Best Tourism Websites of 2021 | 10 Inspiring Tour Examples

1. Vela Nordic

https://velanordic.com/

Let’s start with their quote: Let’s discover the Nordic and Arctic together, all it’s wonders and great infinities.” I love it. This website is a true winner, as it has a slick design but communicates the right information at. thesame time.

Things we love about this web design

• Powerful images
• Great copywriting
• Clean design

2. Cebuw Wonda

http://cebuwonda.com/

Oh yes. I love this design, as it’s very clean and professional. I like how this website has a clear UX which points users to their contact page. Very fresh and inspiring design!

Things we love about this web design

• Nice color scheme
• Nice shapes
• Clear call to action

3. Story Scape Travel

https://storyscapetravel.co.za/

I like how this website chose a color scheme and used it throughout the entire design. On top of that, the pictures are simply amazing. When you’re building a tourism orientated website, make sure to invest in great images like these.

Things we love about this web design

• Nice color scheme
• Clear call to actions throughout the website
• Professional photography

4. Michael Tours

https://michaeltours.com/

This is one of the most professional and clean websites I’ve seen in the tourism sector. The typography throughout this design is spot on, and is used well with lots of whitespace.

Things we love about this web design

• Big and bold images
• Clcean design
• Great typography

5. Mary Wright

https://marywrighttravel.com/

Yes, I like this one. Although it’s a completely different design than the others ones in this list, it’s one you should definitely check out. It’s filled with call to actions and colourful content items. Inspiring design!

Things we love about this web design

• Inspiring design
• Lots of colours
• Nice call to action buttons

6. Snorkel Shell Island

https://www.snorkelshellisland.com/

What a cool website! Their background video instantly tells you what they’re about. The shapes, the images, very appealing. Definitely a must-see!

Things we love about this web design

• Nice image shapes
• Clear background ideo
• Long homepage

7. Madeira Happy Tours

https://www.madeirahappytours.com/

I like how to website instantly captures the attention of the visitor with 3 different sorts of tours. It’s interesting to see how they draw you into the offer pages. Nice approach!

Things we love about this web design

• Nice conversion strategy
• Cool design
• Very conversion focused

8. Iceland Tours

https://www.icelandtours.is/

Love this one! This beauty of a tourism website is one of the examples which I find very inspiring. The left side of the screen features inspiring images, while the right side is solely focused on helping you to book tours. Well done!

Things we love about this web design

• Nice images
• Cool conversion strategy
• Nice offer pages

9. Smyrilline

URL: https://www.smyrilline.com/

Want to check out a unique tour operator website example? This one combined great photography with a clean tour booking feature. Very inspiring!

Things we love about this web design

• Nice booking feature
• Great copywriting
• Very clear call to action button

10. Whale Watching Sydney

https://www.whalewatchingsydney.com.au

Want to see an example which leverages video to convert visitors into customers within 5 seconds? Oh yes – check this one out! I love their background video combined with a clear call to action above the fold Well done!

Things we love about this web design

• Epic background video
• Nice menue structure
• Nice booking feature

BONUS – Here is my favorite template

Tourism Template

URL: https://mycodelesswebsite.com/try-theme/resort

Why this is such a great template:

• Clean design, great to turn visitors into customers
• WordPress compatible, easy to customize
• Free download if you’re a Divi member

Get started in 2 steps

1 ► Download your theme, click on the button above

2 ► Get a free domain with a one click Wordpress installation

BONUS: Elegant Themes

URL: https://elegantthemes.com/

Although this one officially shouldn't be in this list - I couldn't keep this one from you. Elegant themes has amazing website themes and leads by example. Their own homepage looks stunning.

What you can learn from this great  website

• Playful design
• Clear call to actions
• Great user experience

How to build a tourism website?

1. Analyze the best examples on this page
   
2. Make notes of what you like – and what you don’t like
   
3. Design your own site with this drag & drop website builder (includes free themes) 

4. Publish your website with a cheap hosting plan (includes free domain + SSL)

Tourism website hosting

Where should I host my tourism website?

After trying many hosting services we found 2 which stand out.

