Tour and activity website checklist: turn visitors into bookings

A tour website needs to answer the customer's main questions and make booking straightforward. Start with an informative experience page, an inclusive price, available dates and a working mobile checkout.

A direct booking is a reservation made through your own booking route. Your website should help the customer choose an experience, understand the terms, pay and receive a useful confirmation without unnecessary uncertainty.

There is room for operators to improve online booking. Arival and Phocuswright estimated that 33% of travel experiences bookings were made online in 2025, compared with 64% across travel as a whole. The figures describe the wider market, not the results any individual operator should expect. Source: Travel Professional News

An enquiry form can still suit a bespoke experience where availability or requirements need discussion. For a bookable scheduled activity, give customers a clear route to dates and payment rather than making them guess what happens after an enquiry.

• Make the experience, location and intended audience clear at the top of the page.
• Show an inclusive price and a visible route to availability.
• Explain practical details and important policies before payment.
• Test booking on a phone, including payment and confirmation.
• Provide a contact route and an alternative way to book.

A tour page should explain what happens, who the activity suits and what the customer needs to arrange. Put the most important information close to the booking option, then add detail for people who need it.

Use a title that names the place and experience. GetYourGuide also advises suppliers to include duration, authentic photos, inclusions, exclusions and a meeting point described with landmarks. These are useful prompts for your own pages, even when the page is not a GetYourGuide listing. Source: GetYourGuide

Describe the activity in the order a guest experiences it. Explain how strenuous the activity is, what equipment you provide, what guests should bring and whether children can take part.

Choose real photos that show the setting and activity accurately. GetYourGuide recommends authentic images, with season and crowd levels represented accurately, and highlights the importance of the first photo. Add descriptive alternative text where an image conveys useful information. Source: GetYourGuide

• A plain description of the experience and its duration.
• The meeting point, helpful landmarks and arrival instructions.
• What is included, what is not included and anything guests should bring.
• Age, mobility, fitness and accessibility information relevant to the activity.
• Available dates, the full price and a clear booking button.
• Cancellation, weather and contact information.
• Authentic images that show the activity and setting.

Show a headline price that includes compulsory charges, not a lower price that rises when a customer reaches checkout. A compulsory charge is one the customer cannot avoid when buying the experience.

The Competition and Markets Authority's price transparency guidance says compulsory charges include VAT and administration fees, however described. A booking system's fee passed on to the customer must also be included in the headline price. You can show a breakdown alongside the total. Source: CMA price transparency guidance

A per-booking fee must be included in early advertising too, including a suitable 'from' price for the minimum purchase. Once a customer has supplied details such as group size, the total should reflect those details. Check the price wherever you advertise, including on your website and on Google.

The Consumer Contracts Regulations also require pre-booking information including the total price, taxes and extra charges, as well as your business name and geographic address. The legal points in this guide are general information, not legal advice. Source: Consumer Contracts Regulations, Schedule 2

• Check the price on the experience page, availability screen and checkout.
• Include a compulsory booking or processing fee in the advertised price.
• Make genuine optional extras distinguishable from charges customers must pay.
• Update the total when the customer selects their group or options.
• Review advertised prices after changing booking software or fees.

Calling a compulsory fee an extra service does not make the fee optional. CMA guidance also says surcharges for using a particular payment method are banned.

A good checkout lets customers choose a date, understand the total and pay without unnecessary steps. Offer guest checkout and make the guest option easy to find.

Baymard Institute reports an average documented checkout abandonment rate of 70.22% across 50 studies. Among US shoppers who abandoned a checkout, excluding people who were just browsing, reported reasons included high extra costs, distrust of card security, account creation and complicated checkout. The research covers online shopping generally, not only tours. Source: Baymard Institute

Ask only for details needed to complete and manage the booking. Label each field clearly, show errors beside the relevant field and let customers correct details without starting again.

