Top 15 the Best Travel Affiliate Programs, Highest Paying 2024

Are you passionate about travel and want to turn that passion into profit? If so, learn about the following best travel affiliate programs, to help you earn commissions based on travel marketing links. Join AdsNextGen to learn in detail about the best travel affiliate programs with high commissions and reputation today.

What Is A Travel Affiliate?

Travel affiliates promote travel deals on their website or blog and earn money once the sale is endorsed by the travel network. Essentially, a travel affiliate program is an agreement between the seller and the next home.

When referred customers make bookings or purchases, affiliates receive commissions. In essence, travel affiliates serve as intermediaries, connecting travelers with travel providers and benefiting both parties through affiliate marketing partnerships.

How Does Travel Affiliate Marketing Work?

The process of advertising goods or services on your own website, blog, or social media profile is essentially what affiliate marketing, particularly with the best travel affiliate programs, is all about. If you own any of these platforms, you’ve already taken the first step toward earning money from travel.

You will add your own unique affiliate link from the best travel affiliate programs that send readers to that website inside your platform of choice. You are paid a commission each time someone uses that link to make a purchase (a conversion).

Take the iVisa.com travel affiliate program as an illustration. For each paying customer you refer to us, we will pay you between 20% and 35% of our service charge, depending to your sales volume. Plus, we’ll give you at least 30% of every sale made by someone you refer to iVisa.com Passport Photos.

All it takes to do that is to share your audience with your original links. In essence, it’s a collaboration. You use your expertise on a certain subject to direct customers to a brand, which then pays you.

The fact that any purchase must be completed within a particular number of hours or days to qualify is crucial to keep in mind. The affiliate cookie associated with that click will expire once a predetermined amount of time has passed. The expiration terms vary amongst affiliate schemes. A very generous 365-day affiliate cookie is provided by iVisa.com.

The golden guideline is to always be transparent! Your audience should be made aware that your article or website contains affiliate links.

List Of The Best Travel Affiliate Programs 2024

1. Booking.Com

Our analysis of numerous reputable travel websites indicates that Booking.com stands out as one of the most renowned travel affiliate programs. This recognition is well-deserved, particularly due to the success of hotels. Hotel bookings, which can cost around $100 per night in many destinations, often involve multiple nights’ reservations. This presents a significant opportunity for affiliates to earn substantial commissions, provided they can engage readers just before they make a booking.

One distinctive aspect of Booking.com is its approach to tracking. Unlike many programs that rely on cookies, Booking.com only counts bookings that occur “in-session.” Therefore, it’s crucial to target potential customers who are on the verge of booking a hotel stay to maximize your sales. Despite this limitation, Booking.com remains one of the top travel affiliate programs to promote due to its strong brand recognition and impressive conversion rates.

• Commission rate: 4%
• Cookie duration: session-based
• Network / Software: Booking.com/CJ Affiliate
• Markets: Global

2. Viator

Viator, a renowned platform for booking vacation excursions and experiences, offers a diverse array of activities primarily in the United States and Canada. While GetYourGuide holds a stronger presence in Europe, Viator’s affiliate program is an excellent fit if your travel blog primarily focuses on domestic travel within North America.

This program considered one of the best luxury travel affiliate programs, provides a base commission rate of 8% and offers a generous 30-day cookie duration, ensuring your readers have ample time to finalize their vacation plans after clicking your referral link.

To maximize your success with Viator’s affiliate program, it’s crucial to feature tours with stellar reviews, ratings, and captivating images on your blog. Additionally, incorporating your own experiences and insights within your articles can significantly boost conversion rates, making it a winning formula for affiliate marketing success.

• Commission rate: 8%
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Network / Software: Viator/ShareASale
• Markets: Global

3. TripAdvisor

Tripadvisor is likely familiar to you as a website for reviews. With 884 million evaluations on the site by the year 2020, its primary goal is accomplished better than anybody else’s. But it’s also a gateway where you can make hotel and activity reservations. The exclusive objective of the Tripadvisor affiliate program is accommodations. While TripAdvisor does not pay commissions on flights, restaurants, vacation rentals, or tourist attractions, it does divide the money it makes from hotels with affiliate marketers at a rate of 50%.

