Facebook Community
Change Log
Help Center
10 Must-Have Features in a Travel Agency Website Builder
A modern travel agency website needs to meet higher expectations than ever before. Recent insights from the travel industry show that travelers are increasingly choosing digital channels for planning and booking, and they expect quick access to information, tailored recommendations, and a smooth online experience. These shifts make a strong online presence essential for any travel business.
In this guide, we break down the ten essential features to look for in a travel agency website builder, show real examples of effective travel websites, and walk through the steps to build a site that attracts more visitors and converts them into paying travelers.
Some travel statistics in Q1 de 2025
Recent data from Q1 2025 highlights significant shifts in how travelers research and book their trips. According to industry insights, 72 percent of all travel bookings were completed online, confirming that digital platforms have become the primary booking channel for both domestic and international travelers. In addition, 66 percent of travelers now expect personalized offers during the planning stage, indicating a strong demand for tailored experiences and relevant recommendations.
These trends show that a travel agency website must do more than showcase destinations. It needs to offer fast access to information, support customized trip suggestions, and provide a booking experience that matches modern traveler expectations.
The 10 Must-Have Features to Look For in a Travel Agency Website Builder
Choosing the right travel agency website builder determines how effectively you attract visitors, capture inquiries, and convert travelers into paying customers. A strong builder must support both the visual storytelling of destinations and the functional components required for real bookings.
Below are the essential features every travel agency website needs in order to compete in the 2026 travel landscape.
Drag-and-drop editor
A travel agency website should be easy to build and update, even for teams without technical experience. A drag and drop editor allows you to create pages visually by arranging banners, tour sections, forms, and images with simple actions. This is crucial for travel agencies that frequently update itineraries, launch seasonal promotions, or add new destinations. The editor should support custom blocks, reusable sections, and fast revisions so you can adjust your travel website as your offerings evolve.
Learn more: Shopify Drag-and-Drop Page Builder: 10 Top-Picks & Detailed Reviews
Travel-specific templates
Generic templates do not capture the depth, inspiration, or structure that a travel agency website requires. Travel specific templates give you layouts designed for tour listings, destination highlights, package pages, cruise itineraries, and experience categories. A good builder should offer templates with hero sections, gallery space, itinerary breakdowns, and trust elements such as reviews and certifications. These layouts help your agency communicate value and build trust at first glance.
2.3. Booking and inquiry forms
A travel agency website must be able to capture leads and bookings efficiently. Inquiry forms allow travelers to request more information, ask questions, or customize packages. Booking forms collect essential details such as travel dates, group size, preferences, and special requirements. These forms should be easy to complete, mobile friendly, and connected to your CRM or email system. Agencies that depend on private tours or bespoke itineraries benefit especially from flexible form setups.
2.4. Payment integration
Travelers expect secure and seamless payment options directly on your travel agency website. Whether you offer full payments, deposits, or partial installments, your website builder should support multiple gateways, including cards, digital wallets, and region specific options. A good payment system improves trust, reduces booking friction, and helps you manage reservations more efficiently. Reliable payment integration is essential for tour companies, activity providers, and travel businesses that handle reservations online.
2.5. Maps and destination showcases
Travel decisions are visual and highly contextual. Built in maps allow agencies to display destinations, routes, and important points of interest. Destination showcases help visitors understand what makes a location unique by highlighting attractions, trip highlights, local culture, and travel tips. A strong website builder includes map integrations, interactive visuals, and gallery sections that bring destinations to life.
2.6. Mobile responsiveness
Most travelers research and book directly from their phones. A travel agency website must adapt smoothly to different screen sizes, ensuring that images, forms, menus, and booking buttons remain easy to navigate. Poor mobile responsiveness leads to higher bounce rates and lower conversions, especially for tour and activity operators that depend heavily on last minute mobile traffic. A good builder provides responsive controls and previews for every layout.
2.7. SEO optimization
Travel is one of the most competitive industries online. To rank on search engines, your travel agency website must have built in SEO features. These include meta tag editing, optimized URL structures, schema markup for tours and activities, image alt text, and clean code. Good SEO helps your agency appear in searches for destinations, tour types, travel packages, and experience categories. Strong SEO capabilities are essential for long term growth.
Learn more: The New Playbook of SEO for eCommerce Websites [2025]
2.8. Fast loading speed
Travelers expect instant access to information, especially when browsing multiple agencies or comparing itineraries. Slow loading pages reduce trust and often lead visitors to abandon your site. A strong travel agency website builder should optimize images, support caching, deliver content through modern infrastructure, and minimize unnecessary scripts. Fast speed not only improves user experience but also boosts SEO performance.
