Google Ads for Tourism Operators · NZ, Australia, US, UK & CA
Google Ads for tourism operators that fills departures.
SEO is the long game. Google Ads puts your experience at the top of Google while travellers are planning, and stops an OTA taking the booking when someone searches for your name. We build and manage campaigns that turn searches into direct bookings.
Your Adventures · Official Site
Small groups, local guides and flexible dates. Check availability and book on our official site.
The basics
What is Google Ads for tourism operators?
Google Ads for tourism operators is paid search advertising built for a tour, activity or lodge business. We set up, run and optimise campaigns so your business shows at the top of Google when travellers search for what you offer, or for you by name, on a flat monthly fee plus a one-off setup, never a cut of your ad spend.
EightySix Digital is a Google Ads agency for tourism operators, based in Christchurch, New Zealand, helping tours, lodges and adventure businesses across New Zealand, Australia, the US, UK and Canada win more direct bookings.
- Bookings now, not in six months. You can be at the top of Google within days of launch.
- Also called tourism PPC or paid search. Same job: more direct bookings for less per booking.
- Built around seasons. Budgets and ads that follow demand and your capacity.
From Christchurch, for tourism operators
I know the searches, and the seasons, worth bidding on.
I’m Stu, and I run EightySix Digital from Christchurch, close to the South Island’s tourism heartland. I know a campaign for a tour or lodge isn’t the same as one for a local trade: the buyer is planning, often from overseas, and the calendar decides the budget.
So your campaigns aren’t set up off a generic playbook. They’re built around your seasons, your capacity and the countries your guests come from. No bullshit, just more direct bookings for less wasted spend.
How the maths works
A budget, in plain numbers.
Ad spend isn’t the cost of a booking, it’s the cost of visitors. What matters is how many of them book, and what each booking is worth.
The example on the right uses round, assumed numbers to show the sum. It’s not a client result and not a promise: your click costs and booking rate will differ. To see what OTA commission costs you, try the OTA commission calculator.
Try your own numbers →| Monthly ad budget | $2,000 |
|---|---|
| Assumed cost per click | $2 |
| Visitors from ads | 1,000 |
| Assumed share who book | 4% |
| Bookings | 40 |
| Ad spend per booking | $50 |
| For comparison: 25% OTA commission on a $250 booking | $62.50 |
Assumed figures for illustration only, in any currency. Real click costs, booking rates and booking values vary a lot by destination, season and competition. It leaves out our management fee, setup, and any booking system or payment fees.
Why paid search
In front of travellers while they plan, not after.
SEO is worth the wait, but it is a wait. Google Ads puts you in front of travellers the moment they search, in season or out.
Top of page from day one
The minute someone searches for your kind of experience, your business sits in the paid spots ahead of the organic results. No waiting months to rank.
High-intent clicks
Someone typing “heli hike Franz Josef” is close to booking, not browsing. We bid on the searches that come with a booking attached.
A cost per booking you can see
Target the countries and regions your guests come from, and track what each enquiry and booking costs, so you know what your ads actually return.
What we manage
The whole campaign, handled.
No set-and-forget. We build it properly, then sharpen it every month to drive your cost per booking down.
Account & campaign setup
Built right for tourism from day one: clean structure, sharp location targeting and tracking.
Keyword research
We bid on the experience plus the place, and block the searches that never turn into bookings, so you don’t waste a cent.
Ad copy that converts
Honest ads that lead with what’s included, group size and your official site, so travellers choose your link over the listings around it.
Landing page advice
Send those clicks to pages built to get a visitor from looking to booked, like our web design for tourism operators.
Conversion tracking
Know which clicks became enquiries and bookings, not just traffic, as far as your booking system allows.
Bid & budget management
Ongoing optimisation so more of your budget flows to the bookings that actually pay.
Tourism-specific
Seasonal, international and brand-protected.
Tourism ads aren’t the same as a local trade’s. These are the parts that make the difference.
Seasonal campaigns
Ski season, summer, shoulder months and school holidays in your key markets. Budgets and ads that follow demand, so you push when it’s busy and ease off when it isn’t.
UK, US & AU travellers
Country and language targeting to reach the places your guests come from, with timing that matches when they plan, which is often months before they travel.
Protect your brand searches
OTAs and resellers can, and sometimes do, bid on operator names, so a guest searching for you can land on someone else’s listing first. A small brand campaign keeps your own site on top and the booking with you.
Capacity-aware budgets
Cap or pause spend when a departure is full and push when there’s space, so you aren’t paying for clicks you can’t take.
Reminding people who looked
Where privacy rules and consent allow, a gentle reminder for visitors who viewed a trip and left, since many travellers compare for days before they book.
Part of a bigger plan
Ads get bookings now while SEO builds in the background and GEO gets you named by AI. See how direct bookings work across all of it.
Every kind of operator
Built for the way you operate.
Whatever you sell, we bid on the exact searches that put you at the top when that booking comes up.
Adventure activities
Jet boats, rafting, canyoning and more. We put you top of page for the activity plus the town, including the same-day searches from visitors already there.
Guided tours & day trips
Campaigns per tour, pointing each click at the page for that exact trip, so the visitor lands on what they searched for.