TripAdvisor Affiliate travel programs while the 50% commission is already quite lucrative, the highest paying travel affiliate programs can increase the commission to 80%. This affiliate program’s intriguing quirk is that you can earn a commission with no booking necessary. Instead, you get paid each time a visitor who comes from your website makes a booking through one of Tripadvisor’s booking partners.

If you can generate enough traffic, the Tripadvisor program, which boasts conversion rates of 30% or more, may rank among the top paid affiliate programs in the travel industry.

• Commission rate: 50%
• Cookie duration: 2 weeks
• Network / Software: CJ Affiliate/FlexOffers
• Markets: Global

4. FareHarbor

The main area of FareHarbor, a Booking Holdings company, is in North America and Europe. FareHarbor is the world’s top booking platform for tour and activity providers.

The FareHarbor Distribution Network (FHDN) is an exclusive affiliate network for FareHarbor. It eliminates the need for a middleman by connecting affiliates like you directly to 30,000 guided tours, outdoor activities, and other experience providers.

With an average basket value between $100 and $150, you may earn a commission rate of up to 15% — among the highest in the business.

Although there is no cookie window since commissions are paid for “in-session” bookings, research has revealed that most activity reservations are made by customers who are already at their destination.

As part of its affiliate network, FareHarbor also provides the opportunity to speak with account managers who can give advice on which tours to highlight on your website, respond to inquiries, and streamline the billing and payment process.

• Commission rate: 15%
• Cookie duration: Lifetime
• Network / Software:  FareHarbor Distribution Network
• Markets:  US, CA, EU

5. RentalCars.com

An excellent illustration of the size of the possibility that transportation offers travel blogger affiliates is RentalCars.com. RentalCars.com, one of the most popular rental vehicle comparison websites online, has a strong reputation and consistently offers good prices.

Rental car affiliate programs are a terrific addition to your travel content if you frequently take road journeys or simply wish to keep your distance from other passengers socially.

• Commission rate: Up to 6%
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Network / Software: RentalCars.com/CJ Affiliate
• Markets: Global

6. Klook

Klook is a travel and experience platform with headquarters in Hong Kong. As a result, we discovered that Klook was more frequently advertised on blogs about Asian nations including Japan, Korea, Singapore, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

In light of the pandemic and the decline in foreign travel to Asia, Klook has focused even more on its target customers in Europe and North America. Therefore, you should test marketing comparable activities on Klook, Viator, and GetYourGuide to discover which is more popular with your audience.

• Commission rate: 2-5%
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Network / Software:  Klook
• Markets: Global

7. Plum Guide

The starting price for a stay at a Plum Guide property is 139 euros, and prices increase from there. In some of the most well-known holiday spots, including London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Rome, Milan, Copenhagen, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Berlin, and Tel Aviv, they choose the top 1% of residences.

The bookings you may make through this service therefore tend to be on the upper end if they go through, even though the properties on Plum Guide could be too pricey for the ordinary tourist.

Additionally, the lengthy 90-day cookie term gives you plenty of time for the visitor to actually book their stay after they begin their investigation on your website.

• Commission rate: 7-10%
• Cookie duration: 90 days
• Network / Software: Partnerize
• Markets:  AU, CA, ES, UK, US

8. Outdoorsy

When it comes to locations renowned for their natural beauty, RVs and camper vans take the place of hotels, which are among the most profitable affiliate programs for travel writers. Consider camping in national parks and other locations with a reputation for having animals.

Outdoorsy is available in both the US and Canada and offers substantial commissions of $60 or more per booking.

Therefore, there is a significant probability that you will be insured if you engage in outdoor activities in North America.

This affiliate network is fantastic for websites that are focused on travel and the outdoors because of the generous commissions and cookie period. To get a payment from AvantLink, CJ, or Tune (formerly HasOffers), you must earn $100. But that shouldn’t be a problem with these commissions.

• Commission rate: $60.00 or more per booking
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Network / Software:  AvantLink/CJ Affiliate/Tune (HasOffers)
• Markets: US, CA (AvantLink), US, CA (CJ Affiliate), US, CA (Tune (HasOffers))

9. RVShare

RVShare is an online rental marketplace that connects RV owners and renters. From pop-ups to luxurious motor homes, it comprises a variety of automobiles. The program web page states that the typical order value is $699, which translates to an average commission of roughly $34.95. Although not awful at all, Outdoorsy is still far superior, assuming a similar conversion rate.

