Marketplace fees eat sailing income
GetYourGuide and Viator can help fill seats, but their typical 20 to 30 per cent commission reduces every sale. You also lose control of the customer relationship and future repeat bookings.
Direct booking for boat tour operators
Take More Direct Boat Tour Bookings
A direct booking website for boat tour operators, built around the booking system you already use. Start with a conversion-led website, local search and booking support from £1,295, then reduce marketplace commission and own more customer relationships.
From £2,495
Direct booking build
£59 a month
Required Website Care
£169 a month
AI Receptionist
£449 a month
Google Ads Management
Every booking through GetYourGuide or Viator can bring a customer through your door. It can also take a large slice of the money they spend. These marketplaces typically charge suppliers around 20 to 30 per cent of each booking. You get reach, but they keep the customer relationship.
If your tours sell around £50,000 a year through those channels, that could mean roughly £10,000 to £15,000 going out in commission. Moving even part of that demand to your own boat tour operator booking website can repay the build many times over. You keep more of each sale and gain a customer you can contact again.
The problem
What is costing Boat Tour Operators work right now
Your website sends people elsewhere
If visitors cannot see availability, prices and a clear booking button, they leave to compare marketplaces. A brochure site may describe the trip but still make customers work to buy it.
Missed calls become lost charters
You cannot answer while boarding passengers, checking the boat or running a sailing. A caller wanting a private charter may ring the next operator instead of waiting for a reply.
The ACCC Framework
Attract
Convert
Capture
Compound
How the system works
What you get
Included in the build
Every client also takes Website Care at £59 a month. Everything else is modular.
01
Booking engine integration
02
Bokun and FareHarbor support
03
Rezdy and Checkfront support
04
Experience and tour pages
05
Availability and book now
06
Online payments and deposits
07
Destination location pages
08
Quote forms for charters
09
Review generation
10
Booking conversion tracking
11
Google Ads landing pages
12
Google Business Profile support
Pricing
Packages for Boat Tour Operators
For tour operators, attractions, activity providers, accommodation and leisure businesses. Built to reduce how much of your business depends on the big booking marketplaces.
Direct Booking
£2,495
A conversion website wrapped around the booking system you already use.
Best for: Small operators already on a booking platform such as Bokun, FareHarbor, Rezdy, Checkfront, Bookeo or Freetobook.
- Up to 10 pages
- Booking engine integration
- Experience and tour pages
- Availability and book-now integration
- Payment integration where relevant
- Mobile booking journey
- Reviews and galleries
- WhatsApp and contact capture
- GA4 and booking conversion tracking
- Google Business Profile optimisation
- SEO foundations
- Audience Simulator access, included
- Copywriting and training
Booking Growth
£3,995
Built to shift demand away from the marketplaces and onto your own site.
Best for: Operators with several tours or experiences who want a direct sales channel they own.
Everything in Direct Booking, plus:
- Up to 20 pages
- Multiple tours and experiences
- Destination pages
- Service and location pages
- Advanced booking tracking
- Abandoned enquiry capture
- Email marketing integration
- Review generation
- Google Things to Do feeds where applicable
- Channel connectivity help where supported
- SEO content structure
- Google Ads landing pages
- Direct-booking conversion optimisation
Tourism Pro
From £5,995
For operators with real inventory and operational complexity.
Best for: Multi-location operations, accommodation, packages, ticketing and larger inventories.
Everything in Booking Growth, plus options such as:
- Multiple tours and attractions
- Accommodation and packages
- Ticketing
- Multi-location operations
- Large inventories
- Channel managers
- API connectivity
- Complex availability rules
- Supplier systems
- Bespoke booking workflows
Genuinely bespoke platforms move into custom travel and booking development, quoted separately from £10,000.
Website Care £59 a month Required
Hosting, SSL, daily backups, security monitoring, software updates, uptime monitoring, up to 30 minutes of content changes each month and email support.
All prices exclude VAT.
Monthly
Everything else is modular
Website Care is required for every client. Add anything else when you need it, and drop it when you do not.
Website Care
Required£59 a month
Hosting, SSL, daily backups, security monitoring, software updates, uptime monitoring, up to 30 minutes of content changes each month and email support.
AI Receptionist
£169 a month
Answers every call 24/7 in your business name, takes the job details, qualifies the caller and texts you immediately.
