It is almost impossible to find someone who doesn't like to travel. Do you know why that is? It is because the need to travel and explore is embedded in our DNA. Our forefathers were migrating from place to place for several reasons, even though they did not have the same amenities as we do today. As a matter of fact, Christopher Columbus and his team discovered America because of their need to explore. Nowadays, we have all the amenities that help us travel faster and more comfortable. Therefore, there is little or no reason preventing people from traveling, be it for work or leisure.
So, as an affiliate marketer, blogger, or vlogger who wants to concentrate on the travel niche, you will not have to be convincing people to travel. The only challenge you will face is convincing them to get their travel material through your affiliate link. You will have to give them enough reason to go through you. Together with quality content and many other factors, choosing the right affiliate programs is key.
How to choose the right affiliate program
Good commission
Affiliate marketers make their income from commissions. It is only logical for them to go for affiliate programs that pay a higher commission.
Cookie length
Look for affiliate programs that grant a cookie period of up to 30 days or more. The cookie length is important because you will be able to convert many more visitors. This means that if a visitor goes to the site through your affiliate link and makes any purchase immediately or even after 30 days, you will earn a commission.
Support
This is another important thing you need to check when choosing an affiliate program. Most often, you will need assistance when using the program. This is where the support comes in. The affiliate program needs to have welcoming and readily available support to help with all your questions.
Approval rate
It is also important to check the approval rate of the affiliate program. The higher it is, the more money you will earn. For example, if the advertisers approve 90% of the traffic you bring, you will earn more money than when they approve only 20%.
Minimum payment
The minimum payment of the affiliate program should also influence your choice. The smaller the minimum payment, the faster you will get income to reinvest into your campaigns.
Main methods of earning in the travel niche
Affiliate marketing
Purchase traffic from any platform and direct it to your landing page. This is advantageous because you pay a minimal fee for traffic to get the target pages that have a high conversion of visits to purchases. This method will help you to earn lots of money from the travel niche.
Own a Travel Blog
Another way to earn from the travel niche is through blogging. Here, you need to make the quality of the content on your blog good and interesting to attract lots of visitors. There are plenty of ways to monetize the content. On the blog, you can place the affiliate links so that when your visitors click on the link and make a purchase, you earn a commission. It is better to dedicate the blog for traveling so that your affiliate links should not be out of place. With this, you will get much more quality traffic.
Mobile Applications
It is possible to build mobile apps that your visitors can use to access different travel products and services. You can create a paid version of the app with added advantages. This will generate your income but the process of building an app is not as easy as creating a blog.
Social media
Using popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, etc, you can easily earn money from the travel niche. The more followers you have, the greater the chances of you earning more. You can create review videos of travel products on Youtube and add the affiliate links in the description of the video. Also, you can post interesting news and pictures on your social media together with your affiliate links. When your followers click on the links and make purchases, you earn commissions.
Ebook
If you are someone with a passion for writing and have a lot of experience traveling, you can write an ebook about your traveling experiences. It is almost similar to blogs but it also captures a new set of audiences. You can recommend and tell your readers about the services you used and how it will help them in their travels. Make sure you insert the affiliate links to the products you recommended in the ebook. Added with the profit from the sales of the ebook, you will also earn a commission from your affiliate links.
There are many other ways you can earn as an affiliate marketer. Check out our article on the best traffic sources for affiliate marketing for more information. Now that you know how to choose a great affiliate program. Let’s talk about the best travel affiliate programs.
Best travel affiliate programs
Affiliate networks
Travelpayouts affiliate program
Travelpayouts is an affiliate network, that offers a 30-day cookie period, where you can monetize your travel sites. Travelpayouts covers a large range of travel services such as flights, car rentals, hotels, insurance, transfers, and much more. In fact, they have almost all the services required to plan your travel. One of the good things about this affiliate program is that anyone can join. Even if you want to monetize your personal Facebook page, small travel blogs, or high-traffic website, you are welcome. All you need to do is to add the affiliate link taken from Travelpayouts to your blog. Once your visitors book hotels or flights through your link, you get paid.
Travelpayouts gives bloggers and content creators an opportunity to get in touch with workf-famous travel brands, choose from over 100 offers to promote, and earn up to 70% reveneu share with the platform. Since 2011, wnen Travelpayouts was founded, they have already paid out over $35 million to bloggers, Youtubers, webmasters, Instagram influencers, and others.
