While the pandemic affected many industries, it irrevocably changed the travel and tourism sector. As the World Economic Forum reports, “In 2020 alone, the [tourism] sector lost $4.5 trillion and 62 million jobs, impacting the living standards and well-being of communities across the globe. Moreover, the halt in international travel gave both leisure and business travelers the chance to consider the impact of their choices on the climate and environment.”
That being said, airline ticket prices are starting to rise again and airports are struggling to keep up with demand. Furthermore, amid current economic and environmental shifts, more travelers are seeking sustainable tourism options—and the industry has begun to adapt.
Whether you’re new to tourism—curating local experiences or renting out your home—or a travel veteran who has weathered the storm of tourism woes, there’s no better time to create a website for your tourism and travel types of businesses - its the perfect service business idea. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best travel websites, plus a few tips on what to include on your own.
Read Also: How to start a business
What is a tourism and travel website?
The tourism and travel industry has become more accessible than ever. The internet has made it easier to research, plan and book trips, all with just a few clicks. You can find everything from flights, hotels, and restaurants to car rentals and local experiences online.
A tourism or travel website serves as an information hub for prospective travelers planning a getaway. Today, people travel for a range of experiences—babymoons, staycations, voluntourism or bleisure—you name it. So, provide as much relevant information as possible to help users plan their trips.
When creating a travel website, entice travelers with blogs or video content that offers insider tips and local secrets. You can discuss practical information like local currency, customs and expectations, or review or rating popular destinations. You can also supply average local prices for travel necessities, offer tips for transportation or even add a Google Map of your favorite spots.
Tip: You can understand how to plan your website, then make your hotel website with Wix, complete with ready-made travel and tourism templates.
Best travel website examples
Let’s explore a range of tourism website examples, all built with Wix:
01. Inward Travel
Creator Noå runs Inward Travel to “take the opportunity of lifelong learning, to improve quality of life and performance by consciousness and exercise.” The company curates unique cold water experiences, sweat-dripping-exercises and leadership trails in destinations like The Netherlands.
Inward Travel’s minimal one-page website highlights the relevant information clearly and concisely. The enticing video strip in the first fold of the website instantly paints a picture of the experiences offered. The simple color palette aligns with the brand messaging and the site effectively uses his logo, including the favicon.
1
Canadian-based Tourism Richmond Hill’s informative website includes thorough details for both locals and visitors alike, paired with eye-catching visuals and clear language. A clear menu leads users to navigation options like ‘restaurants around town,’ ‘where to stay,’ ‘things to do, and ‘useful links’. Additionally, their ‘Shop Local, Support Your Community,’ section expands their potential visitor pool, encouraging residents to treat their hometown like a tourist destination.
03. Echo Fitness
Don’t let the name fool you, Echo offers much more than just a fitness website. The homepage gives a brief description of all of Echo Fitness’s services, including active holidays, fitness retreats, personal training and ski instruction—all based in Zermatt, Switzerland—with clear CTAs to learn more. Each section includes a thorough description, complete with sample itineraries of previous trips or retreats. The travel website also gives a clear breakdown of plans and pricing, with a clear Book Now button for easy requests. Echo Fitness’s social media bar also includes a link to TripAdvisor, using this external platform to establish trust from previous travelers’ reviews.
Learn more: Travel business names
African Empire Tours immerses travelers in the culture, architecture and natural splendor of Asante, Kongo, Songhair, Zulu and Ethiopia. The tourism website clearly outlines the five tour destinations and gives a clear itinerary example.
African Empire Tours also smartly includes a clear Subscribe form above their contact information to engage with prospective travelers in the research/deciding phase of trip planning. Adding a subscribe form can help you keep visitors up to date on your business offerings.
05. Champlain Tours
Champlain Tours puts their pre-arranged group and customizable private tour options front and center, so prospective visitors can easily find what they want. They also include links to their social media profiles, including their YouTube channel which showcases video content of what visitors can expect when on tour with the company. They also prominently display previous travelers’ customer reviews as social proof to establish trust.
06. Japan Time
Japan Time’s Tom and Stav share their first-hand experiences with a range of thoughtful blogs, guides and tips for other travelers looking to make the most out of their experience. They break down the essentials like travel budget, transportation, food as well as holidays and cultural traditions in the land of the rising sun. The travel site also includes experiential tours like a “Culinary evening in Osaka” or “Ikebana techniques” that visitors can directly book online.
07. Bella Vista
Ciao Bella—arriving at Bella Vista’s vacation website offers an instant escape into the Sicilian countryside. Parallax scrolling brings the hotel to life; from a close up shot of a mouth-watering cannoli to the gorgeous view their property boasts, visitors will want to book a vacation and sign up for Italian lessons, too. This is one of the best hotel websites we've come across, as the captivating photos take you on a beautiful Italian getaway.
08. Home Sweet Home
Sometimes when vacation planning, you want a home away from home rather than a big to-do. Well, at France’s Home Sweet Home, you can choose from three uniquely styled rooms fit for comfort, relaxation and fun. Take a closer look at the photo gallery for every room and start to feel that vacation vibe seep in. Our favorite part? Their on-site private spa services.
For those seeking adventure, consider Immanuel Wilderness Lodge, located in the Namibian Savannah. This family-run lodge has earned a collection of rave reviews and well-deserved TripAdvisor awards. For those who prefer to know exactly what to expect before arriving, their amazing 360° virtual tours show off their accommodations, lobby, restaurant and surrounding property.
Is there anything more exotic than a Greek vacation? After browsing their travel website, you’ll know why the four properties comprising Sea Breeze of Mykonos offer a quintessential vacation spot. Look at the romantic views, pristine accommodations and learn about what this magical island offers.