A human receptionist costs £24,000 to £28,000 a year. A live answering service runs £200 to £450 a month.
Website Chatbot
Price on application
Answers visitor questions on your site around the clock, using only what it has been taught about your business, and captures the enquiry before they leave.
Most visitors will not ring and will not fill in a form. They ask one question, get no answer, and leave.
Google Ads Management
£449 a month
Campaign management, bid and budget optimisation, ad copy testing, negative keyword management, landing page optimisation and a monthly reporting call.
Your ad spend goes direct to Google and is never marked up. Minimum recommended spend is £400 a month.
SEO and Content
£249 a month
Two optimised pages or articles a month, local SEO, Google Business Profile posts, citation building, rank tracking and monthly reporting.
Automated Social Media
£99 a month
Plans, writes and posts your social media to Facebook and Instagram. You approve a month of content in one sitting.
Intelligent Marketing Coach
£49 a month
A marketing plan built around your business, broken into weekly tasks, so you always know the next thing to do.
Extra Support Time
£75 a month
An additional 2 hours a month for changes, new pages and seasonal updates.
Bundles
Bundle them and pay less
The same modules, priced lower when taken together.
Care plus Receptionist
£199 a month
Saves £29
Care plus Receptionist plus Ads
£595 a month
Saves £82
Everything
£795 a month
Saves £141
No Upfront Option
£199 a month , 24 month term
No setup fee. A template site built for your trade, with hosting, care and the AI receptionist included. For businesses who want to start now without the upfront cost.
Start with no upfront cost- No setup fee
- Template site built for your trade
- Up to 5 pages
- Hosting and Website Care included
- AI Receptionist included
- Live in 5 working days
Terms
- 50% on signature, 50% on launch.
- Monthly billing starts at launch, with a 12 month minimum term and monthly thereafter.
- Ad spend is billed separately by Google and is never marked up.
- Modules can be added at any time.
- All prices exclude VAT.
Quote request
Get a price for your boat tour operator website
Two minutes of questions and we will send back a real number, not a range. Website packages start at £1,295, ecommerce from £2,495, and there is a no upfront option at £199 a month.
- A fixed price, not a range
- Reply within one working day
- No obligation and no sales sequence
The result
What changes once it is live
More customers book direct
Visitors find a clear route from tour information to availability and payment. You keep more of each sale and build a customer list you can contact again.
Your booking system stays central
Bokun, FareHarbor, Rezdy, Checkfront, Bookeo or Freetobook continues handling reservations. Your new website makes that system easier for customers to use.
Fewer calls need your attention
Your pages answer common passenger questions before they call. The AI Receptionist catches missed calls and texts useful details while you run the operation.
01
Your website becomes the hub of every sailing
A website for boat tour operators should do more than show photographs of the boat. It should explain each experience, display the next available sailing and take payment without sending people elsewhere. We build that working hub around your current booking engine, so customers can see dates, choose passengers and book while you run the tour.
Your crew should not have to answer the same questions between sailings. Your website can explain the meeting point, duration, route, boarding time, accessibility, age limits and what happens in poor weather. It can collect the details you need before departure, then direct customers to the right booking option.
- Experience and tour pages
- Availability and book now links
- Online payments and deposits
- Clear meeting point information
- Mobile-friendly booking journeys
02
Local search puts your tours in front of ready buyers
Visitors often search for a boat trip after arriving in a destination. Local search helps your pages appear when people look for boat tours, harbour cruises, wildlife trips or private charters in your area. We build useful destination and location pages around the places your customers actually visit.
We also improve your Google Business Profile, which is the business listing shown in Google Maps and local results. It includes your opening times, photographs, reviews, booking link and key services. Keeping those details accurate gives visitors a clear route from a local search to your own booking page.
- Destination and location pages
- Google Business Profile updates
- Tour names customers understand
- Accurate sailing and contact details
- Local search reporting
More detail
More on websites for boat tour operators
The rest of what boat tour operators ask us, tidied away. Open what you need.
A general contact form creates extra work. Someone writes, "How much for a boat trip?" You then need to ask about the date, passenger numbers, tour type and special requirements before you can price it. We build quote forms that collect those details at the first contact.
