketing and technology, is your roadmap. I've been intrigued to see some of the developments that, as a consumer, like the fact you have your destination guides. You've got Civitatis magazine, a blog, and I certainly love the content strategy, and so I'm very keen to know what are some of the other initiatives that we might be looking forward to that you might roll out to better serve Civitatis customers globally.
Speaker 1:So we're going to keep obviously expanding our footprints.
Speaker 1:We're going to keep adding more and quality inventory.
Speaker 1:A key part of the company is obviously retaining customers and we do that through all that I said earlier right Customer care, quality inventory, in your language but we also see that the app, the mobile app, is a key element, especially when you're traveling, you have your mobile phone in your pocket, and so all that is definitely going to be a core focus for the company, as well as really looking at how we can expand what users are experiencing when they are in destination. So, a lot of focus on retention and on the mobile app. We're obviously going to keep looking at new trends. Going to keep looking at new trends. We're going to keep working on our SEO, performance marketing, AI kind of recommendations that could happen, and we're going to keep expanding our B2B2C distribution channels right, Whether that's travel agencies, hotel partners, airline, other OTAs that we partner with and integration of all the inventory that we have so that we can really offer all that great inventory with enough availability for users. So that's really where I think we can look forward to evolve.
Speaker 2:And you mentioned the trends, and that's exactly what I want to get into.
Speaker 2:Next, because you have a unique vantage point, both as a global travel executive, but also for a brand that is rapidly scaling, and so you're constantly paying attention to your point about SEO and just really understanding where the market is.
Speaker 2:And especially when you're launching in new markets as you are and multilingual you have to be that much more conscientious of the trends and trying to be at the right place at the right time when, all of a sudden, you see a shift. This is the part I love about our industry is that travelers continue to travel, even despite downturns. And, if anything, when there's a contraction in the market or if there is instability in the market, it becomes that much more important to be able to read the signals and have conversations with colleagues or listen to a podcast like this or be able to read reports to understand what traveler behavior is shifting. So what are the major global trends that you're paying attention to, whether it be destinations Obviously, we've talked a bit about that Travel styles, sustainability what are some of the things that you're paying close attention to that you want to build your marketing strategy and business strategy around?
Speaker 1:I think the first, the main trend that we've been seeing for years now is experience matter, and destinations are oftentimes selected based on the experience you can. You can live when you're in destination, right, and so, uh, we are seeing that, and even though then on the customer journey, it's the usual is that I'm gonna book my flight and my hotel and then my attractions, tours or activities that I'm gonna do, destination first thing, that that last part that is booked is usually now and more and more, the driver of the decision. The others are obviously a commodity, but what really matters and stays with the person is what they do when they are there, and that is very, very powerful, because we're seeing more and more DMOs also looking at our platforms to help inspire users to come and visit their countries. It's not only just about come to Colombia, it's about come to Colombia and go to Medellin 13 and experience that experience there. Then you have social media discovery, inspiration and search. As I was saying, that's a big, big, big trend. Social media and influencers are really helping. They're helping to promote the experience and they're helping to give a real view. It's not text that you are writing on that you are reading on a blog post. It's real video that you're seeing.
Speaker 1:In terms of destinations, I think Japan is skyrocketing in the last 12 months. We're seeing that in Europe. We're seeing that in Latin America as well A lot of Latin American people just going to Japan. Other destinations are also rising. We're seeing again the Brazil in Brazil trend. So that's for the I think that's for the trends I'm seeing globally in terms of travel.
Speaker 1:Going back to the first point on experiences first, what we're also seeing is that more and more people are digitalizing globally in terms of travel. Going back to the first point on experiences first, what we're also seeing is that more and more people are digitalizing. There is less people that just wait for the last minutes and to book onsites. People want to make sure they have their spots, they want to make sure that they also secure their place and they have their trip planned, and even if sometimes they end up booking a trip 72 hours before the experience, they've already looked at it, they've already planned it, and one key feature that is very helpful for us is that we give your like um cancel. We have cancellations policy right, and so we're trying to foster people booking bookings windows to go earlier in the journey and we're seeing that more and more people now are booking. Like 50% of people are booking with more than 30 days of advance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really interesting. There has certainly been a shift there where we were seeing a lot of last minute, now people are booking further ahead. So those are a number of really insightful trends, and I guess the one thing I would like to just go a little bit further on was sustainability and the reason I want to ask that question and I always bring this up in my conversations because pre-COVID it was not very often the case that people were making a decision for sustainability. A lot of companies were becoming more conscientiously sustainable. But it certainly has been the case, post-pandemic and as people have seen, like over-tourism and over-heating of various destinations, like the real impacts of climate change that people have become that much more conscientious. And we've seen companies like Bookingcom start to implement green filters so you can actually choose accommodation options, and I'm finding more and more signals that indicate that customers are making decisions based on sustainability.
