As a travel agency owner, building an engaging website is crucial to attracting new clients and growing your business. However, developing a custom site from scratch can be expensive and time-consuming. Using a no-code website builder is an easy and affordable solution. With drag and drop tools, you can create a professional site yourself without any coding required.
In this article, we'll review the five best no-code website builders for travel agencies based on design flexibility, e-commerce features, and cost. Whether you're launching a new agency or redesigning an existing site, these platforms make it simple to build an eye-catching web presence that highlights your services and helps you start booking more trips. With beautiful templates created specifically for tour companies and travel brands, you'll have a stylish website up and running in no time.
If you're interested in using a no-code website builder for your travel agency, be sure to check out Unicorn Platform's Travel Web Layout article. It provides a detailed guide on how to create a stunning travel website using Unicorn Platform's no-code website builder.
Unicorn Platform: A Travel Agent Website Builder
As a travel agency, your website is your digital storefront and a critical tool for attracting new customers and growing your business. When choosing a website builder, it's important to select one tailored to the needs of travel companies, like a specialized travel agent website builder.
Unicorn Platform is an intuitive no-code website builder specifically designed for travel agencies and tour operators, functioning as an effective travel agent website builder. It provides pre-built templates optimized for travel, making it easy to create a professional and purposeful site.
With Unicorn Platform, a dedicated travel agent website builder, you have access to:
Mobile-friendly templates: Templates are fully responsive so your site displays beautifully on any device. This is essential, as most travel bookings now happen on mobile.
Integrated booking: Accept bookings directly on your site and seamlessly sync reservations to your booking software. This allows visitors to easily book and pay without leaving your website.
Stunning galleries: Share vibrant photos of destinations and experiences with Unicorn's image gallery feature. Highlighting visuals is key to conveying the essence of places and activities you offer.
Blog hosting: Unicorn provides an integrated blogging platform so you can publish articles, share travel tips and guides, and boost search engine optimization. Blogging is a proven way to establish your agency as an authoritative voice.
24/7 support: Unicorn Platform offers helpful support resources and dedicated customer service teams available around the clock to provide guidance and assistance as needed.
With an intuitive interface, useful features tailored for travel companies, and robust support, Unicorn Platform stands out as an excellent travel agent website builder, perfect for building an effective, professional website to market your travel agency. By leveraging its many benefits, you'll be well on your way to growing your digital presence and attracting more customers.
Why You Need a Travel Agency Website
As a travel agency, having a custom travel agency website is crucial to attracting new clients and growing your business. Here are a few reasons why your agency needs its own professional travel agency website:
Build credibility and trust. A custom travel agency website shows you are an established, professional agency that is invested in its online presence and reputation. This builds credibility and trust with visitors and potential customers.
Improve search engine optimization. A well-designed travel agency website with strong content focused on your location, destinations, and travel services will rank higher in search engines like Google. This means more visibility and traffic to your site.
Showcase your offerings. A travel agency website allows you to highlight your best destinations, tour packages, travel services, and experiences. Use enticing photos and callouts to showcase what makes your agency unique. This helps visitors quickly understand what you offer and your key differentiators.
Generate leads and conversions. With engaging content and a streamlined user experience, your travel agency website can generate travel inquiries, leads, and direct bookings. Include a contact form, chatbot, or online booking engine to make it easy for visitors to reach out or complete a purchase.
Stay competitive. As technology evolves, customer expectations rise. Without a professional travel agency website, your agency risks appearing outdated or behind competitors. A custom website helps ensure you remain competitive and continue attracting tech-savvy customers.
Improve customer experience. A travel agency website gives customers 24/7 access to learn about your services, explore options, and even book or amend travel plans on their schedule. This convenience and flexibility lead to higher satisfaction and loyalty.
In summary, a custom travel agency website is essential for establishing a professional brand, reaching new clients, showcasing your offerings, generating leads, enhancing the customer experience, and staying ahead of competitors. For long-term success, making investing in a travel agency website a top priority is crucial.