Use recognisable payment options that suit your customers and test the payment journey from a phone. Strong Customer Authentication, which can involve an extra check such as 3-D Secure, has been required for UK online card payments since March 2022; non-compliant payments risk being declined. Ask your payment provider how the checks work in your checkout. Source: FCA

Show the cancellation and weather policy before the customer books. Place a concise summary near the booking button and link to the full terms.

Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, the usual 14-day cancellation right does not apply to leisure services booked for a specific date or time. You must still tell customers before booking that they will not have that right. Your own cancellation policy should also explain what you offer. Sources: regulation 28 and Schedule 2

Explain what happens if a customer cancels, asks to change a booking or cannot attend. For weather, explain who makes the decision, how guests will be contacted and what options you offer if the activity cannot go ahead.

If you also sell through Viator, compare the policies shown on each channel. Viator says most products use its standard flexible policy, which provides a full refund for cancellation at least 24 hours before the start; weather cancellation is a setting chosen per product. Do not assume that a Viator policy automatically describes your direct booking terms. Source: Viator

• Show the cancellation summary before the customer commits to payment.
• Explain any deadline and how a customer requests a cancellation or change.
• Describe the weather decision and available remedies in plain language.
• Repeat the relevant terms in the booking confirmation.
• Check that staff can explain the policy consistently.

A tour website should load quickly and remain usable throughout the mobile booking journey. Test the experience page and checkout, not just the homepage.

Arival's 2022 operator surveys found that about two in five online tour and activity bookings were made on a mobile phone. The figure is a useful reason to test on a phone, rather than a prediction of your own customers' behaviour. Source: Arival

Google's 'Milliseconds make millions' study found that a 0.1 second faster mobile site was associated with a 10% higher booking rate on travel sites. The study measured an association, not proof that the speed change caused the booking change. Faster pages are worth investigating, but the study does not predict a particular booking increase. Source: web.dev

Use PageSpeed Insights to inspect real-user field data and simulated lab data. Google says low-traffic pages may have no field data. Search Console's Core Web Vitals report groups similar pages and separates mobile and desktop issues, which can help you choose what to investigate. Sources: PageSpeed Insights and Search Console

1. 1 Open an important experience page on your phone using a normal connection. Check whether the main image, price and booking route appear and work promptly.
2. 2 Run the page through PageSpeed Insights. Review both field and lab information when available, and note issues affecting the main content or interaction.
3. 3 Inspect large images, unnecessary page features and third-party booking components with your developer or software provider. Change one issue at a time where practical.
4. 4 Test the page and checkout again after changes. Use Search Console's mobile report to investigate issues affecting similar pages.

Tour operators must anticipate disabled customers' needs and make reasonable adjustments to their services. That duty applies to services provided on a website, so consider both the booking journey and the experience itself. Source: EHRC services code

No UK law requires private businesses to meet a specific web accessibility standard. WCAG 2.2 AA is the standard required for UK public sector sites and the usual benchmark for other organisations. Use the standard to guide testing rather than assuming a checklist alone settles every accessibility issue. Sources: GOV.UK and W3C

Check that a customer can use the booking form without a mouse, understand labels and errors, and select dates without relying on a dragging gesture. WCAG 2.2 also addresses target size, obscured focus, repeated information and accessible authentication, with criteria and exceptions set out in the standard. Source: W3C

Provide an alternative way to book and make the contact route easy to find. Describe relevant features of the activity, meeting point and facilities, and invite customers to discuss requirements without making assumptions about what they can do.

• Use clear headings, readable text and meaningful form labels.
• Test links, date selection and payment steps with a keyboard.
• Check that a fixed booking bar does not hide the field being used.
• Give customers a way to select dates without dragging.
• Explain practical access details and provide a contact route.
• Review any booking countdown against WCAG's timing requirements, including applicable exceptions.