For private charters, group trips and unusual requests, the form can ask for the preferred date, guest numbers, boarding location, event type and budget. For standard tours, customers can go straight to availability and payment. You receive clearer enquiries that can be priced quickly, without long email chains.
- Private charter quote forms
- Passenger number fields
- Preferred date and time
- Group and event details
- Enquiry source tracking
A customer choosing between several boat tours wants proof that the trip is well run. They look for recent reviews, clear photographs and signs that other passengers enjoyed the route. A polished boat tour operator website design makes that proof easy to find before someone compares you with a marketplace listing.
After each completed booking, we can help create a simple review request process. The customer receives a prompt at the right time, with a direct route to leave feedback. New reviews can support your Google Business Profile and your website, while useful comments can show future passengers what the experience is really like.
- Post-tour review requests
- Review links in follow-up messages
- Customer comments on tour pages
- Clear skipper and crew information
- Photographs that show the experience
Missed calls often happen at the worst time. You are boarding passengers, handling lines, checking weather or already offshore. Our AI Receptionist answers 24 hours a day in your business name. It takes the caller's details, records what they want and sends you a text straight away.
It can sort the reason for the call, such as a private charter enquiry, a group booking, a booking change or a weather concern. It does not replace your booking engine or pretend to be your skipper. It makes sure useful details reach you, even when you cannot answer personally.
- AI Receptionist, £169 a month
- Care plus Receptionist, £199 a month
- Answers in your business name
- Takes job and passenger details
- Texts you after each call
Google Ads can put your tour in front of people searching for a boat trip, harbour cruise or private charter now. It works best when your website shows the right sailing, price and booking route. We create landing pages for specific tours and locations, rather than sending every visitor to one generic page.
Google Ads Management costs £449 a month. We manage campaigns, bids, budgets, advert wording, unwanted search terms and landing page improvements. Your advertising spend is paid directly to Google and never marked up. Booking conversion tracking shows which clicks became bookings, calls or real charter enquiries.
- Google Ads Management, £449 a month
- Ad spend paid directly to Google
- Tour-specific landing pages
- Booking conversion tracking
- Call and form source tracking
A new website gives your business a stronger base, but useful pages keep bringing people to it. SEO and Content costs £249 a month. We create two helpful pages or articles each month, improve local search, post on your Google Business Profile, build trusted local listings and report what is moving.
Content can cover seasonal sailing, wildlife sightings, harbour guides, private hire ideas, accessibility information and what to wear on a windy day. These pages answer real visitor concerns and give Google more useful information about your tours, routes and destinations.
- SEO and Content, £249 a month
- Two pages or articles monthly
- Google Business Profile posts
- Destination content
- Rank and enquiry reporting
- Automated Social Media, £99 a month
- Intelligent Marketing Coach, £49 a month
Direct Booking costs £2,495. It suits an operator who needs a clear website around an existing booking system, with tour pages, booking links, local search foundations and a strong route to direct sales. Booking Growth costs £3,995 and is the package most operators should take when reducing marketplace dependence is a priority.
Booking Growth gives more room for destination pages, booking journeys, tracking, review activity and pages for different tour types. Tourism Pro starts from £5,995 for operators with several locations, real inventory or more complex booking needs. Genuinely bespoke platforms are quoted separately from £10,000.
Website Care is required for every client at £59 a month. It includes hosting, a security certificate, daily backups, security monitoring, software updates, uptime checks, up to 30 minutes of content changes and email support. If you need to start without the upfront build cost, the no upfront option is £199 a month on a 24 month term, with no setup fee.
- Direct Booking, £2,495
- Booking Growth, £3,995
- Tourism Pro, from £5,995
- Website Care, £59 a month
- No upfront option, £199 a month
- All prices exclude VAT
The honest comparison
Why do some websites cost £199?
It is a fair question, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch.
If you simply need a basic online presence, a low-cost website builder may be enough. Somewhere to point people who already know your name. If that is genuinely all you need, do that and spend the money elsewhere. We would rather tell you that than take a fee for something you will not use.
Our websites are designed for established businesses that want Google traffic to turn into calls, enquiries and customers. Copy, tracking, conversion setup and ongoing management are built in. That is a different product solving a different problem, and it is priced accordingly.
A £199 builder site
Fine for a basic presence. Not built to win work.
