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by brudgers 3728 days ago
How big is the market for travelers who don't know where they want to go?

Could there be a market for alocal version of this? Something like an Uber that takes people to 'arbitrary' restaurants. If not, why would people who will risk flying and hotels but not a "cab" ride and a dinner?
1 comments
kuisch 3728 days ago
A PhocusWright study from 2010 found that 40% of (EU) travelers that plan their trip online don't have a destination in mind beforehand. I imagine that this number would be slightly higher for a younger demographic (18-35), which we aim to address initially (thinking 'I don't specifically care where I'm going; I just want to see something new'). The European online hotel & flight sale market itself is valued at roughly $210B. I also expect Wanderlust to be used mainly for shorter city breaks (4-5 day trips) as opposed to actual summer holidays, where most of us tend to have at least some idea of where to go.

I am not sure if the analogy you draw to a local equivalent (and if that fails, surely this would fail) is entirely fair. It's an area I didn't look into specifically.

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brudgers 3728 days ago
I wasn't trying to be unfair with the analogy, my apologies.

My purpose was to drill into what phrases like "not having a destination in mind", "new experience", and "not caring" mean and expose the assumptions about human behavior under pinning them.

It's a thought experiment. The scenario is simple and concrete and reduces the likelihood of wishful thinking about human behavior. By lowering the risk/reward ration, it is easier to see the economic model.

The first question then becomes, why would Ubering to random restaurants work or not work?

And the second question is, how is the market Wanderlust wants to tackle similar to and different from the Ubering to random restaurant market?

A third question, if Ubering to random restaurants is a viable market, given the greater economic activity and higher recurrence of restaurant dining, would it be a more scalable model, and if it isn't what makes Wanderlust's market more scalable?

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