Part 2 of 2 on visibility for tourism operators
In Part 1 I said the reason most tourism operators are not getting booked is not a marketing problem. It is a visibility problem. Marketing shouts. Visibility gets you found.
This is the follow-up. Six places where tourism operators actually get found in 2026, in the order they pay you back. I want you to hear that. In the order they pay you back. Not the order a marketing person would sell you.
Most operators want to start with the sexy stuff. New website. Social overhaul. A brand refresh. I have to be honest about this one. That is not where the money is fastest. The money is fastest at the point where a person who has already found you decides whether to book, and where the guest who booked decides whether to come back.
Here we go, in the order I would work on them tomorrow morning.
1. Fix the booking path first
This is the fastest money in the business, because it works on traffic you have already paid for.
You have a website. People are landing on it. Some percentage of them try to book. And then somewhere between them clicking "book now" and putting in their credit card, a chunk of them leave.
Every one of those people cost you something to get there. An ad, a post, a Google listing, someone's time. Losing them at checkout is the most expensive kind of loss you have. And the fix is usually not a website rebuild. The fix is usually four or five small things on the pages that already exist. A confusing calendar. A form that asks for too much. A price that shows up as a surprise. A payment screen that does not work well on a phone.
I suggest you sit down on your own phone this weekend and try to book your own tour, as a first-time customer. Time yourself. Count how many taps. Look at what makes you hesitate. Then fix those things first.
2. Guest Relationships, Repeat Bookings and Referrals
A guest relationship starts before arrival. It should not finish when the experience does.
I would start with clear pre-arrival information. What to bring. What to wear. Where to meet, with a map link. Who they will meet and how to contact you.
Afterwards, send a thank you and ask about their experience. Include a review link and a request to refer a friend. Give guests a useful reason to stay connected.
Then plan seasonal messages and direct repeat-booking communications. A sunset departure. A school holiday experience. A quieter midweek visit. Match the message to the guests who would value it.
These messages need to work together. Build a practical communication system your team can keep running, with templates and a clear schedule.
3. Google Business Profile, because an OTA cannot hold one
This is the one most operators leave to the intern.
Your Google Business Profile is the first thing a person sees when they search your name, and often the first thing they see when they search a category near a location. "Things to do Gold Coast." "Whale watching Mooloolaba." "Wine tour Sunshine Coast." It shows your hours, your photos, your reviews and a book button, right there.
And here is what an OTA cannot do. They cannot hold your Google profile. Only you and someone you trust can. If you put nothing into it, Google decides what to show, and Google's default is not flattering.
Ranking takes a few weeks of steady work. But the fixes that convert the person who has already found you convert straight away. Photos that show the actual thing. Answers to the questions people are already asking in the Q&A. A booking link that goes to your own site.
4. Influencer Partnerships for Direct Bookings
The right travel creator can introduce your experience to people who are likely to book. I would start with their audience, not their follower count.
Look for creators who reach your destination, your interests or your niche. A family travel audience and a food-focused audience need different experiences. Choose the fit before you plan the collaboration.
Prepare outreach and collaboration templates. Be clear about the experience, the content and the next step for guests. Give people a clear path to your own booking page.
Use tracked referral links or codes where your booking system allows. Look at enquiries and bookings alongside views and engagement. That helps you understand which partnerships deserve more attention.
Visibility covers suitable creator shortlists, outreach and collaboration templates, and tracked referrals. Paid partnerships, hosted experiences and ongoing influencer management are separately scoped.
OTAs can remain a useful part of your market mix. This work builds your direct sales channel. OTA listing optimisation is outside the Visibility package.
5. Reviews, on repeat, forever
The compounding one. Review generation and response takes 60 to 90 days of consistent volume before it moves anything visible, so switch it on early and let it build while the faster work above pays.
You need reviews coming in on a rhythm. Not a burst. Not a beg. A rhythm. Which is why the post-experience email in point 2 exists. And you need to be responding to every one of them, especially the difficult ones, in a way that shows a future guest how you handle yourself.
Example: my team at Colgate & Co has been building organic social and content systems for Hot Air Balloon across Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns and Port Douglas. Organic only, no paid promotion. Over seven months, the website click-through from social lifted 39%. Same team, same product, same balloons. Better visibility infrastructure, running on repeat. Compound interest is the closest thing tourism has to magic.
Another one. Oceania Tours, Spanish and Italian language tours through Phillip Island and the Great Ocean Road, owner Sebastian. Before we started, they were posting when they remembered, mostly product shots, relying on OTAs and word of mouth. We rebuilt the organic content around who Sebastian is and what makes the product different. Inside 60 days, two $6,000 private bookings landed. $12,000 of business. And a 40% lift in direct booking enquiries. Organic social only, no paid. The product was always good enough to command those bookings. The socials were the thing standing between the product and the people who wanted it.
6. AI search visibility. Slowest to pay. Biggest in two years.
Last on the list because it is slowest to pay. First in your mind, because in two years it will matter more than the OTAs.
More and more travellers are typing questions into ChatGPT and Perplexity and Google's AI overview, not into Google's classic search box. They are asking, "what's a good half-day tour near Surfers Paradise for a family with teenagers?" and getting three recommendations back. If your business does not show up as one of those three, you are invisible in that conversation.
The work is different. Structured data on your site. Content that answers the actual questions guests ask, not the ones you wish they would ask. Clean, consistent business information across the web. It is a slow build. Nobody should sell it to you as a quick win. But if you start now, you will be in the answers when your competitors are still trying to work out what happened.
The order matters more than the list
The six above are not equal, and they are not optional. Start with 1. Build up. Do not lead with the AI search work because it is exciting. Do not lead with a website rebuild because it feels like progress. Start with the booking path and guest relationships. Make it easier to book, stay connected and return.
For me, the whole point of this work is doing the right things in the right order, so that the marketing you are already paying for starts pulling its weight, and so the OTAs stop being the only shelf your product sits on.
Get found. Get booked. Get on with running the business you actually wanted.
If you want to sit down and work out which of the six you should fix first for your business, book a Growth Gap Call with me. No pitch, just a proper conversation about where you're stuck and whether I'm the right fit.
