Do you want your audience to know, like, and trust you? Do you want to inspire them about the crystal clear waters, the vibrant culture, and stepping into a new destination to discover a different way of living?

The tourism industry has the advantage of creating and utilizing unique and catchy “Call to Actions” (CTAs), to get their audience to click (or buy) into what they’re offering, all related to the many facets of travel. But, what I’ve seen many times are tourism businesses use hard and pushy CTAs in content marketing – when most of their audience probably isn’t ready to book anything.

We need strong and converting CTAs that guide (or instruct) about what to do next. A CTA doesn’t have to be difficult, they can be as straightforward as: BOOK NOW, CONTACT US, READ MORE, etc. How you use them and where you place them, however, is the trickier part. We’re going to walk through some CTAs that convert for tourism businesses, the strategy behind it, and what you can implement today.

What are Call-To-Actions?

Call-to-actions, or CTAs, as referred to in the content marketing world, are buttons or links that direct your audience to take action after reading or interacting with your content. They’re a great way to keep your audience engaged to build a community, loyalty, and more interest in services. CTAs can lead to different services, pages, or other social platforms and invite your audience to connect with you over there.

There are MANY different types of call-to-actions, but today we’ll be talking about CTAs for tourism and travel businesses on their website and their content.

Why are they crucial?

CTAs are crucial and important to have on any website, page, or social platforms. They help readers know what they should do next after reading or viewing a piece of content from your business. Used and placed correctly, they can help:

• Build your email list
• Have readers “learn more” about your services, tours, etc.
• Grow your social media following
• Book more calls to discuss offers
• Sell and book more tours/services

Without CTAs, readers can easily click out of a page, feel lost, or leave with wanting more information but aren’t sure how to find or get it.

Call to actions help guide your readers to the next step and build that connection with them. After all, you’re giving them a hand to hold that will help them learn more about you and your community!

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The strategy behind CTAs

CTAs are great when used correctly and SPARINGLY. Have you ever jumped on a tourism website and immediately felt bombarded with too much information, too many buttons and flashing lights, and way too many things pulling for your attention? I certainly have.

Here’s an example of a poorly organized CTA strategy on a tourism website I found –

The call to actions on this page are the price points of each tour. The CTAs are also not organized with any strategy, for example, a descending or increasing price point or even by days of the trip.

What does this do for the buyer?

• Makes them value your tours and excursions by price point INSTEAD OF by value or what they’re actually interested in
• It’s not clear where they need to click to learn more about the tour (although I imagine that the title of the tour is a link to learn more)
• Although the tours are categorized by “puente” (a long weekend), “cruceros” (cruises), and “otoño” (Autumn trips) – it’s unclear where the tours will be leaving from (except the cruises) and what they’ll get from it that’s simple to understand.

Here’s an example of a clear CTA strategy for a tour company –

The call to actions on this page are the arrows, leading visitors to learn more about a tour, see what the costs are, and check what’s included. Although the CTAs are simple (just an arrow), it’s clear what you’re going to learn more about: “Street food tours” in different cities around the world. They’ve even added a small blurb at the bottom for website visitors who don’t see a tour in a city they’d like to visit!

What does this do for the buyer?

• Breaks down information for them and what type of tour/excursion they want to look for
• Cities and countries are clearly marked for visitors to know exactly where they will have the tour
• The names of the tours are straight-forward and clear. For example: “Krakow Food by Foot” is simple enough to know that during the tour, visitors will be exploring Krakow’s food scene (streetfood scene) by walking around the city.

For a clear call to action strategy, it doesn’t need to be difficult or overbearing! There also doesn’t need to be too many things going on. The more options you give your audience, the more indecisive and confused they will be.

Here’s what to do now:

Are your CTAs converting and bringing in more tour bookings and paid clients? To review – let’s break down what you can do now to make sure your CTAs convert!

1. Decide what the goal is for each of your pages: Home, About, Destinations, Featured Tours, Contact, etc.
2. Think about your target market, where do you want to guide them after being on a page? For example, the Home page can share your company’s message and highlight top tours. You want to guide them to view MORE of the tours you offer.
3. Audit the placement of your CTAs on your website. Are there any that can be added or deleted? Are there too many or too little?
4. Use simple and straight-forward CTAs for your website. Nothing leads to more hesitation when people don’t know what they’re getting on the other side or are confused to what they’re clicking on! (For example: See more tours in Somalia)
5. Ask questions to experts or your audience! Get feedback directly from your buyers by asking subtle questions. Use A/B testing in your marketing campaigns to see what people are drawn towards. Ask a question in the comments and I’ll go in and share some input!
6. Hire a professional travel/tourism copywriter to help you! Someone who understands conversion copy, messaging and is a total travel nerd!

Want to work on your Call to Action strategy and website copy? Let’s schedule a time to get to know eachother. Schedule a STRATEGY SESSION to see how website copy can help you increase your bookings!

Call to Actions that convert?

Lastly, I couldn’t leave you hanging without some tips for call to actions for tourism businesses (travel CTAs)! Here’s a quick list of how you can write MORE CTAs for travel that can increase conversion (and bookings)!

• Use more action verbs! (ie: Learn, Get, Subscribe)
• Place your CTAs around the copy that describes the “benefits” of your service
• Don’t promise anything –> instead, paint a picture for them
• Use the K.I.S.S. method: “Keep it simple sweetie!” (Short & Simple CTAs are best!)
• Make sure they stand out! (Use color, bold, or italicize the font or buttons)
• Location of your CTAs are super important! (Like, don’t put them everywhere… seriously)

What questions do you have about CTAs for travel or the strategy behind call to actions? Have you been victim to overly aggressive CTAs from tourism/travel brands that make you immediately click out?

Drop your questions and comments below!

*Want MORE website visitors to your page and MORE tour bookings? Let’s see how we can work together! Schedule a STRATEGY SESSION to talk about website copywriting for your travel business!

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