ON

Online Travel Agency

Industry Travel and Tourism / Online Travel Agency

Timeline 2 months

Budget $9,200/mo

Type B2C

Channels used

Facebook Ads Instagram Ads Instagram Ads Facebook Ads

178 tour and vacation package bookings at $68 CPL from Instagram in 2 months

178 Bookings Generated

$68 Cost per Booking

$534K Revenue Generated

$3,000 Avg. Package Value

On this page

An online travel agency specializing in curated vacation packages and group tours to Mediterranean and Southeast Asia destinations. Average package value $3,000 per person. Annual revenue $2.1M. All bookings from Google organic and direct traffic — no paid social advertising despite travel being a highly visual product.

Zero paid social advertising presence despite travel being one of the highest-performing categories on Instagram.

Peak booking season approaching (3 months away) with insufficient pipeline in place.

No visual content library for advertising — the agency had no owned photography or video assets.

Retargeting infrastructure non-existent — website visitors were not being followed up with destination-specific ads.

Instagram and Facebook advertising with destination-specific content for top 8 tour packages. Visual content production for 3 signature destinations. Retargeting for website visitors who viewed tour pages. Early-bird offer for upcoming season packages.

Generate 100+ tour package bookings in 60 days

Cost per booking under $100

Fill peak season capacity before competitor ads scale

Pre-sell 30%+ of summer inventory

Build retargeting audience for year-round use

Website custom audience above 50,000

01

Shot destination photography and short video content for Santorini, Bali, and Amalfi Coast packages at partner hotels and locations. Created Reel series: destination previews, itinerary highlights, and customer testimonial videos from previous tours. Total: 240 photos and 18 short videos.

02

Separate campaigns per destination with content matched to the specific location. Cold audiences: interest targeting (travel, luxury travel, adventure travel) and lookalike from past booking customer list. Retargeting: dynamic ads showing specific tours users had viewed on the website.

03

Early-bird campaign: 10% deposit holds the package price for 60 days. Urgency messaging: limited availability per departure date. Dynamic countdown timers in ads. Early-bird campaign converted at 2.4x the rate of standard-offer campaigns.

04

Retargeting for tour page viewers became the highest-ROAS segment at 9.2x revenue-to-spend. Destination-specific retargeting ads served people who had viewed the Santorini page Santorini content — not generic agency ads. Scaled retargeting budget 4x by week 6.

178 Bookings Generated

$68 Cost per Booking

$534K Revenue Generated

$3,000 Avg. Package Value

178 tour package bookings in 2 months at $68 cost per booking. Revenue from campaign period: $534,000. Retargeting achieved 9.2x revenue-to-ad-spend ratio — the highest-returning segment. Website custom audience built to 84,000 visitors for ongoing retargeting. Peak season capacity 74% pre-booked by end of campaign.

Key Result: 178 vacation package bookings in 2 months, 24.1× ROAS — Instagram went from zero to the agency’s highest-performing channel.

Travel is among the highest-ROAS categories on Instagram because the product is inherently aspirational and visual — destination photography performs at 4-6x the rate of text-heavy service ads.

Destination-specific retargeting dramatically outperforms generic agency retargeting — showing Santorini content to someone who looked at the Santorini tour is relevant; showing generic travel imagery is not.

Early-bird deposit offers are highly effective for travel booking — they reduce the financial commitment while capturing intent from buyers who would otherwise continue comparing options.

Travel agencies must build owned photography and video assets before advertising — stock imagery does not create the emotional response that drives high-value tour bookings.

Seasonal businesses in travel should begin advertising 3-4 months before peak season — packages that sell out through early advertising command higher margins and eliminate last-minute discounting.