If a booking uses a countdown, WCAG requires users to be able to turn it off, adjust it or extend it, unless an exception applies, such as an essential limit. Source: W3C

Marketing emails generally need consent, with a soft opt-in exception for eligible messages to your own previous customers about similar products or services. Keep the marketing choice distinct from the information needed to manage a booking. Source: ICO

Use clear wording that tells customers what marketing they are choosing to receive. Keep a record of the choice and review the ICO guidance before relying on the soft opt-in.

A booking confirmation should help the guest prepare. Include the experience, date, meeting point, contact details and relevant policy information, and make any remaining action clear.

Your website should also make your business easy to identify. Put your business name and geographic address where customers can find them before booking, and offer a clear way to ask a question.

• Separate marketing permission from the booking information customers need to provide.
• Explain what a customer is agreeing to receive.
• Record the customer's marketing choice.
• Check the ICO guidance before using the soft opt-in.
• Test that booking confirmations contain useful arrival and contact details.

Follow the whole booking journey yourself and ask customers or staff where questions arise. A page can look attractive while a hidden fee, confusing date picker or unclear meeting point stops someone booking.

Start with the routes customers actually use: search results, experience pages, availability, checkout and confirmation. Check whether each stage gives customers enough information to take the next step.

Use your booking system and website reports to compare visits with the progress you can observe through the booking journey. Treat the figures as prompts for investigation, not proof of why a customer left.

Keep a simple list of customer questions and support requests. If customers repeatedly ask about parking, suitability or weather, improve the relevant page and check whether the answer is easy to find.

• Can a customer find the right experience from the main menu?
• Is the full price clear before the customer starts checkout?
• Can a customer choose an available date and understand the options?
• Do errors explain how to fix the problem?
• Does payment return the customer to a clear confirmation?
• Does the confirmation email arrive with the practical information needed?
• Can a customer find help or another way to book?

Start with the experience customers are most likely to book, then apply what you learn to the rest of your website. Work through the journey in the same order as a customer.

Keep your existing booking system in view when planning changes. Look North Digital builds direct booking websites around the booking system operators already use; your developer and booking provider should agree who is responsible for each part of the journey.

1. 1 Choose an important experience page. Read the title, description, price and booking button on a phone, without relying on knowledge you already have as the operator.
2. 2 Improve the experience details. Add the meeting point, duration, inclusions, exclusions, suitability information and authentic photos where anything is missing.
3. 3 Audit every displayed price. Include compulsory fees in the headline price and check that the selected group's total remains clear through checkout.
4. 4 Review cancellation and weather wording. Put a concise summary near the booking button and link to the full policy before payment.
5. 5 Complete a test booking. Check guest checkout, form errors, payment, the confirmation page and the confirmation email. Resolve any test payment or booking according to your provider's process.
6. 6 Test accessibility and mobile performance. Try keyboard use, date selection and an alternative booking route, then review PageSpeed Insights and the relevant Search Console report.
7. 7 Review marketing choices. Check consent wording and records, and consult ICO guidance before relying on the soft opt-in.
8. 8 Collect questions from customers and staff. Prioritise unclear or broken parts of the journey, make a change and test the journey again.

The most common mistakes make customers work too hard or leave important information until checkout. Fix clarity and booking problems before adding decorative features.

A booking button cannot compensate for an unclear experience. Equally, a detailed page cannot help much if the date picker, price or payment journey fails on a customer's device.

Treat your website and booking software as one customer journey. Review both after changes to prices, policies, availability or the experience itself.

• Advertising a price without a compulsory booking fee.
• Using attractive photos that do not accurately represent the activity.
• Leaving out the meeting point, inclusions or suitability information.
• Hiding cancellation and weather terms until after payment.
• Making account creation the only obvious route through checkout.
• Testing the homepage but not the booking form on mobile.
• Assuming the booking provider handles every accessibility issue.
• Treating every booking email address as permission for marketing.
• Failing to check the confirmation and arrival instructions.
• Changing the website without checking the connected booking journey.