Speaker 2:It may not always be the first time, but it's often the case, and James Thornton called this out to me, the CEO of Intrepid, and I thought it was really insightful which is that it's not necessarily the reason people book you the first time, but it's the reason that people keep coming back because they want to know that you are aligned with their values, and so when I was preparing for our conversation today, I was actually checking out Civitatis' credentials on this topic, and it's actually quite substantial.
Speaker 2:And I was quite impressed with both UNWTO organizations that you're a partner with, because I'm very familiar with them, and specifically the Civitatis Traveler's Manifesto, because for me, on there you have things like respecting cultural heritage you have supporting the local economy, defending human rights and really promoting a culture of sustainable tourism. So I'd love to ask you a little bit more about that whether you are building sustainability messaging into your marketing, if you're seeing results from that, if you're building that messaging into repeat guests. So, given you have the credentials to back this up, I'm keen to know, I guess, what it is you are doing to market that effectively and if you're seeing results from it.
Speaker 1:Well, yes, the sustainability and eco-consciousness for travel has been part of the DNA of the company since the inception of it by Alberto.
Speaker 1:He like when you think about the first tools he created he started working with one-man suppliers that were offering tools and he had one of his motivation was to help generate local businesses right, create this local wealth and help countries I don't know, in Morocco, for example, in Africa and in Eastern Europe, help suppliers create businesses that are going to help the local culture and that are going to help generate that wealth locally.
Speaker 1:And we have a number of amazing cases of people that started conversations with Alberto, once, won emails and that now have bigger companies and that can now sustain and help the region where they live and those communities, and so this has been part of the company's DNA, so it's very easy for us to go and use it. We not only market it to our consumers, the users, but we also use it as a selection factor in our creation right. We want to support vulnerable groups, we want to protect the environment, and so we encourage more than 8,000 suppliers worldwide to adopt their jobs, to protect the earth and to be eco-conscious in practices. Here in Spain, we are seeing a lot of conversation around this over tourism, and so we make sure that we work with guides that are professional guides that have the licenses and that don't go in like huge groups that are going to collapse cities, right, and so this is part of our creation.
Speaker 2:This is how we really bring this to market and it just and it isn't just a words that we have on a on a manifesto, but it's really brought to life that's great and I know that's based on the unwto, and this is where I think that the uh mission is clearly aligned and something that resonates with me, because that's something that I'm paying close attention to, because I'm always trying to make decisions that, ultimately, when I think about our kids and making sure that we protect the planet for future generations, for me, wherever I do have the option to make that decision it's not always possible to the example of traveling to an event on a train versus a plane.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's just not currently a viable option, but wherever possible, I and I think more consumers feel much the same way.
Speaker 2:So I definitely wanted to ask you that. The other thing I wanted to ask you I got to have one more question on more of a global and future looking, and then I wanted to get a couple of your personal insights and advice for people who are making their way up in the industry, which is such a big component of our audience. So, when we think about OTAs five years from now, like 2030, which is going to come faster than we know it and clearly you know, you've been in this role for a couple of years and you're shaping this business for the future and I do see a lot of companies now that kind of have their 2030 or beyond mission of what they want to accomplish, and so I would love to hear what that looks like for Civitatis and if you wouldn't mind sharing like, what are some of those kind of major developments or, more specifically, just the future of tourism and specifically OTAs over the next five years?
Speaker 1:Sure. So I think it's clear that the future of tourism is linked with tourism activities. Right, like, we're seeing a lot of companies entering the space whether that's banking, whether that's bookings, airbnbs a lot of of companies that are either already existing in travel or completely outsiders of travel are seeing the value of human nature is to go and discover and travel, and now it's easier than ever, and so tools and attractions, tools and activities are going to be part of that more and more. What we're also seeing is that it's becoming more and more digital and so, and it's becoming more and more mobile and uh, so decisions are going to be made based on experiences. There's going to be more players working on it and, at the same time, what really brings value is having companies like ours that are very specific in their market and that make sure that there is this quality concept, because there is a lot of quantity, there is a lot of offering, but users ultimately want to have easy and simplicity at the core of their decision process. Right, it's it process. It's already stressful to go to Rome. You have a hundred things to do when you're in Rome. For each thing you have to do in Rome, you have a thousand options.
Speaker 1:I think curation is going to be a big theme for the coming years. I think our competitors would say the same thing, right, it's very good news for tourism and for travel tech to have this interest from other players. Some people are going to see it as more competition, but we see it as an opportunity, right, because it's going to help create the category. There is still to help create the category. There is still room to create the category. There is still people that don't think about what they're going to do when they are in destination. They just realize when they land there in their hotel. It's like, oh right, what am I going to do now? And so there is still an opening market there.
