We’ve come a long way since the dawn of the digital age, and now your company’s online presence can make or break your business. So how can you build a website that will secure generations of group travel business to come?
Your travel website needs will vary depending on the type of business you own, and tour operators, group leaders and travel advisors that book group business are each going to need different features on their sites. Here are some things every travel website should include, as well as a few tools specific to each category of travel seller.
Everybody Needs: Photos and Strong Branding
In 2025, aesthetic appeal lends almost as much credibility to your website as functionality. Every business website needs a clean and professional look so that customers know it’s a legitimate business. An important part of the aesthetics for travel websites is photography, because photos sell travel. It’s especially important to use photos you’ve taken as opposed to stock photos, which may be pretty but lack authenticity. A website should also have strong branding. Company branding should be very clear, including a visible logo (not something tiny in the corner), your company name, and a tagline that describes clearly and succinctly what makes your company unique. For example, “ABC Tours: Local specialists on traveling to Napa Valley” tells people very clearly who you are and what you do.
Everybody Needs: A Lead Generation Tool
Site visitors should equal leads, and if you don’t have any way to collect them, you’re missing out on growing your business. Whether it’s a pop-up inviting site visitors to sign up for an e-newsletter or a form they can complete to enter a giveaway, lead generation is all about bringing site visitors into your business’ universe. It’s a form of outreach that draws travelers in, so that even if they don’t purchase a trip or book a call with you today, they will be more likely to in the future. When you have names and email addresses, you can send them any materials you publish, include them in marketing campaigns, invite them to follow you on social media and notify them of appealing trips you think they’d like. But none of that is possible without a lead generation tool.
For Travel Advisors: A Scheduling Tool
If you’re a travel advisor that books group business, chances are you’re frequently tasked with customizing a group’s trip. Whether you go on that trip and act as a group leader or not, the main call to action on your website should be “book a call with me.” That will give you a chance to talk details with your clients and help them plan the trip of their dreams. That means one of the most important features of your website is going to be a scheduling tool. Many of these integrate with your personal calendar and eliminate the back-and-forth hassle of manually scheduling a call. The traveler can set up a meeting with you, and it will automatically appear on your daily schedule, which creates a seamless experience.
For Tour Operators: Searchable Inventory and E-Commerce
If you’re a tour operator, you likely have dozens of trips on your roster for travelers to consider and compare. If visitors to your site have to scroll through all of them to find the one they’re searching for, they’ll end up frustrated and overwhelmed. Instead, your site needs a searchable inventory so that prospective clients can simply type “Europe” and find what they’re looking for. It’s a bonus if your inventory lets visitors filter the trips by price or location so they can easily find the trip that works best for them.
To complement this searchable inventory, you need a powerful ecommerce tool that allows you to accept bookings and payments directly on the website. People who want to take your tours should never have trouble finding the “Book Now” button.
For Group Leaders: Lots of Details, Third-Party Registration Tools
If you’re a group leader, chances are you’re only selling one or two trips at a time — after all, you can’t be everywhere at once. That means you don’t necessarily need a searchable inventory. However, what you do need is lots of details of the trips you are selling. That includes itineraries, photos from past trips to the destination, packing lists and more. The more a traveler can get drawn into the idea of the trip while on your website, the more likely they are to book it.
Because you’re not selling dozens of trips at a time, you may or may not find it helpful to have your own e-commerce or registration tool. However, if you want these tools without the hassle and expense of setting them up yourself, many travel tech platforms offer white-label registration and ecommerce software that gives you the power to take payments and book trips through a third party in a web portal that looks like it’s part of your brand.