Heli-ski & heli-hike
Higher-value bookings justify a stronger bid. We reach planners early and stay in front of them while they compare.
Fishing guides & lodges
Targeted campaigns for specific rivers, species and seasons, aimed at anglers who already know what they want.
Boutique lodges
Bid on your own name and the place, so travellers comparing you with an OTA listing meet your direct-booking page first.
Ski & winter operators
Campaigns that switch on as the snow-planning searches climb and ease off as the season closes.
How we work
A simple process. Real results.
- 01
Research
We dig into your experiences, seasons and markets to find the searches worth winning, and check who’s bidding on your name.
- 02
Build
Campaigns, keywords, ads and conversion tracking, set up properly from the start.
- 03
Launch
You go live at the top of Google, with the tracking in place to prove what’s working.
- 04
Optimise
Every month we sharpen targeting, bids and seasonal timing to lower your cost per booking and scale what works.
Pricing
Simple, honest Google Ads for tourism operators.
Initial setup
NZ$300one-off
Monthly management
Flat rateNZ$600/mo
NZD, plus GST · your ad budget is paid to Google separately
Setup includes
- Account & campaign setup
- Keyword & competitor research
- Ad copywriting
- Conversion tracking setup
- Landing page advice
Every month includes
- Ongoing bid & budget management
- Ad testing & refinement
- Continuous optimisation
- Monthly reporting in plain English
- No lock-in, month to month
Landing page advice covers recommendations for your existing pages. Designing or building a new landing page is a separate service, not included in the setup or management fee.
Your ad budget is paid directly to Google and stays in your control, and we’ll help you set one that fits your goals.
Plan your budget
How much should a tourism operator spend on Google Ads?
Enter a budget and a few assumptions to estimate the clicks, enquiries and cost per lead it could generate. This is your ad spend, separate from our fees.
Why spending less can cost you more
Google Ads is a live auction, and your budget decides how often you can show up for the searches that matter. Set it too low and your ads stop showing partway through the day, the campaign never gathers enough data to optimise, and you win only the cheaper, lower-intent clicks. So you can spend less and still get worse value, paying for clicks that never turn into work. A budget with enough room to compete consistently is usually what turns Google Ads from a cost into a return, and for most local operators that means starting from around $30 to $50 a day. We’ll help you set one that fits, and we’d rather tell you honestly that a budget is too low to work than watch it struggle.
Rough estimates only. Real tourism ad costs swing a lot by destination, season and competition, so treat every figure here as a ballpark to plan with, not a quote or a promise.
What you plan to spend on Google Ads each month, paid to Google.
Click costs vary a lot by destination, season and competition. We’ve set a cautious default, adjust it to your market.
How often your ad gets clicked.
How many visitors become enquiries. This leans heavily on your website: a clean, fast, well-built site converts far better than a slow one.
What is Google Ads for tourism operators?
Google Ads for tourism operators is paid search advertising for a tour, activity or lodge business. We build and manage campaigns that put your business at the top of Google when travellers search for what you offer, or for you by name, so more of them reach your own site and book direct.
How much does Google Ads for tourism operators cost?
There are two parts: a one-off setup from NZ$300 and a flat monthly management fee from NZ$600 (AU$520, US$360, £300, CA$520). The management fee is flat, it doesn’t go up when your ad spend does. Your ad budget is separate and paid directly to Google. See full pricing →
How much should a tourism operator spend on Google Ads?
It depends on your destination, season, competition and how many bookings you want. Click costs vary a lot, so use the budget calculator above to estimate clicks, enquiries and cost per lead for your spend, and we’ll tell you honestly if a budget is too low to work.
Can Google Ads stop OTAs bidding on my business name?
We can’t stop anyone else bidding on your name, but a small brand campaign helps keep your own site in the top spot when someone searches for you, so the booking goes to you and not to a listing above you. It’s usually one of the cheapest campaigns to run. See how direct bookings work →
How quickly will Google Ads get my business seen?
Fast. Unlike SEO, Google Ads can put your business at the top of the results the same day a campaign goes live, so you can start getting visibility and clicks within days. Bookings then build as we sharpen the campaign over the following weeks to lower your cost per booking.
Is Google Ads or SEO better for tourism operators?
They work best together. Google Ads gets you bookings now, while SEO compounds over time for bookings that keep coming without paying per click. Many operators run Ads for a fast start, or to cover peak season, while SEO builds in the background. See the full picture →
Can you target travellers from the UK, US and Australia?
Yes. We target by country and language, and time campaigns to when travellers from each market plan, which is often months before they arrive. We also exclude places you don’t want to pay for, so the budget goes where your guests actually come from.
Do you only run Google Ads for tourism operators in New Zealand?
No. We manage Google Ads for tourism businesses across New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and quote in NZD, AUD, USD, GBP and CAD.
Keep reading
Related tourism guides.
- Pre-Summer Marketing Checklist for NZ Tourism Operators
- Pre-Winter Marketing Checklist for Ski, Heli and Winter Activity Operators
- Marketing Your NZ Experience to UK, US and Australian Travellers
Ready to be at the top of Google?
Get a tourism Ads quote today and we’ll map out a campaign that turns searches into direct bookings, built around your seasons and your guests.