A deal with entertainment platform Fever means Tui will offer an initial 350 "Experiences for Locals" in more than 30 UK cities via the Tui and Tui Musement platforms.
Asked if Tui was trying to compete with Ticketmaster, Tui Group chief executive Sebastian Ebel said: “Yes, but what we offer is far broader.”
Fever will bring Tui theatre, music, tours, exhibitions and experiences such as cooking classes.
Peter Krueger, Tui Group chief strategy officer and Holiday Experiences chief executive, said: “We want to sell things other people cannot sell.
“We have six million customers in the UK, we have their contact details and their marketing permissions so they can think of Tui for their next weekend activity.”
“In the UK in particular, people think of Tui as a package holiday provider. In Germany they know already that we sell more than just package holidays."
The deal with Fever includes placing its kiosks in Tui properties abroad to offer experiences in resort.
It is the latest part of Tui’s quest to become a "global curated leisure marketplace".
Peter Ulwahn, Tui Musement chief executive, said the app strategy fitted with how consumers were now purchasing their holidays: “Before, people were saying where should we go; now they are saying what should we do?”
Musement operates in 117 destinations and sells 125,000 resort transfers, with Ebel saying these were a “fantastic lead-in product” that generated excursion and activity sales. Musement accounted for 4.5 million sun and beach tours last year but 40% of sales were city-break related.
Ulwahn added: “The next step is what can I do in my home city when I’m not travelling? It’s much more about tickets, museums and events.” He added the deal with Fever meant Tui could target domestic holidaymakers and give it a sales opportunity “365 days a year”.
Tui receives 20% of UK sales from its apps. Ebel said the plan was to migrate traffic from the web to it but added: “Medium term the app will also be on the desktop screen.”
