How to Get More Direct Bookings for Your Tour Business

Most tour operators want more direct bookings. The reasons are simple: you keep more of each booking, you own the guest relationship, and you depend less on any one platform. The harder part is knowing what to do about it.

This guide shows how to get more direct bookings for your tour business, in a sensible order. It’s practical, it doesn’t promise miracles, and you can start with the first two steps this week.

Why direct bookings matter

When a guest books through an online travel agency (OTA), the platform commonly takes around 20 to 30% of the booking value, depending on the contract. When they book on your own site, you avoid that commission, though you still pay payment fees and the cost of the marketing that won the booking.

You also keep the relationship. You can answer questions, look after the guest properly and invite them back. Our direct bookings for tourism operators page covers the thinking behind this in more detail, including an honest comparison of OTA and direct.

Step 1: Find out where your bookings come from

You can’t improve what you can’t see. Before changing anything, work out what share of bookings arrive:

• through your own website,
• through each OTA,
• from repeat guests and referrals,
• by phone, email or walk-up.

If your booking system reports a source for each booking, use it. If not, ask guests how they found you at the point of booking. Even a rough split is enough to start.

Then put a number on what OTAs cost you. The OTA commission calculator takes your annual revenue, the share booked through OTAs and your commission rate, and shows what you pay each year and what shifting some bookings direct could save. It gives you a figure to aim at.

Step 2: Make your website the best place to book

If guests find you elsewhere and then come to your site, your site has to close the deal. That means getting the basics right.

• Speed on a phone. Many travellers research on their phones, often on slow connections. Slow pages lose bookings.
• Clear information up front. Price (or price from), duration, what’s included, where it starts, group size and what to bring.
• Real photos. Show the experience and the people, not stock images.
• Reviews you can see. Show genuine reviews on the page where the decision is made.
• Booking in a few taps. A clear button on every experience page, and a booking flow that works on mobile.
• Answers to the obvious questions. Weather, cancellation, safety, accessibility and who it’s suitable for.

This is the heart of web design for tourism operators: a site built to take bookings, with your booking system built in, not just a brochure.

Step 3: Get found for the activity and the place

A good site only pays off if people reach it. Travellers search for the experience and where it is, such as the activity plus the town or region. Build your pages around those searches.

• One page per experience, each targeting its own search.
• A complete Google Business Profile, with the right categories, photos and a booking link.
• Genuine reviews, because they help you rank and help guests decide.
• Content that answers questions travellers ask before they book.

The Google profile and reviews work is part of SEO for tourism operators, and it’s often where the best local bookings come from.

Step 4: Protect your own name in search

When someone searches for you by name, you want them to land on your site. But OTAs and resellers can, and sometimes do, bid on operators’ names in Google Ads. That means a guest looking for you can end up on someone else’s listing, with the booking and the commission going elsewhere.

A small brand campaign keeps your own site on top. It’s usually one of the cheapest campaigns to run and one of the easiest to justify.

Step 5: Get named in AI answers

More travellers are starting to ask ChatGPT, Gemini and similar tools what to do and who to book with. If the answer names a booking platform and not you, the booking goes there. Being named comes from clear information on your own site, consistent listings, genuine reviews and mentions from sources the tools trust. We cover this in GEO for tourism operators.

Step 6: Win your repeat guests and referrals

Past guests and their friends already know you, so they’re the cheapest direct bookings you’ll win.

• Make it easy for them to find your own site and book again.
• Follow up after the trip with a thank you and a review request.
• Where you have permission, tell past guests about new experiences or seasonal openings.
• Ask happy guests to recommend you, and make it easy to pass on your website.

Check your OTA agreement for any rules on contacting guests, and follow privacy rules on marketing messages.

Step 7: Use OTAs on purpose

Keep OTAs where they earn their cost. Treat them as a channel for reach, and keep an eye on which listings bring bookings worth having. Don’t switch them off in a hurry. Grow the direct share first.

Step 8: Measure cost per booking, not just clicks

For each channel, know what a booking costs you, including commission, marketing and payment fees. A direct booking that costs you more in ads than the commission you’d have paid isn’t a win. Tracking this lets you put your effort where it pays.

A simple 90-day plan

• Days 1 to 30. Work out where bookings come from, run the numbers, fix your Google Business Profile, and test your booking flow on a phone.
• Days 31 to 60. Improve your experience pages, start a review routine, and set up a brand campaign in Google Ads.
• Days 61 to 90. Build content for the searches you want to win, follow up with past guests, and review cost per booking by channel.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating direct as free. It isn’t. You pay for the site, search, ads and payment fees, so compare cost per booking on each route.
• Skipping tracking. Without it you can’t tell which changes are working.
• Neglecting mobile. If booking is awkward on a phone, you’ll lose guests however good the rest is.
• Going cold turkey on OTAs. Pulling listings before your own channels are ready can leave a gap in bookings.
• Ignoring your own agreements. Check the terms on pricing and contacting guests before you change how you sell.
• Expecting overnight results. Some things, like ads, work within days. Others, like SEO and reviews, build over months.

None of this needs to be fancy. It needs to be done properly and measured. If you’d like help, the digital marketing for tourism operators page shows what we do, or get in touch and tell me about your tour business.

Keep reading

• What Viator Really Costs NZ Tour Operators (and How to Keep More of Each Booking)