Speaker 1:I think, again, ai is going to have a huge impact. It's going to help solve more problems, and so we can see AI created companies, incumbents, that are going to help solve those issues and help go faster. I still think, and we still think, that at Civitat is the human intelligence, the human touch, is going to be key, right, we're not going to solve everything through AI, especially in travel. When you're going to be traveling and you want to feel that local culture you're going to have, you want to have this local guy that tells you about this spot and why you need to have this local guide that tells you about this spot and why, uh, you need to be at this spot at 6 32, because it's gonna the sun is gonna shine on this monument and it's gonna take a pink color, right, all those things that human touch is is still gonna happen, but it's obviously gonna be, uh, make much more efficient by by it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just want to highlight, too, exactly what you're saying, which is that there is a very bright future ahead for the travel industry. I think many of my listeners are familiar with me quoting stats about demographics, which still excites me that you know we're going to see a doubling of travelers between 2024, the last numbers last year is about 400 million to 800 million in 2050. And you just think about the growth year over year and there's clearly going to be specific verticals that are going to see an even greater growth because of consumer behavior changes. To your point about people actually being more interested in experiences, deeper immersion, local destination so the companies that are actually not only benefiting from the demographic shifts, they're also benefiting from changing consumer interests. And that's where I'm certainly bullish on Civitatis and it kind of gets reconfirmed and validated that for me today having this conversation together.
Speaker 2:So I just had a couple last questions and then I want to make sure that people know how to follow up with you or connect with the team, and obviously we be staying in in close touch as well.
Speaker 2:But one of the things that I wanted to ask you, given the way that your career, you know that you've risen to this level of prominence and well deserved, and that was clear on our discussion. But for the younger you and this is this is always the what I'm, I guess, mindful of whenever I'm interviewing I'm always trying to think of myself 20 years ago as I was riding my bike in a lonely planet listening to podcasts of like what were the questions I would like to ask that could improve my role today, either my career or the company I'm working with or for, to be able to be more successful. So I'd love for you to be able to share whether it's one or two pieces of advice for aspiring professionals looking to join this industry or advance in this industry what has been some of the keys to your success that you would like to share with a wider audience.
Speaker 1:I think the first one is passion. Right, find something where you're passionate about, whether that's marketing, whether that's IT, whether that's travel and it looks like a very generic thing thing, but you're gonna wake up every morning, uh, for for a few years and so make it your passion, or or work in something that passionates you already. That would be the first one. The second is is find the wave and serve the wave. Right? I'm a Google AdWords son. I started doing marketing back in 2007. I discovered Google AdWords and I was like an SEO and I was like, wow, okay, this is amazing, I can do this and that let's just go and find more information about it. And just go and find more information about it and just trying to find industries and companies that are very good on that wave right, and you have a lot of waves. They come and they go. You had the AdWords wave, you had the community managers wave talking about marketing, and so find that wave that is trending now and, if it fits your passion, just go and learn. You don't need to do universities, you don't need to do a lot of studies, everything is on the internet and I think you can learn a lot by just doing right, like, test, learn, repeat, test learn, test learn and just like do things. And so I think that that is my advice serve that way.
Speaker 1:And when you serve that way, which is also one way I built my career, which was like, hey, I'm gonna, I'm interested in AdWords, I'm gonna, I'm gonna learn about AdWords. And then okay, I'm interested in AdWords, I'm going to learn about AdWords. And then okay, I'm going to start learning about SEO. Oh right, cool, seo. Oh, there is a lot of people ranking here. Oh, those people don't have a business. Oh, they're affiliates. Okay, I'm going to learn about affiliate marketing. Oh right, okay, I have now converted a lead into a buyer. Okay, how can I make that buyer? Repeat, oh, email marketing, right, push notifications, and so just trying to be on the career, don't try to focus on the whole thing. But I think T-shaped careers are interesting. So enter one spot deep, learn about it and then you can expand.
Speaker 2:That's terrific advice, and I'm going to just underline why I think so for our audience. Is that what, essentially, you're recommending first of all is to take initiative, and that resonates with me because, if I look at both of our backgrounds and our career trajectories, there's one thing that we certainly have in common, which is that we came up as performance marketers in an age of where it was primarily brand marketing, and I think that's one of the reasons that both of us disrupted established marketing, because we saw something that was truly cause and effect, you know, direct response with performance marketing, and that certainly has changed the whole game of marketing, and so that's a great example you mentioned is take initiative, because you know, actually roll up your sleeves and learn how to do paid search. The same now applies for leveraging AI tools and the people that are coming up and the amazing talent I'm seeing kind of behind us, if you will that are coming up, that are taking these tools and leveraging them and being able to rethink how we market and reach customers. That's really exciting. And the other thing you mentioned, too, about riding the wave I really smiled with that one, because that, to me, is like you have to go where the opportunity is where there's a swell, where there's and this is where I'm excited for both of us that you know, at the stage in our careers where we've already spent, you know, 20 years in this space or thereabouts like, the next 20 years are going to be that much more exciting, based on the growth potential, we'll be right back.