2.9. Multi-language support
The travel industry serves international audiences. A travel agency website must support multiple languages to attract global travelers and improve accessibility. This feature is especially useful for agencies serving Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Multi language support ensures that essential elements such as itineraries, pricing, booking instructions, and destination content can be localized for different regions. This increases engagement and improves booking rates for worldwide customers.
2.10. Marketing and analytics integration
A travel agency website needs built in tools to track performance and promote offerings. Marketing integrations connect your site to email platforms, advertising tools, and remarketing systems so you can run campaigns effectively. Analytics integrations provide insights into visitor behavior, page performance, and booking trends. Knowing which destinations attract the most clicks or which pages lead to the highest inquiries helps your agency refine its marketing strategy and maximize conversions.
3. How to Build a Travel Agency Website Step by Step
Creating a high performing travel agency website requires a clear plan, the right platform, and a structured workflow. Whether you offer tours, packages, cruises, or destination experiences, the steps below help you build a website that inspires travelers and drives bookings.
4.1. Do your research and plan
Before building your travel agency website, it is essential to define your business model, audience, and core offerings. Start by identifying the types of travelers you want to attract. Are they booking local tours, international packages, adventure trips, or luxury experiences? Analyze what competing travel websites offer, how they present information, and what booking flows they use. This research helps you understand the expectations of your market and gives you a clear direction for your own site’s structure, features, and content.
From here, outline the main pages your travel agency website will need. These typically include destination pages, tour categories, detailed itineraries, pricing sections, FAQ areas, and inquiry or booking forms. Planning early prevents future redesigns and ensures your website supports both storytelling and conversion goals.
4.2. Build your website using a strong platform
Once the foundation is clear, the next step is to build your travel agency website. Shopify is one of the most reliable platforms for travel businesses because it provides a stable infrastructure, secure payments, and a flexible content management system.
When paired with GemPages, you gain complete freedom to design high quality pages using drag and drop controls without needing developers.
GemPages allows you to create custom tour pages, destination showcases, and promotional landing pages with professional layouts. Features like dynamic elements, reusable sections, and conversion focused blocks make it easy to iterate and refine your travel agency website over time. This combination gives travel businesses a balance of stability, creative control, and scalability.
4.3. Add content that informs and converts
Content is at the heart of every successful travel agency website. Travelers rely heavily on visuals, descriptions, and clarity to make decisions. Start by adding high resolution images, itinerary details, FAQs, pricing information, and trust signals such as reviews and certifications. Make sure every tour or destination page answers the key questions a traveler would ask. The more clarity you provide, the lower your inquiry and booking friction becomes.
Your content should also be structured for SEO. Include destination keywords, tour types, and user-friendly descriptions that help your travel agency website rank on search engines. Clear headings, readable paragraphs, and well organized information enhance both user experience and search visibility.
4.4. Integrate apps, plugins, and essential widgets
After your core content is added, enhance your travel agency website with features that improve functionality. Consider integrating booking widgets, availability calendars, inquiry forms, reviews, live chat tools, and CRM connections. These tools help you manage reservations, track leads, and communicate with travelers more efficiently.
Analytics integrations are equally important. Connecting your travel agency website to Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or other tracking tools allows you to understand where visitors come from, what pages they view, and which tours convert best. This data is essential for long term optimization.
4.5. Launch and promote your travel website
Once your travel agency website is built and fully tested across desktop and mobile, it is time to launch. Announce the website to your audience through social media, email newsletters, local travel forums, or partnerships with tourism boards. Promotion should be ongoing, not a one time activity.
Consider using paid ads to highlight key tours, retargeting campaigns to bring back undecided travelers, and SEO content to attract organic visitors. A strong promotion strategy ensures that your travel agency website not only looks professional but also reaches the audience that matters most.
Best Page Builder for Your Travel Website
GemPages
GemPages is the most powerful and flexible page builder for travel agencies using Shopify. It allows you to design fully custom pages for tours, destinations, experiences, and promotional campaigns with complete creative control.
GemPages combines visual design flexibility with conversion-focused elements, making it ideal for any travel agency website that needs professional layouts and strong performance.
