Civitatis Finds Niche in Selling Activities to Spanish Speakers

14.12.2023 - 16:00 / skift.com / Latin America / Selene Brophy

Civitatis, an online travel agency specializing in tours and attractions, said it had found whitespace to compete against bigger players like Viator and GetYourGuide by targeting speakers of Spanish, the most widely spoken first language after Mandarin.

So far, in 2023, Civitatis has catered to over 9 million travelers, marking a 31% increase year-over-year.

Private equity firm Vitruvian Partners liked the Madrid-based company’s ambitions in Europe and Latin America enough to invest about $109 million (€100 million) last year. Vitruvian specializes in investing in high-growth companies.

CEO Alberto Gutiérrez said the company’s biggest revenue driver has been from the offerings of Spanish-speaking tour operators. The company’s most popular destinations include New York, Japan, and major European cities like Rome, Paris, and Madrid.

Civitatis has grown its offerings from 29,000 experiences in 2019 to 87,000 in 2023. In the past four years, it’s nearly doubled its Spanish-speaking suppliers to over 6,000. (It also offers some English-language tours.)

Unlike competitor online travel agencies Despegar, GetYourGuide, and Viator, which offer a wide selection of choice in English or other translated languages, Gutiérrez said Civitatis “focused on quality and relevance in Spanish.”

The logic is that streamlining the decision-making process for its customers will help reduce “decision fatigue” and increase sales.

Gutiérrez said Civitatis, which has about 300 staffers, works with a network of top suppliers to ensure tailored customer experiences, a challenging endeavor in non-Spanish speaking markets due to a scarcity of quality Spanish-speaking suppliers.

Over the years, the company has strived to find Spanish-speaking guides in diverse locations, such as Livingstone in Zambia, home to Victoria Falls.

For every, say, 20 variously priced tours available for the Alhambra in Granada, Civitatis would assess each tour’s viability, pricing, inclusions, and exclusions to select the best supplier, explained Gutiérrez. This selective process aims to ensure customers receive the best possible experience without the hassle of comparing numerous, potentially confusing options.

The fragmented tours and activities market, with 70% of operators offline, presents a further opportunity for Civitatis, with more than 586 million Spanish speakers worldwide.

Other players with a heavy customer base outside of English speakers include Southeast Asia’s Klook, France’s Ceetiz, and Jochen Schweizer Mydays Group in Germany.

While the U.S. has about 60 million Spanish speakers, Gutiérrez said the company’s growth in North America was limited due to a shortage of quality Spanish-speaking tour operators and “really expensive” marketing