A Look North website
Built so search traffic becomes booked jobs.
Who writes the words
A £199 builder site
You do, usually at 11pm, into a blank box.
A Look North website
We do. Copywriting for every page is included, written around the jobs you actually want.
Whether it shows up on Google
A £199 builder site
It will rank for your business name. Not much else.
A Look North website
A page for every service and every town you cover, structured so each one can rank.
What happens to an enquiry
A £199 builder site
A contact form emails you. If you miss it, you miss it.
A Look North website
Quote forms written for your trade, instant SMS and email alerts, and every enquiry stored so none are lost.
When the phone rings and you are on a job
A £199 builder site
It goes to voicemail. Most callers hang up and ring the next business.
A Look North website
Our AI receptionist answers 24/7 in your business name, takes the details and texts you straight away.
Knowing what is working
A £199 builder site
A visitor counter, if that.
A Look North website
Call tracking, conversion tracking and call attribution, so you know which clicks became real jobs.
Getting reviews
A £199 builder site
You remember to ask, sometimes.
A Look North website
Review generation set up so a request goes out after every job, with the results shown on your site.
What happens after launch
A £199 builder site
Nothing. It sits there until you cancel the subscription.
A Look North website
The Marketing Coach gives you a plan broken into weekly jobs, so the site keeps earning its keep.
Who owns it
A £199 builder site
The platform. Stop paying and it disappears.
A Look North website
You do. The code, the domain, the hosting account and the content are yours.
Speed on a phone
A £199 builder site
Template bloat, often slow, which costs you rankings and visitors.
A Look North website
Built mobile first, because that is where almost every local search happens.
When something breaks
A £199 builder site
A help centre article and a support queue.
A Look North website
Website Care at £59 a month: monitoring, backups, updates, and a person who answers.
We have a £199 a month option too. It is not the same thing.
If the upfront cost is the blocker rather than the quality, we do a no upfront option at £199 a month on a 24 month term. That is not a builder subscription. It is a real site built for your trade, with hosting, Website Care and the AI receptionist included, live in 5 working days. The difference between that and a £199 builder site is the difference between renting a van and renting a parking space.
What the difference buys
What you actually get for the difference
Not features. The things that change how much work comes in.
Every call answered
A missed call is a customer ringing your competitor. The AI receptionist picks up 24/7, qualifies the job and texts you. Most trades win back more than the cost of the whole website in the first few months.
Found for the work you want
One page cannot rank for eight services across twelve towns. We build a page for each, so you show up for the specific job someone is searching for right now.
Enquiries you can price
Not "how much for a bathroom?" but property type, scale, access, timing and photos. You quote accurately, first, without a site visit.
Proof that compounds
A review request after every job. In a year you have the review count competitors cannot catch up with, and reviews are the last thing a customer checks before calling.
Words written for you
Copywriting for every page is included. No blank boxes, no writing your own service descriptions at 11pm, no page that sounds like everyone else.
Proof of what paid off
Call tracking and conversion tracking show which clicks turned into jobs. You stop guessing which half of the marketing worked.
A plan for after launch
The Marketing Coach turns a strategy into weekly jobs small enough to actually finish. That is why our sites are still growing a year later.
You own the lot
Code, domain, hosting, content and your Google Business Profile. Nothing switches off if you leave, because nothing was rented to you.
If a basic presence is all you need, a builder is the sensible choice and we will say so. If you want the phone to ring more often, that is what we build. Get a fixed price.
FAQ
Boat Tour Operators ask us these most
Price, timescales and ownership, answered for a boat tour operator.
Direct Booking costs £2,495. Booking Growth costs £3,995 and is the package most operators should choose when they want to move more demand away from marketplaces. Tourism Pro starts from £5,995 for more complex operations. Genuinely bespoke platforms are quoted separately from £10,000. All prices exclude VAT. Website Care at £59 a month is required for every client.
The timescale depends on the number of tours, locations, booking connections and content needed. We agree the plan before work starts and give you clear actions for supplying photographs, prices and sailing details. A straightforward build can move quickly, while a larger tourism website needs more preparation and testing before launch.
Website Care keeps the site hosted, secure and backed up. It includes a security certificate, daily backups, security monitoring, software updates, uptime monitoring, up to 30 minutes of content changes each month and email support. A booking website has more to protect than a simple brochure page, so ongoing maintenance is required rather than optional.