Using a teal Book Now button pops out amid the muted gray background, helping users know exactly what to do upon entering the site.
Almost any traveler to Tel Aviv knows that a visit to the Carmel Market is a must. Jon’s Carmel Market Cooking Class and Food Tour’s clear and direct website makes it incredibly easy for travelers to navigate through the famously bustling market. Jon, the owner, includes a short, captivating video that lets visitors know what a typical day in the market looks like. He also provides a detailed itinerary and a strategically placed CTA for Book Now.
Jon also uses a Wix pro gallery to showcase the vibrant colors and flavors of the food market. His contact information is easy to find, and includes links to all his social channels, including his TripAdvisor rating.
Dennis Behnke, a Berlin native offers his tour services and in his own words, “Be it on foot and public transportation, be it on bike or in a van, let me help you create your perfect Berlin private tour.” His thoughtful and well-organized tourism website includes a clear list of his unique tours with detailed descriptions and lengths. Behnke has native experience and insights into the diverse city.
He includes his TripAdvisor rating directly on his homepage alongside a personalized explanation of his experiences, effectively reinforcing his brand name as the Berlin Storyteller. Working as an independent tour guide is a great service business idea. It can be a great side hustle or full-time venture if you have detailed knowledge of a city or specific destination.
This travel website asks users a simple yet profound question upon entry—where to? For those who connect with this spark of wanderlust, there’s a relevant questionnaire to fill out and to receive a range of all-inclusive vacation packages.
This travel website also offers visitors drone video content, providing a bird-eye’s view and immersive look into each exotic getaway. In addition, All Inclusive Vacations includes their team’s photos, letting prospective travelers know who they’re talking to while planning their trips. A chatbot provides instant responses and efficiently handles incoming questions as well.
14. Twende Zetu Kilimanjaro
For hikers looking to experience iconic Mount Kilimanjaro, this travel website offers practical information including medical details, experiential knowledge, trip schedules and trail guides. Users can easily navigate the clearly laid-out information, helping them to understand the most relevant information before such an exciting hike.
What to include in a tourism and travel website
Every tourism or travel website will vary depending on the destination and target visitor. However, most travel websites should include the following:
Easy-to-use scheduling software
High-quality photography and images
Relevant information about nearby attractions—including museums, arts, cultural events, restaurants and shopping
Packing advice
Maps and directions
Public transportation information (note if users need to download apps in advance)
Air travel and airport information
Language guidelines and local slang
Clear links to social media channels
Contact information
Reviews or testimonials
An online store to buy branded or local merchandise (use an online store builder for this)
Ready to create a blog for your travel website? Make one today. Or read more about how to start a travel blog.
Travel and tourism website design tips
Whether you have created a hotel website starting from scratch or you are updating your current travel website, keep these design tips in mind.
Include a logo. A logo can help establish consistency for your brand’s online presence. A good logo should communicate the crux of your destination, tour company or rental and help visitors make a positive association with your business before they even arrive. You can use a free logo maker to design a logo for your travel website, plus use it for business cards, brochures, branded merchandise and social media channels.
Ensure a cohesive design. Select a representative color palette for your brand and stick to it throughout your travel website’s visual identity. For example, if you run a natural spa getaway, stick to tranquil and calming colors over rugged and earthy tones that better match an extreme sports tour guide. With Wix’s editor's site and theme design, you can customize your website colors, fonts and images and maintain a cohesive look with automatic theme updates across your site’s pages. Also check out some of these general website examples for inspiration.
Don’t overload pages. Travel is all about the escape. Make your site’s user experience just as relaxing as traveling should be—don’t overload it with superfluous content or features. Tip: Build your travel website with Wix website performance at its core. Sites offer better page load speed plus Wix’s site speed dashboard to test, analyze and optimize your site’s performance for both desktop and mobile.
Think about site hierarchy. As visitors explore your site, you want them to receive relevant information and experience your offering efficiently. Prioritize your main pages and create menus, headers and subheaders that clearly reflect this hierarchy. Not only will this create a better user experience (and hopefully convert visitors to customers), but it will also make it easier for Google’s search engine robots to scan and index your pages.
Make it mobile friendly. Mobile accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide, meaning potentially half (or more) of visitors will explore your website via their devices. Creating a mobile-friendly travel and tourism website will ensure a better experience, regardless of device. Tip: The Wix Editor automatically creates a mobile version for every website it designs.
Lean into templates: Templates are a great way to create a design-friendly travel and tourism website in an efficient way. Here's a selection of our favorite travel and tourism templates from Wix: Travel services templates, Travel agency template, Food and travel website templates, Travel blog template, Travel documentary templates, Hotel and BnB website templates.
Consider SEO. If you optimize your travel website content to rank on search engines, you can increase your traffic. How? First, target specific keywords. For example, think of your prospective travelers: what questions or phrases might they search for that could lead them to your tourism website? Integrate these keywords into your website content. Tip: Check out Wix SEO features or the Wix SEO hub for more detailed steps that’ll help your travel website perform better on search engines.
Maintain your travel website. Just as you care for your hotel or tours, you need to apply the same TLC to your website. Fresh and up-to-date content (like prices and current links) can help users get the most out of their experience.
Try out new technologies. Following the latest travel technology trends, try integrating a chat bot for quick responses and user engagement or use 3D/AR viewer to give users a virtual tour of your destination.
Travel and tourism websites FAQ
What are some famous examples of travel websites?
There are many: Skyscanner, AirBnb, Kayak amongst others.