Have you ever thought of making money through travel affiliate blogs? Do you have a blog, social media channel, or website that you wish to monetize? Well, there is quite a possibility of making a good income online through affiliate programs in the travel niche.
Want to learn how? In this article, we will share some of our best picks for affiliate programs for travel bloggers and social media influencers. Along with that, you would also be getting some helpful tips to promote varying types of travel services and products in the best way possible.
But before jumping onto the best affiliate programs in 2023 that you may promote to make money as a travel enthusiast, first, take a look into the nature of travel affiliate programs and how they work.
What is a travel affiliate program?
Travel affiliate programs are lucrative partnerships between travel companies, aggregator websites, hotels, tour operators, car rental services, and affiliate marketers. Affiliates promote the products and services of the travel company through their blogs, websites, social media channels, or other online platforms.
How does it work?
When a person clicks on an affiliate link or makes a purchase through the link promoted by the affiliate, the affiliate marketer gets a certain commission or in other words a referral fee from the brand.
These affiliate programs or schemes allow businesses and individuals to monetize their online presence by earning commissions for referring potential customers to travel companies. These schemes offer a win-win situation for the affiliate and travel company as both gain monetary benefits in the long run.
Travel companies, hotels, car rental services, and tour operators get more exposure and get an increased number of customers on board. On the other hand, affiliate marketers earn a commission for generating leads.
Usually, travel affiliate programs provide the affiliates with varying types of marketing resources including text links, promotional content, and banners to help them advertise and promote the business online. The payout structure and commission rates may vary depending on the type of program and the nature of the business.
Here is another interesting article on How To Create A Lucrative Affiliate Website that you might find helpful.
How to Make Money Online with Travel Affiliate Programs?
If you love traveling and exploring the world around you, there is a possibility of making a good deal of money out of it too. If you are someone who has a good hand in blogging with a good amount of audience on board, you can earn money as you expedite around the globe.
Your potential to make money as a travel blogger is limitless. There is a lot of scope for making money in the travel niche and what better way to promote things you love?
So, coming to the point, how do you exactly figure out which program to partner with? With a myriad of travel affiliate programs available online, how would you choose the one most suitable for the nature of your blog?
We have compiled a list of the best and most lucrative travel affiliate programs in different categories including the hotel industry, flight aggregators, car rental companies, virtual sim providers, and travel booking platforms that you may consider to start generating revenue to support your income.
15 Top Travel Affiliate Programs for Bloggers
Here is a list of the best travel affiliate programs that you may sign up for in 2023:
- Booking.com Affiliate Program
- Viator Affiliate Program
- Expedia Affiliate Program
- FareHarbor Affiliate Program
- GetYourGuide Affiliate Program
- RentalCars.com Affiliate Program
- Discover Cars Affiliate Program
- Airalo Affiliate Program
- Klook Affiliate Program
- Plum Guide Affiliate Program
- Outdoorsy Affiliate Program
- Skyscanner Affiliate Program
- Momondo Affiliate Program
- Kayak Affiliate Program
- TripAdvisor Affiliate Program
- Booking.com
Booking.com has a pretty decent affiliate program integrated into Affilimate and CJ Affiliate. Affiliates may earn up to 25-34% of the website’s cut and 4% of their total sales. The program targets audiences from around the world with a cookie duration of 0 days.
This is one of the most popular travel affiliate programs with hundreds and thousands of affiliates on board to promote the brand’s products and services. The major reason behind its fame is the high commission rates. The hotel industry is extremely profitable. On average, a one-night stay in average hotel costs around 100$, and most travelers book a multiple-night stay.
This helps affiliates make great commissions if they tend to craft compelling content that attracts the attention of the consumer before they make a reservation.
However, Booking.com does not make use of an actual cookie. All affiliates can earn commissions for reservations made during the session only. So the goal is to target an audience who are ready to make the booking to drive more sales.
The payouts are made once the affiliate accumulates 100$ of commissions in their account. Also, as an affiliate, you can only earn a commission after the hotel confirms the reservation and the stay is completed.
- Viator
Viator Affiliate program is another popular affiliate scheme in the travel niche. Integrated into ShareASale and Affiliate, the program offers 4 to 8% of commissions to affiliates with a 30 days cookie duration. Viator’s affiliate program is targeted towards a global audience and can be a good platform to join for making money out of your travel blog.
The generous cookie duration gives your audience a good amount of time to click on the link and make a reservation. This means you may have a greater chance of earning commissions from content posted weeks ago.
To generate maximum profits, make sure you promote services that have good ratings, reviews, and images so that the readers can make an informed choice. If you share your personal experience as a traveler, that’s a plus point too. This may result in a higher conversion rate, hence more commissions.
- Expedia
Expedia is one of the most sought-after travel brands providing users with access to more than 140K properties around the globe along with discounted flight tickets, economical holiday packages, and affordable car rentals.