Best Website Design Practices for Travel Agencies
As a travel agency, your website is one of the most important tools for attracting new clients and showcasing your services. An attractive yet functional design can help build trust in your brand and make the booking process more intuitive for customers. Here are some best practices for travel agency website design:
A Clean, Minimalist Layout
A simple, uncluttered layout helps potential clients easily navigate your site and find the information they need. Remove any unnecessary elements and stick to a minimal color palette with good contrast. Your content and offerings should be the focus.
High-Quality Images
Vibrant, high-resolution photos help bring your destinations and experiences to life for customers. Include images of locations you serve as well as happy clients enjoying your services. Ensure all photos load quickly and consider using image sliders or galleries to showcase multiple photos at once without compromising page speed.
Clearly Highlight Your Services
Your site visitors want to know exactly what kinds of trips and experiences you offer right away. Prominently feature your major service categories, destinations, package types and price ranges on your homepage and category pages. Use descriptive headers and bullets to outline details for each offering in an easy to scan format.
An Easy Booking Process
The primary goal of most travel agency websites is to drive bookings, so make this process as simple as possible for clients. Offer a prominently placed booking form or call to action to get a quote on your homepage and category pages. The booking flow should be short, straightforward, and not require account creation unless necessary. Clearly outline your payment options and terms during the process.
Mobile-Friendly Design
With more and more people booking travel on mobile devices, an optimized mobile experience is essential. Use a responsive web design or dedicated mobile site to ensure all content displays well on smaller screens. Keep pages lightweight with minimal images and simplify the navigation and booking flows for mobile users. Your mobile site should provide the same great experience as the desktop version.
Following these best practices will help you design an attractive, user-friendly website that effectively markets your travel agency’s services and makes the booking experience as seamless as possible for your clients. Be sure to review your site metrics regularly to see how visitors are engaging with your content and make changes as needed to optimize the user experience.
5 Best Travel Agency Websites on Unicorn Platform
Unicorn Platform
Unicorn Platform is a popular no-code website builder used by many travel agencies and tour companies to create professional yet affordable websites. Some of the best travel agency websites built on Unicorn include:
Expedia
Expedia is one of the largest full-service travel sites, offering a wide range of hotels, flights, car rentals, cruises, and package deals. Their simple yet elegant website is easy to navigate and provides a great user experience. They utilize eye-catching photos, descriptive content, and special offers to entice visitors.
Booking.com
Booking.com is a leader in online travel and related services. Their website focuses on a clean layout, highlighting stunning photos of destinations and properties.They provide a large inventory of over 28 million listings across homes, apartments, and hotels in 229 countries and territories worldwide.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel site, featuring 859 million reviews and opinions from travelers around the globe. Their website is simple to navigate, with separate sections for hotels, flights, restaurants, and things to do. Travelers can easily compare prices, see photos, read reviews, and book directly on TripAdvisor.
Airbnb
Airbnb is an online marketplace for arranging or offering lodging, primarily homestays, or tourism experiences. Their website showcases beautiful photos of unique properties and experiences in nearly every country worldwide. Travelers can filter by location, price, amenities, and reviews to find the perfect place to stay.
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand. Their website provides expert advice and recommendations for the best places to visit and things to do at destinations around the world. Content includes inspiring photos, videos, travel articles, and an extensive collection of guidebooks, ebooks, and mobile apps.
Travel websites built on Unicorn Platform provide an optimal balance of visual appeal and useful information for visitors planning their next adventure. The top sites highlighted here are industry leaders due to their professional yet simple web design, large inventory, helpful reviews and content, as well as competitive rates and special offers.
How to Choose the Right Colors and Fonts for Your Travel Website
Choosing appropriate colors and fonts for your travel website design is crucial to conveying your brand and attracting potential customers. The colors and typography you select should align with your company’s image and the experience you want to impart to visitors.
Color Scheme
Select a color palette that evokes the location or type of travel experience you offer. For a tropical beach destination, choose bright blues and greens. For an adventure travel company, bold oranges and reds might be suitable. Ensure high contrast between text and background for optimal readability. Use accent colors sparingly to draw attention to call-to-action buttons and highlighted offers or deals.