If you need to advertise RV or van rentals in areas that Outdoorsy doesn’t serve, it’s still a very good alternative. It is the biggest RV rental marketplace, at least according to the webpage.

• Commission rate: 6.4% for each stay and $7.00 for each newly listed RV (FlexOffers); 5% for each stay and $7.00 for each newly listed RV (CJ Affiliate)
• Cookie duration: 30 days (CJ Affiliate), 45 days (FlexOffers)
• Network / Software: CJ Affiliate/FlexOffers
• Markets: US

10. Momondo

Momondo is a metasearch and ticket aggregator that is owned by KAYAK. Momondo performs price comparisons for tickets, lodging, auto rentals, and activities, much like KAYAK does.

The benefit of Momondo’s affiliate program is that it accepts applications from even the smallest sites. So, if you’re a new affiliate, this may be a fantastic chance. They accept content websites, well-known travel websites, and even emails as long as the firm has already cleared the email’s content.

To get your link and integrate it on your website, all you have to do is sign up with one of the associate affiliate network partners. On computers, tablets, and mobile searches, you might make US$0.65 per click in addition to US$0.45 in mobile searches. The affiliate product is only now offered for airfares. Additionally, if your website has more than 200,000 unique visits each month.

• Commission rate:  Earnings vary based on product, clickout, and platform, ranging from $0.06 to $0.60 per sale (CJ Affiliate) and $0.09 to $0.87 per sale (CJ Affiliate). Webgains offers $0.45 per desktop/tablet clickout and $0.65 per mobile clickout. FlexOffers provides 0.05-0.46% per sale, while Skimlinks and Sovrn offer A$0.38-A$0.83 earnings.
• Cookie duration: 30 days (CJ Affiliate), 45 days (FlexOffers)
• Network / Software:  CJ Affiliate/Webgains/ FlexOffers/Skimlinks/Sovrn
• Markets:  CA (CJ Affiliate), US (CJ Affiliate), Global (Webgains), CA (FlexOffers), US (FlexOffers), AU (Skimlinks), Global (Skimlinks), Global (Sovrn)

11. KAYAK

Flights, lodging, vehicle rentals, and a variety of travel experiences are all included in the extensive selection of travel items offered by KAYAK, a well-known metasearch engine and online travel agency established in the United States.

The KAYAK website is a powerhouse, with over 6 million searches conducted annually, and its affiliate program has collectively generated an impressive US$76 million in sales. What sets KAYAK apart is its advanced and highly rewarding airline affiliate program.

KAYAK’s affiliate program presents several compelling advantages, including a generous 50% commission on clicks, bookings, and advertising revenue for flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages.

The program is highly flexible, allowing affiliates to customize their marketing strategies through deep links, widgets, search boxes, white labeling, and API integration tailored to their specific needs. Affiliates can also count on dedicated support to assist with technical setup and scaling their affiliate efforts.

A user-friendly affiliate site also allows affiliates to easily track their revenue and performance. On their website, you can instantly join the KAYAK affiliate network, or you can use reputable affiliate marketing tools like CJ Affiliate, FlexOffers, and TradeTracker to discover more about the program.

• Commission rate: CJ Affiliate: $0.08-$1.90 per sale, CJ Affiliate (UK): £0.11-£0.33 per sale, FlexOffers: $0.08-$0.66 per sale, 0.06-0.83% per sale, TradeTracker: £0.28 per click
• Cookie duration:  Unknown (KAYAK, CJ Affiliate, FlexOffers, TradeTracker), 30 days (CJ Affiliate, FlexOffers)
• Network / Software: KAYAK, CJ Affiliate/FlexOffers/TradeTracker
• Markets: Global (KAYAK), US (CJ Affiliate), UK (CJ Affiliate), CA (CJ Affiliate), CA (FlexOffers), US (FlexOffers), CH, DE, ES, FR, IT, NL, PL, UK (TradeTracker)

12. HostelWorld

For those with a budget-conscious audience, HostelWorld emerges as an excellent alternative to Booking.com. This affiliate program is particularly appealing if your readers belong to the demographic of college students, young travelers, or individuals seeking cost-effective, long-term travel options.

HostelWorld has gained significant recognition in the travel industry, featuring prominently on leading travel blogs and websites. Its versatility extends beyond hostels, as HostelWorld is also expanding into the growing market of travel experiences, making it a well-rounded choice for affiliate collaborations.