The Expedia Affiliate Program allows its affiliates to earn attractive commission rates depending on the referrals they make. On average, affiliates may earn up to 6% of commissions for every referral they make through their travel blogs or websites.
The program has a 7 days cookie duration. While the cookie window is pretty tight, affiliates still manage to earn decent commissions through the scheme.
- FareHarbor
A leading name in the tourism industry, FareHarbor has a lucrative affiliate scheme operated through the network FareHarbor Distribution Network. Affiliates may earn up to 75% of commissions from the brand’s cut and 15% of profits from the sales generated through ticket sales.
The cookie window isn’t listed on their site but reviews show affiliates can make decent earnings through the referrals. Their primary market is in USA, Europe, and Canada.
The platform allows affiliates to connect with more than 30K guided tours, holiday activities, and other leisure experience providers. As an affiliate, you can earn direct commissions of up to 15% for an average basket value of $100-$150.
Commissions are earned for the reservations made during in-session, hence is no cookie window. You may also be able to connect with account managers who may guide you about suitable services and products to feature in your content for a higher conversion rate.
- GetYourGuide
The next one on our list of the best travel affiliate programs is GetYourGuide. Their affiliate scheme “GetYourGuide Affiliate Program” is integrated into Skimlinks, Affilimate, Awin, and CJ Affiliate. Affiliates may earn up to 8% of commissions through referrals featured in the content.
The program has a cookie window of 31 days and targets audiences from around the world. GetYourGuide is an online platform to make reservations for travel experiences and holiday activities. While they offer 8% of the base commission rate, some affiliates can make negotiations for rates as high as 12%.
The rule of thumb is to promote service with well-crafted content that may influence the audience at the time when they are ready to make a purchase.
- RentalCars.com
RentalCars’ affiliate scheme “RentalCars.com Affiliate Program” can be a profitable platform to make good money online. Integrated into CJ Affiliate and Affilimate, the program allows affiliates to earn commissions up to 40% of the cut.
When you promote services directly through their program, you won’t be able to make use of the cookies as they have a 0 days cookies window. However, if you promote products through CJ Affiliate, you may earn commissions for reservations made in the next 30 days after referring to the link.
RentalCars Affiliate Program targets a global audience and may be a great opportunity for travel blogger affiliates to make money through their online platforms.
- Discover Cars
Discover Cars’ Affiliate Program is another lucrative affiliate scheme in the car rental niche. Travelers who rent a car during holiday trips may make reservations online to book trips and vehicles.
Travel bloggers may partner with the brand as an affiliate to promote their services to a broader section of the audience online. Discover Cars’ affiliate scheme is operated through the Post Affiliate Pro network and is integrated into Affilimate and ShareASale.
Affiliates may earn up to 70% of the car rental profits and 30% of commissions on the full coverage insurance revenue. They have a generous cookie duration of almost 365 days.
Discover Cars’ Affiliate Program targets a global audience and may help travel bloggers earn up to 50% of profits per sale. If you can embed some useful car rental links into your informative content, you might be able to generate some really good profits.
- Airalo
Airalo is a relatively new name in the travel industry. This specialized business offers virtual sim cards to travelers to help them stay connected to the world around them with ease. Travel bloggers who craft engaging content for their audience can manage to earn a good commission rate by promoting digital sim cards to help travelers save exorbitant mobile roaming costs.
Airalo Affiliate Program has a 30-day cookie duration which may help affiliates earn profits even when a potential consumer delays their plan on making a purchase days after clicking on the link.
Affiliates will be compensated with a 12% commission rate each time a customer makes a purchase on the Airalo website using the referral link embedded in the blog post.
The program targets a global audience and can be a lucrative platform for bloggers, content creators, and social media influencers to earn a decent income by making referrals online.
- Klook
The Hong Kong-based travel and tour platform has an incredible affiliate program where you can earn up to 5% of commissions per sale. The scheme has a 30 days cookie window and targets a global audience providing a greater chance for bloggers to make money using their online social platforms.
You can check out the website to find their most sought-after activities and tour. As an affiliate, you can promote in-demand services and products to your followers and urge them to make a purchase.
Klook focuses primarily on the Asian countries and travelers who are visiting the continent for the first time can benefit a great deal from the content you create using its services and products.
- Plum Guide
The Plum Guide Affiliate Program can be your next profitable partnership with the brand to help them drive their sales and earn commissions in return. Operated through the Partnerize network, this scheme is integrated into Affilimate offering up to 10% of commissions per sale.
The generous cookie duration of 3 months is also a plus. The program is focused on audiences in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Spain.
Plum Guide is much similar to Airbnb but offers premium stays and luxury holiday packages to travelers. The bookings made through the platform are a bit too expensive and as an affiliate, you can earn high commissions if you manage to convert traffic to sales.
