The travel industry grows annually. This is one of the most promising and stable industries of the contemporary global economy. With the world’s economic crisis, the travel industry is one of those that were not considerably damaged by it. So, this is no wonder there are more and more travel websites appearing every day. In 2017, travellers contributed over 8 trillion of dollars to the world economy turnover. The sum is impressive, isn’t it? Huge opportunities lead to cutthroat competition among travel websites. In this article, we are going to discuss what affiliate programs for the travel industry are and how they can benefit you.
What Is Affiliate Travel Program?
Noticing your profit decreases is unpleasant and frustrating. The same feelings come when you see your travel website does not grow. What to do and how to fix it? Joining an affiliate program for travel blog may be the chance to improve the situation. In fact, you need to spend nothing but your time and efforts and gain reliable partners and money instead.
The very first step is a clear understanding of what you are going to deal with. Most travellers spend money online. It is quite common to book a hotel or buy tickets for train, bus or plane online. So, if your readers are likely to do it, why not use it for your success and making some money?
The affiliate program is an irreplaceable component of doing business nowadays. Long story short, you promote other businesses on the pages of your website and they pay you for that. So, basically, you need to partner up with businesses that may be interested in this.
There are 3 types of affiliate business models. The main difference lies in the business processes and the source of profit.
– Full-Time Marketing: In this case, the only source of your profit is the affiliate program, and your whole business is built around this program.
– Part-Time Marketing: The greatest part of your profit comes from the affiliate program, but besides this, you sell your own products or services, etc.
– Sideline Marketing: If the major part of your profit comes from selling your own products and the profit from participating in an affiliate program is just a pleasant bonus, it is the third type of affiliate business models. 
Parties in Travel Affiliate Programs
Usually, any travel company or website can participate in the affiliate program. Every travel website or travel blog can build cooperation with institutions, companies, and agencies that are interested in such cooperation.
How Travel Affiliate Programs Work
This question can bother both parties that take part in affiliate programs. Both the entrepreneur that offers certain services or products and the website that promotes them need to understand clearly how the affiliate program for travel website actually works. Fear not: there is nothing complicated about it.
To implement travel affiliate programs on your website, you need to choose from these two simple options (or combine them):
1. Place the Partner’s Link/Banner/Widget/etc. on Your Website
You can mention your partner in the context of your articles, put the direct advertisement or recommend the products or services in other ways. The point is to provide your website visitors with the link to the website they should visit to make your profit grow.
2. Share the Link on Social Media
The situation is similar to the one described above. The only difference is that in this case, you should spread the information about your partner on social media. The most popular social media channels like Facebook or Instagram allow tracking the activities and measuring the conversion rates.
For example, you can provide the information about the amazing accommodation in Paris – one of the most beloved travel destinations in the world – on your travel website. In turn, you get the percentage from a pay-per-click affiliate program. Each time a potential client visits the hotel’s website following your affiliate link, you get the profit. It is a convenient and fast way to earn more. It is a win-win strategy: both you and your partner satisfy the business needs.
Advantages of Affiliate Programs for Travel Website
No doubt, the greatest advantage is profit. However, let’s dive deeper into the depths of the travel affiliate marketing programs pros:
- Cooperation with Leading Brands
If you implement an affiliate program, you will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the company you have heard of or written about. Communication and collaboration with your partners will allow you to get to know them better and tell your readers only about the best offers.
- Source of Inspiration
Let’s be honest: travel websites and blogs have the limited number of data sources. In fact, if you run your website for many years, you may have already highlighted most topics interesting to your readers. The only way to write more is to rewrite the existing articles or find something new. Affiliate marketing programs for travel can open new horizons for you in terms of creating new content.
- Great Potential
As the statistics show, the travel and tourism industry grows every year. So, people are forecasted to be travelling even more and more. Cooperating with the affiliate programs allows you to keep your hand on the pulse of the changes and main trends.
- A Way to Defeat Your Competitors
Both local and global travel market is full of various offers. We mean not only airline corporations, hostels or other services providers. The number of travel websites is huge as well. So, you need to make an effort to keep your head above the water. The best affiliate program for travel site can get you to the top position.
Best Affiliate Program for Travel Site
To succeed in this business, you need to fulfil 2 significant tasks:
- build a trustworthy cooperation with a reliable partner,
- and optimize your website.
Let’s stop at the first task. Below, you can take a look at the websites that offer the most profitable affiliate programs.
| Name | Service Type | Commission |
| Travelpayouts | Flight tickets, accommodation | up to 80% |
| Booking | Accommodation | 20%-40% |
| TripAdvisor | Places to visit | 50% |
| Agoda | Accommodation | 35% |
| Amazon | Luggage | 5%-7% |
| Expedia | Accommodation, Flights, Activities | 1%-12% (depending on the service) |
Each of those services has their own features.
- Travelpayouts offers a wide range of ready-to-use tools you can use for promotion,
- Booking has a free sign-up,
- TripAdvisor provides you with regular reports 24/7,
- Agoda supports 38 languages,
- Amazon is a huge well-known corporation and, consequently, demonstrates high conversion rates,
- Expedia offers various services: a visitor can find everything he or she needs in one place.
However, all of them have one thing in common: they can positively impact your profits.
What Income Can I Have from a Travel Site Affiliate Program?
It is important to know how do travel affiliate programs work, but after we have answered this question, there is one more thing to discuss.
Your income depends completely on the affiliate program you choose. Some companies state that it is possible to earn from $7,500 to over $100,000 per year. However, except for finding the partner and analyzing the terms of cooperation, you need to upgrade your website as well.
What to Start with to Be Successful at an Affiliate Travel Program
To reach the aim, you need to take several vital steps:
- Catchy Content
Continuously improve the information you post on your website. Take care of the articles, texts, CTAs, and titles. Use different tactics and pick the one that works the best.
- Add the Links
Providing your reader with the needed and relevant data is crucial. However, what is also important is to make it look nice. Insert the links in a way that suit the context, does not distract readers from reading and draws the attention at the same time.
- Make It Special
There is a huge number of websites that provide the general information. In fact, the articles on all the websites devoted to travelling are nearly the same. It is recommended to choose one specific niche and produce high-quality content dedicated to the related topics.
- Analyze, Make Conclusions, and Improve
Perfection has no limits. So, even if you think everything works well, it can still be improved. Use the A/B testing method to define which content, features and approaches attract the visitors’ attention. Increase the conversion rates of your website and find out what influences them. Implement the best practices and enjoy the results!
Conclusion
Travel booking affiliate programs are awesome, as well as those that are related to flights and transportation, luggage, activities and other things connected with tourism. You can literally make your revenue skyrocket by implementing an affiliate program on your website. A few simple steps can solve two significant potential issues: they can make your website look better and form an additional source of income.
A convenient platform for implementing travel affiliate programs can be your great assistance. Take this chance and enjoy the change!