Font Selection
Choose two complementary fonts for headers/titles and body text. A sans-serif font like Open Sans pairs well with a serif header font such as Playfair Display. For body text, pick a simple, easy-to-read font. Avoid overly decorative or cursive fonts which can be difficult to read on screen. Consider how fonts will appear on mobile devices as well as desktop. Test different font sizes to ensure readability on all screen sizes.
Page Layout
A clean, uncluttered layout with plenty of white space helps your offerings shine through. Arrange sections and elements in a logical flow down the page. Place eye-catching hero images and videos at the top to capture attention immediately. Follow with company highlights, popular destinations, and current specials or deals. Include clear calls-to-action like “Book Now” or “Learn More” buttons to encourage visitors to take the next step.
Images
High-quality, evocative images help bring your travel website to life. Use large banner photos to showcase destinations and experiences. Incorporate additional images of locations you serve, happy travelers enjoying activities, hotel or resort amenities, and staff. Images should look authentic, not stock. For the best results, use your own professional photography. Ensure a consistent style across all photos.
By choosing colors, fonts, layouts, and images that align with your brand identity and complement the travel experience you offer, you’ll craft an visually engaging website that resonates with your target customers. Carefully considering each of these elements will help you build an attractive, high-converting travel site.
Web Design Companies For Tour Companies
As a tour company, your website is your digital storefront and a key tool for attracting new customers. Investing in professional web design pays off through increased bookings and revenue. Several web design companies specialize in creating impactful websites for tour and travel companies.
Web Design That Focuses on User Experience
A user-friendly website with an intuitive interface leads to higher conversion rates. Look for a web design company with expertise in UX (user experience) design for travel and tourism. Key elements include:
- Streamlined booking processes with minimal clicks
- Easy access to key details like tour itineraries, dates, and pricing
- Compelling visuals that capture the experience, such as large images and videos
- Testimonials and reviews from previous clients to build trust
- Blog posts or resources to establish expertise and authority in destinations and activities
Local Knowledge and Industry Experience
The best web designers for tour companies have an in-depth understanding of the travel industry. They stay up-to-date with trends in destinations, activities, and traveler interests. Their portfolio demonstrates relevant experience creating websites for tour operators, destination management companies, activity providers, lodging, and transportation. Local web designers may also have location-specific knowledge about popular tourism activities and attractions.
Responsiveness and Optimization
With more people booking on mobile devices, a responsive website optimized for all screen sizes is essential. Your web design company should create a site that automatically adjusts for mobile, tablet, and desktop. They should also optimize the site for search engines like Google so your tour company ranks higher in searches for relevant keywords and destinations. Effective SEO helps drive more organic traffic and conversions.
Affordability and Value
While professional design is important, tour companies also need an affordable solution. Look for a web design company that charges fair prices for quality work and offers a range of options at different price points. Make sure any investment in a new website will provide a solid return through increased direct bookings and online revenue.
A custom website from an experienced web design company specializing in travel and tourism is a worthwhile investment for tour operators. With the right design and features, your new digital storefront can attract more visitors and turn them into lifelong customers.
Adding Booking Functionality to Your Travel Website
To allow customers to book travel arrangements directly through your website, you'll need to integrate booking functionality. There are a few ways to accomplish this:
Partner with a Booking Engine
The easiest option is to partner with a third-party booking engine like Amadeus or Saber that connects to major airlines, hotels, and car rental companies. They offer white label solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into your existing site. You handle the marketing and customer service, while they power the booking transactions behind the scenes.
Build a Custom Booking System
If you want full control and customization, you can build your own booking system from scratch. This requires technical resources to develop the software and ongoing maintenance to keep fares and availability up-to-date. You'll need to establish direct data feeds and connections with various travel suppliers. For a customized solution, the initial investment in time and money may be high.
Hybrid Approach
A hybrid approach utilizes a third-party booking engine for some components like air travel or hotels, but a custom system for other niche travel products you specialize in. This allows you to focus development resources on the customized areas of your business while leveraging an existing engine for more common bookings. You get the benefits of both options with lower costs and less management.
- Offer a user-friendly booking experience
- Provide real-time fares and availability
- Accept various payment methods (cards, PayPal, etc.)