If your blog or content caters to the need of luxury travelers, you can for sure utilize your platform to earn a good deal of revenue through Plum Guide Affiliate Program.
- Outdoorsy
The next affiliate program on our list for travel bloggers is the one offered by Outdoorsy. Operated through the AvantLink network, the Outdoorsy Affiliate Program has a 30-day cookie duration and offers a high commission rate of up to 60$ per sale. The scheme is integrated into Affilimate, CJ Affiliate, and Tune.
The scheme caters to the markets in the United States, and Canada and can be a good platform for bloggers specializing in content related to vehicle rentals for holidays and trips.
The high commission payouts and generous cookie period make this one an incredible affiliate program in the travel niche.
- Skyscanner
Skyscanner perhaps needs no introduction. The popular flight booking platform has an attractive affiliate scheme where affiliates can earn up to 20% of commissions per reservation. Operated through the Impact network, the Skyscanner Affiliate program is integrated into Affilimate and has a 30 days cookie period providing enough time for your audience to decide and make a purchase upon your referral.
The scheme targets a global audience and travel bloggers from around the world can participate in the program to promote Skyscanner products and services to the audience in their geographical region.
You can feature Skyscanner widgets and embed their text links or banners in your content to make referrals. You may also set up a dedicated travel website and connect to Skyscanner to drive your traffic to their website.
- Momondo
Momondo Affiliate Program is another highly sought-after affiliate scheme by travel bloggers from around the globe. The program is operated through CJ Affiliate and is integrated into Affilimate, Webgains, FlexOffers, Skimlinks, and Sovrn.
Affiliates may earn 0.06 to 0.60 $ per sale depending on the type of service and product they promote. The cookie period is not mentioned on their website so the purchase must be made in-session to be eligible for a commission.
Momondo Affiliate program caters to the global market with a special focus on audiences in Canada, Australia, and the United States. If you have a website or blog specialized in providing useful information to travel itineraries and expeditions, you may connect with Momondo to promote their services and earn profits in return.
The good thing about this particular program is that it’s open for small blogs and newbie travel websites too. So if you are new to the world of travel blogging, you may participate in Momondo Affiliate Scheme and try your luck to make money online.
- Kayak
Kayak Affiliate Program offers travel affiliates to earn up to 50% of commissions by converting site leads into sales. The scheme is operated through Kayak and CJ Affiliate and is integrated into Affilimate, FlexOffers, and TradeTracker.
There is no specific cookie duration mentioned on their page so the bookings must be made in session to be qualified for a commission. Kayak targets a global audience and can be a lucrative platform for websites and blogs from around the globe to make profitable partnerships with the brand to make money online.
As an affiliate, you may embed widgets, deep links, API, banners, and white labeling in your website to promote Kayak services to get paid in return.
- TripAdvisor
The last but definitely not the least scheme from our picks for top travel affiliate programs is the one offered by TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor Affiliate Program is operated through the CJ Affiliate network and is integrated into Affilimate and Awin. Affiliates may earn up to 50% of click-out by promoting the referral links in their travel content.
The scheme has a cookie duration of 14 days that’s a bit low considering the generous period offered by other affiliate programs in the travel industry. They target a global audience making it easier for bloggers from around the world to participate and earn commissions.
TripAdvisor is one of the top travel information and booking sites operating at an international level. The website shares its revenues with partner affiliates based on leads instead of sales. This means, the more leads you generate, the more commissions you will be able to make.
However, it’s important to note that you will be eligible for affiliate revenue only if the customer who visits TripAdvisor on your recommendation clicks on the hotel website too.
Conclusion: So Which Travel Affiliate Program is the Best for Bloggers to Earn Commissions?
Affiliate marketing has turned out to be a low-risk and high-value industry to generate leads and help businesses drive sales. These lucrative schemes also help bloggers, influencers, and social media celebrities earn revenues and make money online from the comfort of their homes.
As an affiliate marketer, you can promote as many brands as you wish within your content. However, if you belong to the travel and tour niche or someone from the hospitality sector, you may sign up for travel affiliate programs to earn reasonable commissions.
While travel affiliate programs offer a great opportunity for bloggers and travel and tour-related websites to make money online, the amount of commissions earned depends greatly on the type of program and products one decided to promote.
The above-mentioned programs are just a few examples of the many travel affiliate programs available in the market. You must conduct thorough research, review the terms, commission rates, payout structure, and program policies before getting into a contract with any specific affiliate program.
The list of affiliate programs mentioned in this article is not exhaustive. There are hundreds of programs that you may join depending on the type of audience you cater to, your geographical location, the products you wish to endorse, and the nature of your blog/website.
Be consistent in creating creative, authentic, and informative content to keep your audience engaged. Build their trust over time so that your choices, suggestions, and recommendations are seen as something of value.
You might also like to read: 6 Best Ways to Earn Passive Income In Dubai