An email newsletter for a tour operator is a short, regular message to past guests and interested visitors that brings them back to book directly. It is the cheapest channel you own: no commission, no bidding, and no algorithm between you and the person who already liked your tour.
Most small operators either send nothing or send an occasional newsletter that reads like a brochure. This guide sets out a simple programme: who to collect, what to send, when to send it, and how to stay on the right side of Gmail’s sender rules. It works for an activity operator, a small hotel or a DMC with a few hundred contacts.
Why email matters more when you rely on OTAs
If most of your bookings arrive through GetYourGuide, Viator or Booking.com, the platform owns the customer relationship and you pay commission each time. Email is one of the few ways to turn a first booking into a repeat one without paying that commission again. We work through the commission maths in GetYourGuide and Viator vs direct bookings. The short version is that even a small share of past guests rebooking directly can matter, because you keep the margin the platform would have taken.
Check each platform’s terms about contacting guests who booked through it. Some restrict how you use guest contact details, and we would not guess; read the rules, and collect addresses in ways you are allowed to, such as a sign-up on your own site, a card at the end of the tour, or a booking made direct.
Build the list the right way
Good lists are built on permission. Rules differ by country, and we are not lawyers, so confirm what applies to you. The principles are stable across most markets:
- Ask people to sign up, and say what they will receive and how often.
- Keep a record of when and how each person agreed.
- Make it easy to leave at any time.
- Never buy a list.
Practical places to collect sign-ups: a short form on the tour pages and the booking confirmation page, a QR code on a card handed out at the end of the tour, a checkbox in your own booking flow, and a form on your blog posts where the content matches the offer, such as a “when to see the northern lights” guide in exchange for an address.
Segment by the few things that really change the message
You do not need twenty segments. Four are enough to begin with:
- Past guests. People who have travelled with you. They get review requests, a thank-you and rebooking offers.
- Enquirers who did not book. They get answers to the doubts that stopped them: price, safety, weather, what to wear.
- Subscribers who have not yet enquired. They get planning content and seasonal ideas.
- Source market or language. A German-speaking list should hear from you in German, at times that match their planning calendar.
Tag people by language and by the tour or season they showed interest in. That is enough to send relevant messages without a complicated system.
Five emails to set up once
Automations do more for a small team than a monthly newsletter. Set these up once and they work in the background:
- Welcome email. Sent on sign-up: who you are, what you offer, one useful guide and one link to your best-selling tour.
- Pre-trip email. Sent a few days before the tour: meeting point, clothing, what to bring, and a contact number. It reduces questions and no-shows.
- Review request. Sent a day or two after the tour with a direct link to leave a review. Follow platform rules; our guide to asking for reviews after a tour explains how.
- Rebooking email. Sent some months later, timed to the next season, with a tour that suits what they did before.
- Enquiry follow-up. Sent to people who asked about a tour but did not book: answers to common doubts, and a simple way to reply.
What to put in the regular newsletter
Pick a simple format and keep it. A workable structure for one message every two to four weeks in season:
- One useful idea at the top: a planning tip, a seasonal update or a short story from a recent tour.
- One featured tour, with availability and a clear booking link.
- One piece of proof: a recent review or a photo from last week, used with permission.
- One reason to act now, only if it is true, such as limited departures on a given date.
Write the way you talk to guests on the phone. Short paragraphs, one main link, a clear subject line. Avoid long image-heavy designs; many people read on a phone, and heavy images may not load.
Time it to the booking cycle
Guests plan and book on a calendar, not at random. A Lapland winter operator will often find that planning begins months before the season, while last-minute activity bookings come in days before. Match your emails to that rhythm. Our 2027 marketing calendar for a seasonal tour company shows how to line up email with the rest of the year. As an example, not a benchmark, a winter operator might send planning content in autumn, a “last places” message close to the peak, and a rebooking message in spring for summer or next winter.
Stay deliverable: the Gmail sender rules
If your messages do not reach the inbox, none of the above matters. Google’s email sender guidelines set requirements for anyone sending to Gmail accounts, including:
- Set up SPF or DKIM authentication for your sending domain.
- Use a TLS connection.
- Keep spam rates reported in Google Postmaster Tools below 0.30%.
- Marketing and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe and include a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the body.
Most newsletter tools handle much of this when you connect your own domain, but the setup is not always automatic. Ask whoever manages your website or DNS to check the authentication records, and test with a few real inboxes before the first send. Clean the list regularly: people who have not opened anything for a long time are a deliverability risk, and a short “do you still want to hear from us?” message is more respectful than silence.
Measure what leads to bookings
Opens are a weak signal, because mail apps can pre-load images. Look at clicks, direct bookings that follow, and replies. Add tracking parameters to your links so you can see in analytics which email sent which visit; our guide to UTM tags and naming gives a naming system you can reuse. For a small list the best test is simple: how many bookings can you trace to an email this season, and how many past guests rebooked directly?
A worked example
Take an example, not a real client: a small activity operator with 600 past guests and 150 website subscribers. In the first month it sets up the sign-up form, the pre-trip email and the review request. In the second it adds a rebooking email aimed at last winter’s guests and a monthly newsletter with one featured tour. By the end of the season it counts how many bookings carry the email tracking tag and how many past guests rebooked directly. The numbers will differ for every business, but the discipline of counting is the same, and it tells you whether to put more time into email or into another channel.
Tools and costs
You do not need an expensive platform. Any mainstream newsletter tool that supports consent records, segmentation, automations and your own sending domain will do. The real cost is time to write and to keep the automations accurate. If you want setup and a regular campaign handled for you, see the newsletter and email options on our pricing page: newsletter setup from 390 € and email campaigns from 190 € a month (prices excl. VAT).
Frequently asked questions
How often should a tour operator send a newsletter?
Every two to four weeks in season is a sensible starting point, with less in the quiet months. Consistency matters more than frequency. Tell subscribers what to expect when they sign up.
Can I email guests who booked through an OTA?
That depends on the platform’s terms and on the consent you have. Read the terms, and where in doubt invite guests to sign up on your own site rather than using contact details you may not be allowed to use for marketing.
What should the first email say?
Thank the person, explain what they will receive, give one useful guide, and link to one tour. Keep it short.
Do I need a separate list per language?
You need to know each person’s language and write to them in it. That can be one list with a language tag, as long as you segment before sending.
How do I know if email is working?
Count bookings traced to email links, direct rebookings from past guests and replies from enquirers. If those rise over a season, the programme is paying back. Opens alone will not tell you.
Where to start
Begin with the sign-up form and the pre-trip and review-request emails, because they help guests straight away and cost nothing to run. Add the rebooking email next, then a regular newsletter once you have something useful to say every month. A small list that is written to well is worth more than a large one that is ignored.