5 Actionable Tips to Boost Tour & Activity Sales
- Turpal Team
- Jul 1, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Running a tour or activity business used to be simple, post an offer, wait for inquiries, and close a few deals over email. But the traveler of today doesn’t have time for that. They’re scrolling, comparing, and booking on the spot.
So if you’re still relying on word-of-mouth or an outdated website, you’re leaving serious money on the table.
The good news? You can turn things around quickly with the right digital strategy. Let’s break down 5 powerful, actionable tips to increase your bookings, improve your margins, and keep those travelers coming back.
1. Upgrade Your Website from “Informational” to “Transactional”
Your website isn’t a brochure, it’s your primary sales engine. If visitors can’t check availability and book directly in under 60 seconds, they’ll move on to a competitor.
What to do:
Integrate an online booking system with real-time availability and instant confirmation.
Use clear Call-to-Action (CTAs) like “Book Now,” “Check Dates,” or “Reserve Your Spot.”
Highlight urgency (“Only 3 seats left for Saturday!”).
Add reviews, trust badges, and easy refund policies to reduce hesitation.
Pro tip: Over 60% of travelers now complete bookings via mobile. If your website isn’t optimized for speed and UX on phones, you’re invisible to half your audience.
2. Use Digital Paid Ads Strategically (Not Randomly)
Paid social media ads work, but only if you target and retarget the right audience. Too many travel brands waste money promoting to broad, untargeted groups.
How to fix it:
Build custom audiences based on website visitors, past customers, and lookalike profiles.
Run carousel ads showcasing your top-rated tours, highlighting experiences, not features.
Retarget users who viewed your tour pages but didn’t book.
Use video ads, travelers connect emotionally with visuals, not text. Here’s an example: A desert safari operator could run a video ad with 5 seconds of the dunes at sunset, then overlay “Your next adventure is one click away.”
Social ads don’t just drive traffic, they build brand memory. Travelers may not book today, but when they’re ready, they’ll remember you.
3. Turn Every Customer into a Promoter
Your most powerful marketing tool isn’t your ad budget, it’s your happy customers.
Encourage user-generated content (UGC): Ask guests to tag your business in their photos or use a branded hashtag. Feature their content (with their consent) on your website and socials.
Automate post-trip communication:
Send a thank-you email with a review link.
Offer a small discount for referrals or repeat bookings.
Invite them to join your loyalty program or newsletter.
Travelers trust peer recommendations 2x more than brand messages. Turning customers into advocates costs nothing but brings long-term credibility and reach.
4. Optimize Your Tours for Upselling & Cross-Selling
If your average order value hasn’t grown in a year, it’s time to rethink your packages. Travelers are willing to spend more, if you show them the right add-ons.
Examples of smart upsells:
Add a “Sunset Photography Upgrade” to your regular city tour.
Offer transportation or private guide options.
Bundle popular tours (“Morning Safari + Dinner Cruise Combo”).
Automate the upsell: Use your booking software or email automation to suggest upgrades during checkout or post-booking.
When done right, upselling isn’t pushy, it’s helpful. You’re enhancing their experience while increasing your revenue per customer.
5. Track Tour and Activity Sales Data and Act on It
You can’t grow what you don’t measure. Too many operators ignore analytics, relying on “gut feeling” to make marketing decisions.
Start simple:
Track where your leads come from (Google Ads, Instagram, referrals).
Measure conversion rates per tour page.
Identify high-bounce pages and fix them.
Use tools like Turpal’s insights dashboard to predict demand and adjust pricing.
Once you understand what’s working, double down. If one tour consistently converts 30% higher than others, promote it more.
Data removes guesswork. It lets you spend smarter, optimize continuously, and maximize every marketing dirham or dollar.
Bonus Tip: Automate to Scale
Manual processes cap your growth. Automating bookings, payments, reminders, and follow-ups frees your team to focus on strategy, partnerships, and innovation.
Platforms like Turpal combine CRM, booking management, and real-time inventory, so you can grow smarter, not just harder.
Turpal can help you:
Turn your website into a booking engine.
Run smarter social ads.
Leverage your customers as advocates.
Upsell creatively and automatically.
Let data guide every decision.
The bottom line is that boosting tour and activity sales isn’t about luck or chasing viral trends, it’s about building a repeatable system that connects, converts, and delights travelers.
Small tweaks lead to big returns when done consistently. The tours that sell out aren’t always the best ones, they’re the best-marketed ones. And in this day and age, the smartest marketers are the ones who automate, analyze, and adapt.
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