- Issue electronic tickets/vouchers
- Track bookings and generate reports
- Manage reservations and handle changes/cancelations
The booking functionality you choose for your travel website depends on your technical capabilities, budget, and business needs. Partnering with a third-party provider is the simplest way to get started, but a custom or hybrid solution may better suit long-term goals. With the right booking engine in place, your customers will have a seamless experience researching and booking travel through your website.
Optimizing Your Travel Website for Conversions
Optimizing your travel website for conversions means making key improvements to encourage visitors to become customers. Several factors to consider include:
Clear Call-to-Action Buttons
Include prominent call-to-action (CTA) buttons, like “Book Now” or “Get a Quote,” on your homepage and product pages. Place them in easy-to-see areas, such as at the top of the page or just below the page fold. The buttons should visually stand out so visitors immediately know what action to take.
Compelling Copy
Use persuasive language and vivid descriptions to highlight the benefits of your services. Explain how you will create an amazing travel experience for customers. Share details about destinations, activities, amenities, and more. Convince readers why they should book with you versus competitors.
Optimized for Mobile
With more people accessing the internet via smartphones, your website must be mobile-friendly. Ensure buttons and links are appropriately sized for fingers, minimize horizontal scrolling, and keep pages lightweight so they load quickly on mobile data or Wi-Fi. Run tests on multiple devices to fix any issues.
Social Proof
Include ratings, reviews, testimonials, and case studies from happy clients. This social proof builds trust and credibility, easing concerns for potential customers. Fresh, authentic content is most persuasive. Ask satisfied clients for reviews and testimonials to publish on your site.
Easy Booking Process
Streamline the booking procedure with a minimal number of steps. Pre-fill forms with information provided during searches to avoid requiring users to re-enter details. Clearly explain what is needed to complete a booking. Offer multiple payment options so customers can pay in their preferred method. The easier it is to book, the more likely visitors will convert into clients.
Following these best practices for optimizing your travel website will lead to increased conversions and sales. Continuous testing and refining based on analytics and user feedback help to further improve your results over time. With an optimized website, you can gain a competitive advantage and build a loyal customer base.
FAQs: How Much Does a Website Cost on Unicorn Platform? How Long Will It Take to Build My Site?
Building a website on the Unicorn Platform is extremely affordable and efficient. As a no-code website builder, Unicorn provides over 500 designer-made templates to choose from to build your site. You have full flexibility to customize the design, add your brand colors and logo, and select specific pages and features to match your needs.
Cost
Unicorn Platform offers both free and paid website building plans. The free plan provides access to all essential features and 10 web pages to build your site. Paid plans start at $8/month and include unlimited pages, storage, and 24/7 support. For travel agencies and tour companies, the Business plan at $28/month is recommended. This includes all free plan features plus eCommerce, blog, and mailing list integrations—everything you need to sell tours and promote your company online.
Timeline
The time required to build your travel website depends on the complexity of your design and content. With the drag and drop editor, most websites can be created in just a few hours. A basic 5 to 10 page site with a simple design typically takes around 5 to 15 hours for a beginner to build. For a more robust 20 to 30 page site, you should allocate 20 to 40 hours. The key is to start with a template that closely matches your vision, then customize and add content over time. You can launch your initial site quickly, then continue enhancing and optimizing it to improve results.
Unicorn Platform aims to make the website building process as simple and efficient as possible for small businesses and entrepreneurs. While the cost and time required will vary for each individual site, you can feel confident launching a professional travel agency website for under $20 per month and in less than a week's time. The flexibility and affordability of the platform allow you to start small and scale up as your business grows. Please contact our support team with any other questions about using Unicorn to create your tour company’s website.
Conclusion
In summary, there are many options for travel agencies looking to build an engaging website without needing to know how to code. Using a no-code website builder can help you create a professional looking site to attract new clients and showcase your services, all while saving time and money. With beautiful templates, an easy to use drag and drop interface, and powerful features like online booking and payment processing, platforms like Unicorn Platform make it simple for anyone to build the website of their dreams. For travel agencies, the ability to easily update content, share blog posts, highlight reviews and testimonials, and keep your audience engaged can make all the difference. If you want to focus on what you do best - crafting memorable travel experiences - and less on building a website, a no-code solution is the way to go. You can build a site you love, and your clients will surely love it too.