Key features
-
Drag and drop editor for building custom tour, destination, and itinerary pages
-
Large library of prebuilt templates designed for conversions
-
Flexible gallery blocks for showcasing destinations, photos, and travel highlights
-
Responsive controls for optimizing pages across desktop, tablet, and mobile
-
Reusable sections that help agencies build consistent layouts across multiple tour pages
-
Integration with form apps for inquiries, bookings, and lead capture
-
Support for dynamic content and seasonal promotions
-
Fast loading performance and SEO friendly structure
-
In-app A B testing capabilities through GemX when used together
GemPages is the top choice for travel agencies that want a conversion-optimized travel agency website with the freedom to create stunning pages without technical skills.
Foxify
Foxify is a simple and fast page builder tailored for users who want an easy setup process with reliable performance. It is suitable for travel websites that require clean layouts without deep customization needs.
Key features
-
Lightweight drag and drop editor
-
Templates for landing pages and promotional campaigns
-
Easy integration with Shopify apps and forms
-
Mobile friendly layouts optimized for speed
-
Basic sections suitable for tour listings and inquiry pages
Foxify is best for smaller travel businesses or agencies that want to launch pages quickly with minimal complexity.
Replo
Replo offers a modular, design-led approach that appeals to agencies seeking polished layouts and strict design consistency. It is a strong choice for visually oriented travel brands.
Key features
-
Component based design system for consistent branding
-
Prebuilt sections for itineraries, destinations, and promotional content
-
Precise layout controls for designers who want pixel level adjustments
-
Fast publishing workflow for updating seasonal offers or tour availability
-
Integration with Shopify data sources for dynamic content
Replo is ideal for travel businesses that want a high-end visual presentation and structured design system for their travel agency website.
Some Examples for Travel Website
Studying successful travel agency websites is one of the best ways to understand what works in the industry. The following examples demonstrate strong design choices, clear messaging, and effective booking experiences. Each site highlights features that modern travelers expect and that any good travel agency website builder should support.
Giant’s Causeway Tour
Website: https://giantcausewaytour.com/
Giant’s Causeway Tour showcases how a travel agency website can highlight a single destination with depth and clarity. The homepage uses a strong hero section paired with immediate access to tour dates and availability. Travelers can quickly explore itineraries, pricing, and departure information without navigating through multiple layers. The site also uses trust elements such as customer reviews and clear cancellation policies, both of which are essential for tour operators. Its layout is simple, clean, and focused entirely on helping visitors make a booking decision quickly.
Wendella
Website: https://wendellaboats.com/
Wendella demonstrates how a travel agency website can deliver a comprehensive experience for high volume tour operations. The site integrates schedules, routes, and ticket options in a way that is easy to compare. High quality visuals help travelers understand what the experience looks like, and the booking interface is positioned prominently to minimize friction. Wendella also uses dynamic content such as seasonal alerts and promotional banners to guide visitors toward the best offers. This is a strong example of a travel website that balances aesthetics and performance.
Book Your Hunt
Website: https://www.bookyourhunt.com/
Book Your Hunt takes a marketplace approach, offering a large catalog of destinations and specialized travel experiences. The site uses filtering tools, trip categories, and detailed profiles to help users refine their search. This is particularly important for travel agencies that manage complex inventory or niche experiences. Each destination page includes pricing, availability, location maps, and customer reviews. The platform’s clarity and organization show how a travel agency website can support decision making in high consideration bookings.
Culinary Backstreets
Website: https://culinarybackstreets.com/
Culinary Backstreets provides a strong example of storytelling driven travel design. Rather than focusing only on logistics or pricing, the site uses narrative descriptions, local history, and cultural context to create emotional engagement. This approach works especially well for experience based travel agencies that want to highlight authenticity, culture, and unique moments. Each tour page blends imagery, descriptions, and customer testimonials in a way that builds trust and encourages curiosity. It demonstrates how content rich travel websites can convert even without aggressive sales tactics.
NYC Water Cruises
Website: https://nycwatercruises.com/
NYC Water Cruises blends bold visuals with a streamlined booking flow that makes reservations quick and intuitive. The homepage immediately displays available cruises, times, and categories. Strong calls to action guide users toward booking pages, and the site maintains consistency across mobile and desktop. The use of professional photography, simple navigation, and clear pricing structure highlights what effective design can achieve on a travel agency website. It is a great example for agencies offering high volume, time specific tours.
Summary
A successful travel agency website is more than an online brochure. It serves as the core of your business, guiding travelers from inspiration to inquiry to booking. With the right website builder, you can create pages that highlight destinations, communicate trust, support bookings, and deliver a seamless experience across devices. Whether you need custom tour layouts, interactive maps, payment integrations, or multilingual content, choosing the right tools ensures your travel agency website performs well and stands out in a competitive market.
FAQs