Yes. We build the website around the reservation system you already use rather than replacing it by default. We work with booking engines such as Bokun, FareHarbor, Rezdy, Checkfront, Bookeo and Freetobook. We check the current setup first, then connect the right booking buttons, availability routes and tracking.
No. You can keep using marketplaces where they help reach new visitors. The aim is to give those visitors another route to your own website, then grow direct demand over time. Marketplaces typically charge suppliers around 20 to 30 per cent per booking, so even shifting part of your sales can make a meaningful difference.
The website can present fixed departure times, tour lengths, prices and passenger information clearly. Your booking engine remains responsible for availability and reservation rules, including capacity limits where supported. We will review how your current system handles passenger certificates, group sizes and multiple ticket types before connecting the booking journey.
We can make your weather policy easy to find on tour pages, booking information and customer messages. The exact cancellation, refund and rearrangement process still follows your own terms and booking system. Clear wording helps passengers understand what happens if conditions are unsafe, which can reduce avoidable calls during unsettled weather.
The AI Receptionist answers calls 24 hours a day in your business name. It takes the caller's name, contact details and reason for calling, then sorts the request and texts you immediately. It can handle missed calls during boarding, sailings and busy periods. It does not make safety decisions or replace your booking system.
The AI Receptionist costs £169 a month on its own. Care plus Receptionist costs £199 a month, combining it with Website Care and saving £29. It is useful when you regularly miss calls while operating the boat, particularly for private charter enquiries, group bookings and urgent changes.
Google Ads Management costs £449 a month. This covers campaign management, bid and budget changes, advert testing, unwanted search term control, landing page improvements and a monthly reporting call. The advertising spend is billed separately by Google and goes directly to Google. We never mark it up.
Yes. We set up tracking for booking actions, enquiry forms and calls where the booking system allows it. This shows which campaigns and landing pages produce useful actions, rather than only showing how many people visited. For private charters, the enquiry details can then be matched with the job you actually win.
Yes, where your existing booking engine supports those options. We connect the website to the available booking and payment journey, so customers can choose a sailing, enter passenger details and pay a deposit or full amount. The exact payment rules, refunds and ticket types depend on your booking provider and current account.
You own the website and the business content created for it. We provide the hosting, care and support as part of the required Website Care service. We will explain the accounts and access involved at the start, so you know what is connected and how your booking tools remain under your control.
Yes. The no upfront option is £199 a month on a 24 month term, with no setup fee. It includes a template site built for your trade, hosting, Website Care and the AI Receptionist. It is designed for operators who want to start improving direct bookings now without paying the build cost upfront.
Monthly billing starts when the website launches, with a 12 month minimum term and monthly billing after that. The no upfront option has its own 24 month term. Modules can be added at any time. All prices exclude VAT, and any Google Ads spend is billed separately by Google.
Where we work
Working across the UK
We build local landing pages for every town you cover. These are the areas we work in most often.
Newcastle upon Tyne
Gateshead
Sunderland
Durham
North Shields
South Shields
Whitley Bay
Wallsend
Jarrow
Washington
Cramlington
Blyth
Morpeth
Hexham
Ponteland
Chester-le-Street
Consett
Gosforth
Jesmond
Heaton
Tynemouth
Killingworth
Houghton-le-Spring
Seaham
Bedlington
References
Useful links for a boat tour operator
The bodies and tools a boat tour operator deals with, plus where to go next on our site.
More from us
Official sources
External sites open in a new tab. We link to primary sources and accreditation bodies only.
Also built for
Websites for similar businesses
Closest to boat tour operators in how they win work. Each gets its own page, quote form and set of searches.
Booking & Tourism
- Adventure Centres
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- Coach Tour Operators
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- Escape Rooms
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- Farm Attractions
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- Glamping Sites
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- Paintball & Airsoft Venues
- Spa & Leisure Businesses
- Visitor Attractions
- Walking Tour Operators
- Wildlife & Nature Tour Operators
Looking for a different sector? See all sectors we build for, or tell us your trade and we will quote for it.
Next step
Get a fixed price for your boat tour operator website
Tell us the boat tour operator work you want more of and the towns you cover. We will send back a real number with a scope attached, not a range.