What should a tourism website include?

Clear experience pages with duration, price, what's included and where it starts, real photos and reviews, safety and cancellation information, a simple booking flow, and fast mobile performance. For international visitors, add location context, currency clarity and plain, simple English.

How important is mobile for a tourism website?

Very. Many travellers research on their phones, often on slower connections or roaming. A site that is slow or awkward on mobile loses bookings, however good it looks on a desktop.

Should I show prices in other currencies?

At minimum, make it obvious which currency your prices are in. Whether to add conversions depends on your booking system and audience. A clear currency label avoids confusion and refund disputes.

How do I know if my website is good enough?

Ask someone who doesn't know your business, ideally someone unfamiliar with New Zealand, to find an experience and try to book it on their phone while you watch. Wherever they hesitate, your site needs work.

Tourism Website Must-Haves: What International Visitors Expect Before They Book

An international visitor looking at your website is making a decision with less information than a local. They may not know where you are, how far it is from where they’re staying, what the weather is like, or whether your business is trustworthy. They can’t ring a friend to ask.

So your site has to do that work. This guide covers the tourism website must-haves that international visitors expect before they book. Each is simple, and most are missing from more sites than you’d think. If you want a site built around them, that’s what our web design for tourism operators service does.

1. It loads fast on a phone

Many travellers research on a phone, often far from home, on a hotel connection or on roaming data. A slow site loses them before they see a single photo.

Compress your images and keep your pages light.
Test on a real phone, on mobile data, not just on your office wifi.
Make sure the booking button is easy to reach with a thumb.

Speed isn’t a nice extra. It decides whether the rest of your site gets seen.

2. It says plainly what the experience is

Open each experience page as a stranger would. Within a few seconds they should know what it is, who it’s for and what they’ll do. Use simple, direct English. Avoid local slang, in-jokes and phrases that need explaining. Short sentences travel well.

3. Duration, start time and group size are obvious

Visitors plan their days around these details. Show how long the experience takes, when it starts and finishes, the group size and whether private options exist. Put it near the top of the page, not buried in a paragraph.

4. Prices are clear, and so is the currency

Show the price, or a price from, on the page. Make it obvious which currency it’s in, because “$250” means different things to a New Zealander, an Australian and an American. Say whether the price is per person, per group or per vehicle, and what is and isn’t included. Surprises at checkout lose bookings and cause disputes.

5. Location comes with context

A map pin is good. Context is better. International visitors often don’t know the geography, so tell them how far you are from the nearest town or airport, how long it takes to get there, and how they’ll travel. If you offer pick-ups, say from where. If they’ll need a car, say so.

6. What’s included, and what to bring

List what’s included (gear, guide, transport, food, photos) and what guests should bring or wear. For outdoor activities, add a simple note on clothing for the conditions. It reduces anxious emails and bad first impressions on the day.

7. Weather and cancellation policies are easy to find

New Zealand weather changes, and visitors know it. They want to know what happens if conditions turn. State clearly what you do about weather, what the cancellation and refund terms are, and how rebooking works. Put it on the experience page and at checkout, not only in your terms.

8. Safety, fitness and accessibility information

Guests want to know it’s safe, and whether it’s right for them.

Fitness level and any age, height or weight limits.
Accessibility, for people with limited mobility.
Safety briefings, equipment and qualifications, where they apply to your activity.
Any registrations or audits relevant to your activity, stated accurately.

Say only what is true and current, and keep it up to date. Adventure activities in particular carry safety expectations, so make sure what you publish matches what you do.

9. Real reviews, visible where the decision is made

Reviews do a lot of the persuading. Show genuine reviews on the experience pages, not only on a separate page, and link to where they come from, such as your Google profile. Use real photos of real guests (with permission), not stock images. A mix of detailed reviews reads as more believable than a wall of identical ones.

10. Booking is simple, secure and works on mobile

Booking should take a few taps. Make sure the booking button is obvious on every experience page, the calendar shows availability, the form asks only what you need, and payment is secure and familiar. Test the whole flow on a phone. If you use a booking system, make sure it fits in with your site, so guests don’t feel handed off to a stranger. We cover how to choose one in a separate guide, linked below.

11. Contact options that work across time zones

A traveller in the UK or the US will email at what is the middle of the night in New Zealand. Make it clear how to contact you, when you reply and how quickly. A simple “we reply within one working day” line sets expectations. A clear email address and a contact form beat a phone number alone.

12. A plain FAQ

Put the questions guests really ask into an FAQ, in plain language. Think about weather, what to bring, transport, children, dietary needs, payment and what happens if they’re late. An FAQ saves you emails and helps the page show up when travellers search with those exact questions.

13. Trust signals that are real

Show who you are. Names and photos of your guides, a short story about the business, your location and your contact details all build trust. Add any genuine accreditations or memberships. Avoid vague claims like “world-class” that nobody can check.

The technical basics behind the scenes

A few things guests never see but your site depends on.

A secure connection (HTTPS).
Clean titles and headings, so Google knows what each page offers.
Structured data (schema) for your business, experiences and FAQs.
Alt text on images, for accessibility and search.

These are part of the foundation we build into every site, along with the SEO that gets it found. See SEO for tourism operators for how that works.

Test it with a stranger

The best test is simple. Hand your phone to someone who doesn’t know your business, ideally someone who isn’t from New Zealand. Ask them to find an experience and try to book it, and say what they’re thinking out loud. Wherever they hesitate, your site needs work.

Common mistakes to avoid

Hiding the price until the last step of checkout.
Putting key information in images, where it can’t be read by search engines or screen readers, and is hard to read on a phone.
Using pop-ups and auto-playing video that slow the page or cover the booking button.
Writing only for locals, with slang and assumed knowledge.
Leaving old information up, such as last season’s prices or expired offers.

If you’d like help building a site that answers an international visitor’s questions and takes bookings, see our digital marketing for tourism operators hub or get in touch.