The payments methods for withdrawals are:
- Bank Transfer: $500 (EUR 400)
- PayPal: $50 (EUR 400)
WayAway
WIth the WayAway partner program, you can earn a 50% revenue share with 30-day cookies for both the mobile and versions.
WayAway is a flight meta-search that gives travelers access to a wide choice of affordable flight tickets. It provides users with premium travel support and gives cashback on flights, hotels, car rentals, tours, and other travel services. This is the reason why the WayAway partner program possesses a high conversion rate.
WayAway was developed by the Travelpayouts team which has over 10 years of experience in the travel niche and which maintained strong partnerships with trusted brands such as Booking.com, Expedia, GetYourGuide, and much more. One of the great advantages of the WayAway partner program is detailed statistics. Users also have access to a user-friendly dashboard with easy and quick money withdrawal.
Affiliate tools including links, banners, and widgets are easy to integrate and help to raise conversions. One of the best things is that you get only cash, not points or miles, and you can withdraw the cash at any time via PayPal.
Amazon Associates
Traveling is not always about booking tickets and accommodation. People also need to get the equipment they will be using during their travel such as travel gear, clothing, and other travel-related accessories. Affiliates can also recommend such things using the Amazon affiliate program.
Here, the commission is not calculated by volume. Instead, it is calculated depending on the category of the product you are promoting.
Categories that will be recommended on a travel blog such as apparel, bags, and other accessories will give the affiliate a commission of 7%. Other products from the hiking or camping category have a commission of 5.5%.
Hotels and accommodation
Affiliate marketers can earn a commission on every booking by promoting and advertising accommodations present on websites that offer these services. Most of these websites have affiliate programs that you can join and state making money. Here are some of the most popular affiliate programs in hotels sub-niche:
Airbnb affiliate program
Airbnb is one of the most popular accommodation websites with a unique affiliate program. Affiliate marketers can benefit from two features here - the Guest and Host affiliate programs. The Guest affiliate program gives you access to use any of Airbnb listing on your blog or website. You will get a commission when anyone makes a booking through your blog.
The Host affiliate program lets you showcase Airbnb hosting opportunities on your blog. You will get a commission when any of your visitors signs up as a host.
The Airbnb referral program can help you earn good profits by just referring to others. Users can earn up to $72 for every successful referral and about $5000 travel credits for each account.
Booking.com affiliate program
Booking.com is one of the most go-to sites in the travel industry. Their affiliate program is open for all affiliate marketers and it is managed through the Travelpayouts affiliate network. It is easy and free to join. And they treat their affiliates well. They provide users with an offers search box, banner integration options, and deep linking.
Their commissions’ system is spread out according to the number of stayed bookings per months^
- 0 - 50 stayed booking gives you 25% commission
- 51 - 150 stayed bookings give you 30% commission
- 151 - 500 stayed bookings give you 35% commission
- And 501 or more stayed bookings give you 40% commission.
Here is something to note before joining the network: their minimum payout is 100 Euro which is paid only through PayPal.
FlipKey affiliate program
FlipKey is a part of TripAdvisor Rentals with more than 850,000 properties in 190 countries. You will find many interesting accommodations here. Their affiliate program is managed through CJ affiliates.
- Commission - 4%
- Cookie length - 7 days
Agoda affiliate program
This site provides over 950,000 accommodations all over the world. This gives affiliate marketers with many options for recommendations. You will find all types of properties here both hotels and private apartments. So, you will have a variety of audiences.
Agoda’s affiliate program commissions are given according to the number of referrals. Less than 50 referrals get you a commission of 35%. 1000 referrals with complete booking per month give the affiliate a 60% commission.
Hotels.com
This is another good affiliate program that affiliate marketers can benefit from. It is a part of the Expedia affiliate network. Affiliate marketers will earn a commission when bookings are made through their affiliate link.
Partners can not work directly with them. This is possible only through intermediary networks. People located in Canada or the US must work with can work with them only from cj.com.
The commission affiliate marketers will earn for a booking is about 4.92%.
Flights
Flight affiliate programs permit affiliate marketers to earn money every time someone books a flight through their affiliate links. This is a very good way for travel bloggers to earn money since lots of people book flights each second. Most often, these affiliate programs also offer other services such as hotel booking or car rentals. Here are some of the best flight affiliate programs to try out:
Aviasales
Aviasales is a proven assistant in finding airline tickets and hotels. They do not sell tickets but assist users to find great offers from 728 airlines of the world, 45 agencies and 5 booking systems. No fees or extra charges. It offers the most convenient search for airline tickets, and where to buy is up to you.
