How to get more bookings for your tours

Bookings reach you through several channels: open a few well, then add more once you know what each one brings.

Where bookings come from

Your website

Direct bookings, without a booking site's commission, from everyone who looks you up. See Your website.

Online travel agencies

Viator, GetYourGuide and other booking sites sell your tours for a commission. See Online travel agencies.

Google

Google Maps, search results and the AI answers above them. See Google Business Profile and Search engines and AI.

Social media

Photos and videos that make travellers want the tour, and ads that bring them to book. See Social media and Ads and tracking.

Hotels, agents and groups

Hotel desks and agents that sell for a commission, and schools and companies that book groups. See Hotels, agents and groups.

Enquiries

Questions by WhatsApp, e-mail and phone, which become bookings when you answer fast. See Enquiries and WhatsApp.

In 2025, booking sites' share rose to 37% of tour operators' bookings, while bookings on their own websites fell sharply (Arival, 2026).

Open these channels first

Set these up in your first month, one at a time:

1
A website that takes bookings
Every link you share leads to a tour that can be booked and paid at once.
2
A Google Business Profile
So travellers find you on Google Maps.
3
One or two online travel agencies
Viator first, which also sells your tours on Tripadvisor, then the site your next biggest group of visitors uses.
4
Facebook and Instagram
Photos and short videos from your real tours.
5
WhatsApp Business
For questions, quotes and payment links, answered within the hour.
6
A few hotel desks
Near your start, each with a commission and a link or QR code of its own, to count its sales.

Treat booking sites as paid marketing

They should bring bookings that still pay after commission (Arival, 2026). Each month, count each channel's bookings and what you keep from them.

In TourTask

Bookings from every channel land in one list, which you can filter by Distribution channel: see Bookings. Your TourTask website and the channel manager feed it.