• Commission rate: 18-22%
• Cookie duration:  30 days
• Network / Software:  Partnerize
• Markets: Global

13. Intrepid Travel

Consider Intrepid Travel as an option for many of the same locations that G Adventures visits. Travelers from North America and Europe, particularly those heading to South and Central America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, are their main target market. Additionally, they occasionally offer sales, which you may advertise to your email list or on pertinent sections of your travel site.

Remind yourself to focus on regions that could be challenging or challenging to access without a tour. Or places where travelers would feel safer or more at ease seeing in a small group, like those that Intrepid Travel provides.

• Commission rate: 4% on sales, $0.50 per lead
• Cookie duration:  90 days
• Network / Software: CJ Affiliate
• Markets: US, CA, EU, UK

14. World Nomads

With more than 200 activities covered by its different travel insurance plans, as its name implies, World Nomads concentrates on what it calls the “intrepid” travel market. These policies also give protection from things like trip cancellations and medical crises.

Numerous well-known travel companies, like Lonely Planet, promote it, which is a significant builder of confidence.

The company’s reputation for ethics is another compelling selling element. When buying travel insurance, more than 70% of its clients contribute in some way. With this strategy, World Nomads has been able to generate more than $3 million over the years, which has supported more than 100 international initiatives.

Additionally, the brand’s affiliate program gives reliable rewards of 10% per qualified transaction with a sizable 60-day cookie window, giving affiliate marketers yet another incentive to promote World Nomads.

• Commission rate: 10%
• Cookie duration:  60 days
• Network / Software: Direct
• Markets:  Global

15. SafetyWing

SafetyWing is one of the most well-liked alternatives to World Nomads. SafetyWing is among the first organizations to offer insurance for full-time nomads, expanding its scope beyond only travel insurance.

Both the Nomad Insurance and the Remote Health Insurance are up for promotion as an “Ambassador” at a fee of 10%.

The distinction is that Remote Health is a 12-month coverage with monthly payments. Therefore, you may keep getting paid each month that the individual you recommended maintains insurance (as required by their contract).

• Commission rate: 10%
• Cookie duration: 365 days
• Network / Software: Direct
• Markets:  Global

How To Choose The Best Travel Affiliate Program

There are several options for travel affiliate programs. You must make sure, nevertheless, that you only work with companies whose missions and beliefs align with your own. Choose just those organizations that your readers or clients will find interesting.

Consider your target demographic or consumer because the travel industry is diverse. Partner with companies and brands whose goods or services fit your expertise, whether it be adventurous travel, strange locations, or a certain area.

For instance, you shouldn’t associate yourself with a high-end product brand if you write for backpackers on a tight budget. Families looking for family-friendly package vacations have quite different needs than couples on a luxurious honeymoon.

The easiest approach to guarantee that your affiliate material is seen by the relevant people is to stick to a certain travel niche. From there, you may provide particular services or produce customized content for your client’s benefit.

On the other hand, some issues, like affiliate programs for travel insurance or travel papers, are relevant to all forms of foreign travel.

How Can You Benefit From Travel Affiliate Programs?

Travel affiliate programs offer publishers a reliable source of travel-related offers for marketing across various channels. These programs simplify the revenue generation process, enabling affiliates to focus on promotion. They provide valuable tools like widgets, URL shorteners, mobile SDKs, APIs, and WordPress plugins, saving affiliates time compared to independent efforts.

Transparent performance statistics are accessible via account dashboards, and educational resources like webinars and case studies enhance affiliate skills. Furthermore, these networks ensure timely payments, making passive income achievable for affiliates.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Travel Affiliate Marketing

The key pros and cons of travel affiliate marketing are listed below:

Pros

• Easy-to-share referral links allow users to earn points simply for acting after them.
• The requirements are more than attainable, and payouts may include direct bank payments.
• You can get started right away thanks to the free and simple sign-up process.
• There are programs that facilitate bookings for flights, hotels, and even rental vehicles.
• The top travel software packages provide deep connectivity to more than 500,000 hotels and locations.
• Tech assistance that is helpful and available around the clock may raise your marketing game.

Cons

• You must choose a strong specialty in this crowded market and work your way up from there.
• All year long, your content has to remain current and pertinent across all of your platforms.
• You can’t always trace users to discover where money is earned with software.
• Some programs are ideally suited for particular affiliate channels due to different payment mechanisms.