It offers a cookie period of 30 days and your commission rate will increase to 1.4% (instead of 1.3%) if you have 50+ ticket sales per month.
Kayak affiliate program
Affiliate marketers can access this program through Travelpayouts. You can earn a commission of up to 50% every time someone books a flight from your affiliate link. The downside to this affiliate program is that their cookie length is only 30 minutes. This means that you will earn the commission only when the visitor books a flight within 30 minutes of visiting the website from your link.
To join this program, all you need to do is to apply for it from your Travelpayouts account. Once this is done, your request will be processed within a period of 2 days, then you can begin working with them when the request is approved.
Wego affiliate program
This is another affiliate program that offers flight and hotel bookings where affiliate marketers earn a commission when visitors book flights or hotels through affiliate links. It is open for everyone who wants to earn extra cash and loves traveling.
This affiliate program is unique because it does not pay using the commission system. Instead, you will get paid through what they call “exit clicks”. An exit click is valid when a visitor follows your affiliate link and opens the Wego search results and goes further to one of the partner sites, such as Booking.com. This way, the affiliate can earn about $0.05 to $0.40 per flight click and $0.20 to $0.80 per hotel click.
You will get pay through PayPal or Wire transfer between the 15th and 20th of each month. The minimum amount required for withdrawal is $100 for PayPal and $500 for bank transfer.
Skyscanner
If you are looking for discounted flights, Skyscanner is one best site to check out. This company was founded in 2003 and they began by just comparing flight prices. Now, they are one of the top companies in the travel industry.
Affiliates will earn a 50% commission from their affiliate program for all referrals on flights, car rentals, and flight with hotel deals.
ClaimCompass Affiliate Program
While most companies are concentrating on the pre-trip and travel preparations. ClaimCompass focuses on the post-trip experience of travelers. Travelers are able to receive up to 600 Euros for canceled or disrupted flights if they file a claim. Even if the incident occurred as far back as three years ago.
Their affiliate program does not offer affiliates commission in percentage. Instead, it pays about 17 USD for each successful claim. Also, they offer a cookie period of 90 days, which is among the longest we have encountered so far.
Expedia affiliate program
Expedia is also another popular site for booking flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. Their affiliate program will help you earn extra revenue. They will provide you with all the help needed to promote their services. Affiliates will get commissions of 6% per sale.
Priceline affiliate program
Priceline is another booking website with a very good affiliate program. Affiliate marketers earn a commission of about 3% for recommending car rentals, hotels, flights, and vacation packages. Like with most of the top affiliate programs. Priceline provides users with dedicated account managers and round-the-clock customer service.
TripAdvisor affiliate program
TripAdvisor is well-known among travelers. Its affiliate program has lots of different things you can recommend to your visitors. You will find hotels, tours, tickets, etc, to recommend.
TripAdvisor’s affiliate program is managed by CJ Affiliate making it even better and easier to use.
Affiliate marketers will get a 50% commission when a visitor clicks on the affiliate links on their blog or website. TripAdvisor also offers incentive programs to its affiliates by paying those who drive traffic back to TripAdvisor’s website.
Car rental
Car rental affiliate programs work like all others in the travel niche. These companies take advantage of the fact that people need personal transport when they travel for vacation or work. Affiliate marketers will earn a commission when visitors rent cars using their affiliate links:
EconomyBookings
This is a platform where users are able to compare and find the best and cheapest prices for car rental services. It covers over 150 countries worldwide and they have been working since 2008.
Affiliate marketers will earn a commission of 60% from every booking and a cookie length of 30 days. You can join this affiliate program through Travelpayouts.
AutoEurope
This is another car rental platform that renders its services in over 180 countries worldwide. They have very professional and round-the-clock customer service. Also, you will be able to join the affiliate program through Travelpayouts.
They offer a 5.6% commission on Europe destinations and 2.4% commission on destinations in the rest of the world. Affiliate marketers will also enjoy a cookie length of 7 days.
Myrentacar
This platform began in 2011 and offers a wide range of car rental services and works with over 34 rental companies. You will earn a commission of 50% Commission of the Myrentacar's revenue from each order. They also offer a cookie period of 30 days. You can join their affiliate program using Travelpayouts.
