By Blake Ng — 24 Feb 2017

Las Vegas, NV — Rezdy LLC, the world’s most innovative and fastest growing B2B online distribution and reservation platform for tours, activities and attractions, has tapped travel industry veteran Bob Gilbert to lead the expansion for its U.S. operations.

Gilbert brings decades of travel industry leadership and expertise, having held leadership positions in destination marketing, technology, hospitality and trade industry publishing.

“The growth of the activities market for leisure travel has been staggering, and with the maturity of this multi-billion-dollar market comes the need for dynamic booking options for the best sellers in the business,” said Gilbert. “Rezdy is like a GDS but focused exclusively on things to see and do, we offer only B2B platforms and look to create more value for destinations and tour activity sellers connecting them with the travel seller community.”

Gilbert is recognized as an innovative global sales and marketing leader. His creative style has won 15 HSMAI Adrian marketing awards, ASTA supplier of the year, listed in the “Top 25 most influential travel industry executives”, served on the boards of NTA, US Travel Association, Marketing Chair for the National Parks Promotion Council, and Commissioner for Visit California.

Rezdy co-founder and CEO Simon Lenoir said, “The activity, attraction and tour segment is fast becoming the key component in choosing a destination. We continue to be market leaders through innovation driven by insight. We were the first to develop a Marketplace, the first to develop a proprietary Channel Manager, the first to offer e-ticket solutions to our customers, and are trusted technology partners with Expedia, Viator, Get Your Guide and thousands more. Since launching in 2011, our reach has continued to expand and a foothold in the U.S. marketplace has developed and now needs its own leadership. Bob brings incredible knowledge, enthusiasm and market relationships to our team and will no doubt exceed our expectations for partnering with and serving the U.S. travel marketplace.”

In the USA alone, there are approximately 67,000 businesses valued at US$20 billion in the tour and activity space. This makes it the third largest segment of the travel industry after air and accommodation (WIT, 2016). In Europe, tours and activities account for around US$40 billion (WIT, 2016)