#1 Bluehost

✓ Great for hosting a single website
✓ Cheap
✓ Great support

#2 WPX Hosting

✓ Great for hosting multiple websites
✓ Free migrations

Tourism Website Best Practices

#1 Claim the right domain before it’s gone

#2 Spend your money wisely

Many tour operators pay high hourly rates to web designers who use simple templates to build a website.

Don’t let that be you. Nowadays it’s easy to build and customize templates using drag & drop website builder. We recommend Divi, it’s great for beginners and allows you to customize everything.

Checklist: 5 ways to make your tourism website beautiful and highly converting

1. Design mobile first

Last year over 52% of all the website traffic worldwide came from mobile devices.

More than half of the website visits are on a mobile device.

This percentage will only increase in the coming years, therefore the mobile design of your website is crucial for the success of your tourism business.

When designing your website, think about the mobile design before you build your desktop website.

2. Whitespace is king

Remember the last time you read a book which had:

• Long sentences
• Never ending paragraphs
• A small font size
• No images

Did you like it? Probably not.

Give your visitors a pleasant user experience and use lots of ‘breath’ throughout your design.

Just like your paragraphs shouldn’t be too long, add some whitespace between each block of your website.

Your visitors need small breaks when scrolling down your website.

It helps your visitors to absorb information and it gives a clean look to your website.

3. Don’t break the 5 second rule

The moment a visitor lands on your website you only have 5 seconds to make a good impression.

That’s 5 short seconds to convince your visitor to stay on your website – and don’t hit the ‘back’ button.

Make sure the text on your website is appealing and gets your visitor excited. Don’t waste the first 5 seconds of somebody’s visit with unnecessary fluff.

4. Showcase your work with great images

When you’re hiring someone to do something which is important to you, you want to make sure they do it right.

And sure, they can tell you they’re the best at what they do. But wouldn’t it be better to see some proof?

Your visitors think just like this. That’s why you need to establish social proof by showcasing previous tours with great images and videos.

When it comes to creating social proof, more is better. This goes for the entire tourism industry.

5. Watch people using your website without telling them what do do

Once your website is ready it’s time to launch. Well, almost.

Invite some friends or colleagues and put them in front of a computer. Ask them to pretend to be a potential customer and have them visit your website.

Now sit next to them, and don’t say anything (this will be harder than you think).

Do this with at least 5 people and learn from their behaviour:

• Did they follow the steps you expected them to?
• Did your website load fast enough?
• Was everything clear to them?

Growth hacking: 3 powerful strategies to promote your tourism website

1. Use paid advertising

Yes. This one is super obvious. But when used well this can be the biggest source of quick growth for your business. Let’s say every client brings you $100 in profit. And let’s say 1 out of every 100 clients becomes a client. That means you’re allowed to spend $1 to acquire a website visitor.

Now let’s say you’re running Facebook ads and you only pay $0.60 for a visitor.

That means you’re profiting $0.40 on every person who visits your website. I’d say, start spending on paid advertising!

2. Use local SEO

SEO is a great way to attract local clients. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and helps you to get free website traffic through search engines.

Check out these articles about local SEO if you you want to learn more about this:

• https://ahrefs.com/blog/local-seo/
• https://moz.com/learn/seo/local

3. Target hot traffic with retargeting ads

Imagine.

A potential client is looking for a tour and stumbled upon your website. But after scrolling through your website for 30 seconds, he or she got a phone call from a friend. After calling for 20 minutes they forgot about your website and they close down their computer.

Auch.

That’s why I use retargeting advertisements to bring back these lost leads.

This will enable you to display advertisements to people who visited your website.

Just install a Facebook pixel on your website to target all your website visitors with an advertisement on Facebook or Instagram.

FAQ

What makes a good tourism website?

A tour operator design should have a clean design, be easy to navigate and include a lot of social proof. Have a look at this page for great example websites.

How to create a tourism  website?

1. Analyze the best examples on this page
   
2. Make notes of what you like – and what you don’t like
   
3. Design your own site with this a drag & drop website builder 
4. Publish your website with our recommended hosting platform.

How much does a tourism website cost?

A webdesigner will charge anywhere between $2500 and $4000 for a decent website. However, this article will teach you to do it yourself for less than $100.

What information is needed on a tourism website?

Your website will need at least the following pages: ‘Home, About us, Contact, Tour overview. To create trust with your visitor it’s important to show lots of pictures about your products.