How Google Can Boost Your Tourism Business: Take Advantage of the New Activities and Tours Carousel!

If you own a tourism business, such as a hotel, hostel, or tours and activities company, you're in luck. Google has recently introduced an exciting update that can completely change the way travelers find and book your services. In this blog post, we'll explore how this new Google feature can benefit your business and how you can make the most of it.

The New Google Activities and Tours Carousel

Until now, competing for travelers' attention online has been costly and challenging, especially for smaller tour operators. However, Google has taken an important step to level the playing field with its new Activities and Tours carousel.

This carousel, recently launched, appears in Google search results and is primarily designed for mobile devices and English queries (with plans to expand to other languages and platforms). What makes this feature so beneficial for tourism business owners is that it displays free listings of relevant products for a specific search. For example, if someone searches for "Bike tour in Paris" or "Food tour in Rome," the carousel will show options directly on the search results page.

Benefits for Tourism Business Owners

1. More Direct Traffic and Booking Inquiries: With this new feature, tour operators can expect an increase in direct traffic to their websites and booking inquiries. Travelers can easily see and access tour and activity options, making decision-making and booking easier.
2. Free and Organic Exposure: The Activities and Tours carousel appears below only one or two sponsored listings on major search terms and city-specific searches. This means that smaller tour operators have the opportunity to gain free and organic exposure on Google, which was previously mainly reserved for large online travel agencies.
3. Greater Budget Flexibility: Google offers the option of organic (free) listings or paid campaigns. This allows partners to adjust their level of participation according to their marketing budget, resulting in greater flexibility for tourism business owners.
4. Focus on Individual Products: The carousel focuses on individual tourism products rather than business profiles. This allows tour operators to highlight multiple products that match the user's search intent, increasing the chances of conversion.

How to Make the Most of the Update

To make the most of this new Google feature, it's essential to optimize your tourism products. Make sure you have complete and accurate information about your offerings, attractive descriptions, and high-quality photos. Keep in mind that search results may vary depending on location, language, and user preferences, so relevance is key.

Additionally, use Google's categories and subcategories, such as Budget-friendly, History and Culture, or For small groups, to make it easier for users to find your products. Google's enhancement tools will help you identify relevant tourism products and connect them with appropriate search results and intended target audience.

Finally, it's essential that you have your own website with an efficient booking engine and that you are well-positioned on Google. If you don't know how to do this, you can always ask us, request more information, or a demo with one of our assistants to provide you with the guidance you need. Elastic Rates is designed for you to take advantage of all these benefits.

In summary, Google's new Activities and Tours carousel offers tourism business owners an exciting opportunity to increase visibility, attract more traffic, and boost bookings.

Take advantage of this update to highlight your offerings and connect with travelers from around the world more effectively than ever before. Don't miss this opportunity to take your tourism business to the next level!