Benefits Of Travel Agency From Affiliate Marketing

1. Revenue Generation

Affiliate marketing offers travel agencies a lucrative revenue stream without extra marketing expenses. By partnering with affiliates who have a substantial travel-focused audience, agencies can boost their profits. With more people seeking travel information online, joining the best travel affiliate program allows agencies to reach a broader audience cost-effectively. Expect to see results within just 30 days of implementing this strategy. Harness the power of affiliate marketing to establish valuable travel industry partnerships and elevate your agency’s success.

2. Increased Brand Awareness

Affiliate marketing empowers travel agencies to broaden their customer reach and enhance brand recognition. By collaborating with affiliates, agencies can tap into new customer pools who might not have discovered them otherwise. The more travel affiliates they partner with, the greater the visibility of their brand, increasing the likelihood of bookings.

3. Build Relationships with Other Businesses

Travel agencies can leverage affiliate marketing to collaborate with related businesses, expanding their reach and revenue. To offer customers a broader array of choices, travel agencies should establish partnerships within the industry. These alliances benefit both the agency and the affiliate marketer by extending the agency’s sphere of influence.

4. Increased Visibility and Traffic

Engaging in travel affiliate marketing can enhance a travel agency’s online visibility, leading to increased exposure and customer acquisition. Collaborating with fellow businesses in the travel sector enables travel agencies to tap into previously untapped customer pools. By pursuing this strategy, travel agencies can access the customer bases of their affiliates, contributing to their overall success.

5. Cost-Effective Approach

Affiliate marketing is well-suited for the travel industry due to its cost-efficiency, allowing travel agencies to expand brand awareness without squandering advertising funds on ineffective placements. Once affiliates are selected, minimal effort is required to access a broader audience, resulting in numerous benefits and an enhanced return on investment for travel agencies.

6. Helps Scale Your Traffic and Sales

Incorporating affiliate marketing into your travel agency can bring forth numerous positive outcomes. It enables rapid expansion into new markets through strategic alliances with other websites, leading to improved ROI and more successful customer conversions on your travel website. While affiliate links may not have an immediate impact on search engine rankings, they generate interest in your services and attract additional visitors to your site. This increased traffic originates from both external sites and search engines, ultimately helping your travel agency stand out in a competitive industry and attain greater success.

7. Boosts Your Competitiveness

Embracing affiliate marketing early can give travel agencies a competitive edge and accelerate their growth. However, it’s a fiercely competitive field, and established brands often have the upper hand in attracting the best marketers and publishers. This makes it crucial for smaller or newer travel agencies to find innovative ways to attract affiliates. Affiliate marketing offers opportunities to work with influential partners and gain valuable industry insights, enhancing competitiveness and expanding reach in the growing tourism sector.

8. High Return on Investment (ROI)

For travel businesses, affiliate marketing, often associated with “What is ROI affiliate marketing” is a highly effective and lucrative strategy. This method offers several advantages, including the ability to expand their reach and grow their audience through affiliates’ efforts. Additionally, affiliate marketing empowers agencies to provide customers with extra services and exclusive discounts, fostering valuable partnerships while driving increased traffic to their websites.

How To Join Travel Affiliate Programs?

Joining travel affiliate programs is a straightforward process that offers several benefits to travel agencies. To get started, visit the program’s website and complete the application. It’s crucial to review the program’s policies and understand commission rates, which can vary.

As soon as you sign up for an affiliate program, you’ll get a special tracking code to send people to the partner’s website and start making money. Cookies track users’ interactions, ensuring publishers receive credit even if the sale occurs later. Additionally, utilizing banner ads provided by the program can enhance sales and earnings on your travel website. Affiliate marketing benefits both partners and helps travel agencies expand their customer base.

Conclusion

Best travel affiliate programs offer travel agencies an incredible opportunity to expand their reach and boost revenue. These programs provide access to a vast network of affiliates, along with powerful promotional tools, making them an invaluable asset for agencies looking to thrive in the competitive travel industry.

By leveraging this symbiotic relationship, agencies can enhance their online presence, increase customer engagement, and ultimately achieve a more significant share of the market. So, if you’re aiming to elevate your travel agency’s success, dive into the world of affiliate marketing with the best travel affiliate programs and unlock its full potential.