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Speaker 1:I think favorite destination I'm going to bring it home I'd say Switzerland. I was born and raised there and I always enjoy going there and enjoying. Whether that's winter or summer, you always find lakes, mountains, hikes to do, and so I'm gonna say that one and then, in terms of things to do, my other destination that that is very close to my heart is is Canary Islands. I try to go there every year. I'm going there in a few days and the experience I really enjoyed there was doing a night walk and looking at the stars from El Teide, which is the highest mountain we have in Spain. It's a volcano.
Speaker 2:And so very, very amazing, amazing sets looking at the Focusrite conference. But I want to make sure that people can connect with you and also get in touch with Civitatis, because I'm sure there's lots of people that are just coming to know your business and your brand that would like to partner with you or to take one of your travel experiences. So if you wouldn't mind finishing off by telling us where to connect with you and learn more about Civitatis?
Speaker 1:Sure thing. So you can connect through LinkedIn. I'm available there and very happy to answer. If you want to send me an email or reach out, it's pretty easy. It's ismail at Civitatiscom. If I can't answer you, I will make sure your email lands where it needs to land.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, that's great. Thank you so much for this. I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure you'll have a few people sending their CV over saying I want to work with you guys and that's. It's literally something that we've seen. Which I think is wonderful is that and I know what that was like myself, as you're coming up and you see people that you're like, oh my God, I could learn from you, you could be a great mentor, and all of a sudden, you start getting applications. So I'm sure that will be one of the outcomes and for those of you who are listening to that and having that thought, go for it. This is the opportunity. Reach out to Ismael. He's, as you've heard, a fantastic leader and onto something really exciting with Civitatis, and I'm sure their team's gonna be expanding, so landing. So they already have now 400 team members. But, yeah, I can't thank you enough for making this possible. I look forward to keeping in touch and wish you and the team continued success.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Dan. The pleasure was mine and it was a real honor to be with you at Travel Trends.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for joining us on this latest episode of Travel Trends. I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Ismael Garcia, the CMO of Civitatis, and one of the things I just wanted to highlight. When you look at the team behind Civitatis, it really is a very impressive group of individuals that clearly have fun working together and there's a strong team dynamic very focused on collaboration, which is exactly why companies like this thrive when they're focused on technology, and the guest experience reminds me very much of working with the team at WeRoad and if you look at the About Us section of the website, you'll see exactly what I mean. And then, when you think about what they've come up against, where there are so many challenges to running a global business at this scale, there's, of course, cultural barriers, language barriers, there's logistical complexities and there's massive competition in this space, which is why it is so remarkable to see their growth and how well Civitatis is standing out in the marketplace. And the other factor that many people don't see is this the regulatory compliance that's involved in running a global business at this scale. So when you think about all those challenges, it's just that much more remarkable to look at a success story like civi status and to be able to champion their growth and potential. So I'm thrilled that we're going to get a chance to partner with them with season six of our podcast. So you'll hear more about them over the course of next season, which will start in september.
Speaker 2:But I also wanted to highlight to all of our listeners that we just announced our ai summit v2. That will be going live the end of October. You can pre-register now on our website at TravelTrendsPodcastcom. We'll have early bird tickets ready for sale shortly and we'll be announcing the speakers and the content for those couple of days. So don't miss out on that opportunity.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, we're traveling a lot in the next few weeks. I'm in Miami next week at the Aviation Fest, I'll be at the Adventure, travel and Trade Association in Denver at the end of May and then Focusrite in Europe in June. So definitely reach out if you're going to be at any of those events and I'll look forward to meeting you there. But thanks again to Sivitadas and to Ismael Garcia, and I look forward to having you all join us next week as we kick off our River Cruise series.
Speaker 2:And we are going to be speaking to Ragnar, the founder of Captio, and I can tell you, this is one of my highlights of season five, so I can't wait for you to listen to my conversation with Ragnar. I'm convinced that he needs to co-host some episodes in the near future, and so I'm thrilled. He's a big fan of the show and we've become great friends, and it was really terrific to be able to have that conversation with him, which we'll bring to you next week. So make sure you are subscribed on the streaming platform of your choice to be notified when new episodes go live. And until next week, safe travels.