Tours
Tours are one of the most exciting things about traveling. You will get to know more about the area than if you decided to explore alone. There are lots of companies that offer guided tours to travelers. And affiliate marketers can benefit by promoting the services of these companies. Tour affiliate programs:
Cruise Direct affiliate program
From the name, you should already get a hint. This is one of the best options for affiliate marketers who are looking for cruises to recommend. You will have lots of options to choose from.
One of the best things about their affiliate program is that the cookies run for 45 days.
Affiliates will earn a 3% commission of the sale. This may seem to be a small percentage but you need to understand that cruises come with an average price of about $1000 per person. So the amount you will be receiving is not small.
Open Loop New York
From the name, you should already guess that they are situated in New York. This company offers New York tours with prices ranging from $39 to $192. Their affiliate program is managed through CJ affiliates.
Affiliates will earn a commission of 15% through sales generated from their affiliate links or banners on their blogs. It is also possible to add your affiliate links to emails and newsletters.
Sandals Resorts
Sandals Resorts is a well-known Caribbean resort travel company offering luxurious vacations for those who can afford it. Affiliates will earn a commission for referring people to book their stay in any of their Sandals resorts or participate in any of their activities. Their affiliate program is managed through CJ affiliates.
Affiliates will earn a 4% commission for every booking. This will result in high earnings considering that rates per night range from about $150 to $2000. They offer a 60-day cookie to affiliates.
Get Your Guide Tours
Get Your Guide Tours is a company that provides personalized and guided tours to the best tourist attractions all over the world. They have lots of interesting tours on all the continents. Affiliate earn an 8% commission for referring visitors. They also provide users with an app that makes it easy to install widgets on your site.
Viator affiliate program
Viator is a company where affiliates can make money through their affiliate program. They offer thousands of tours to the best attractions all around the world. Affiliates join this affiliate program and earn a commission on every sale by referring visitors. The commission affiliate get is about 5% which is paid monthly.
Insurance
Whenever people are traveling for vacation to another country, they often require insurance. Many companies have capitalized on this and provide travelers with insurance.
Allianz Global Insurance
Ths company is a leader in the travel industry and provides travel insurance for travelers all across the globe. With their affiliate program, affiliates can monetize their content by connecting your audience with travel protection that can allow them to make the most out of their travel experiences. Their payment structure in on a tiered basis. Affiliates can earn from $12 up to $25 per qualified sale. Also, their cookie lasts for 45 days. The affiliate program is managed through CJ Affiliates.
World Nomads
This is also a company that specializes in travel insurance. They have been around for quite some time now and have a huge customer base. Their affiliate program is something you should check out. Affiliates earn a commission every time someone purchases the World Nomads travel insurance through their affiliate link. They offer a commission of 10% for each sale you refer and their cookies last for 60 days.
TravelInsurance.com
This platform helps users to find and compare travel insurance. It also covers other incidents like lost luggage, trip cancellation, and medical emergencies during travels. It is a very popular platform and has featured on big media outlets like Forbes, Fox News, New York Times, etc.
Their affiliate program offers users will lots of advantages like high conversion rates, lots of banners and text links to choose from, real-time tracking, etc.
Travelex Insurance Services
The platform offers different insurance services that cover international travel needs, cruises, flights, lost baggage, etc. It also offers services like providing international driving licenses and expedited passport services.
Affiliate marketers can benefit from its affiliate program by getting a commission of $17 per sale with a cookie period of 45 days.
Others
Here are some other affiliate programs that are also worth your attention. You should check them out and see what they have to offer.
Tep Wireless
This is a telecom business located in the United Kingdom. They provided portable WiFi for travelers. They produce a gadget called Teppy which provides 4G internet for more than 6 hours in many different countries. They also have a very good, easy going and profitable affiliate program. They pay affiliate marketers $20 per purchase through their affiliate links.
CitySightseeingNewYork
This is a company that deals with double-decker sightseeing tours in New York. They also offer tours of Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well as other to attraction sites.
Their affiliate program is accessible through Commission Junction.
Affiliate marketers will get a commission of about 10% - 15% on every sale and a cookie period of 45 days.
Conclusion
Many affiliate marketers are under the impression that the travel niche is already saturated and they can’t generate income from there. Well, this is only half true. It may be saturated but your ability to generate income depends on your skill as an affiliate marketer. You will need to be able to generate quality content to pull the traffic towards your blog or website. Only then will you be able to get paid.
Make use of the affiliate programs provided above to increase the profit generated by your blog or website.
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