Travel stands out as one of the most profitable niches in the affiliate industry, as well as one of the most competitive. Global travel and tourism revenue reached $988.5 billion in 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 7.07% and projected to hit $1.3 trillion by 2030 — making now one of the best moments to build or scale a travel affiliate program.
Considering the competitiveness in the travel niche, you want to do your best to stay on top of the market and attract new clients to your brand. One of the most effective ways to gain new customers is through affiliate marketing, which is steadily gaining popularity among travel brands.
Are you looking for inspiration to build a travel affiliate program of your own? We gathered a list of the most popular and best travel affiliate programs in the industry that you can check out as successful examples of travel affiliate marketing efforts.
Whether you’re a blogger, content creator, or business owner, these programs offer trackable links, generous cookie duration windows, and competitive commission structures to help you earn commissions and maximize earnings from your travel content.
Table of Contents
What Is a Travel Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program s a partnership where affiliates — partnering companies or individuals, whether social media influencers, travel content creators, or regular clients — gain incentives for helping to onboard new customers. Travel affiliate programs are built specifically for travel-related companies and optimized to provide travel-related affiliate incentives.
For example, affiliate partners may receive special travel discounts, vouchers, free stays, or cash rewards. Many programs also provide instant access to affiliate tools, marketing materials, and trackable links to help partners drive traffic and increase completed bookings.
Why Implement a Travel Affiliate Program?
There are multiple reasons why your travel brand can also benefit from implementing a travel affiliate program. Here are some of them:
- Lower Marketing Expenses: Outsourcing your marketing efforts to affiliate marketers is considerably cheaper than traditional affiliate or marketing approaches.
- More Leads: An efficient affiliate network will be able to deliver a regular supply of new leads and travel bookings.
- Increased Revenue: More affiliate partners will bring new audiences, who will, in turn, bring new sources of revenue and online sales.
17 Best Travel Affiliate Programs
Here’s a list of some of the best affiliate programs in the travel industry.
1. 12Go
Commission rate: 50% revenue share
Referral window: 30 days
12Go is a popular booking platform that connects travelers with transport options across Asia and beyond, covering over 450,000 routes for buses, trains, ferries, flights, and more.
The 12Go affiliate program offers a particularly attractive 50% revenue share on successful bookings, combined with a 30-day cookie duration that gives affiliate partners a solid chance to earn commissions. Moreover, partners can earn a percentage on bookings generated by affiliates they personally referred, creating an extra passive income stream beyond direct sales.
Affiliates also gain instant access to a suite of affiliate tools, including search widgets, timetables, banners, white-label widgets, and data feeds — making it easy to integrate 12Go into websites and promote across social channels with fully trackable links.
2. Expedia
Commission rate: Up to 4%
Referral window: 7 days
As one of the world’s biggest travel companies, Expedia boasts an extremely successful affiliate program that constantly brings in new partners despite offering a modest commission rate of only up to 4% per qualifying booking made via affiliate links.
The Expedia affiliate program mostly owes its success to its simplicity. Affiliates receive a creator toolbox that lets them easily set up trackable links, along with affiliate tools designed to track and analyze performance.
The Expedia Group recently united all of its brands (Hotels.com, Vrbo, etc.) under one partner program, offering unified benefits and providing an even more affiliate-friendly experience for website owners and travel content creators alike.
3. Booking.com
Commission rate: 25-40%
Referral window: Session-based
Currently possessing the biggest affiliate platform in the travel industry, Booking.com owes its popularity among affiliate marketers to its high commission rates — going all the way up to 40% of the commission generated per hotel booking.
The commission structure is determined according to a tiered system, where affiliate partners with more referrals per month earn more. This encourages partners to drive traffic consistently and maximize earnings over time.
Booking.com affiliates also receive instant access to useful affiliate tools, such as a deals finder, search widgets, and pre-made marketing materials.
4. Kayak
Commission rate: Up to 50%
Referral window: 30 days
A travel search engine that lets you search for hotel bookings, flights, and car rentals from a single hub, the Kayak partner program also covers other services under the Kayak umbrella, such as HotelsCombined, Momondo, and Cheapflights.
What sets this travel affiliate program apart is its commission structure, which goes up to 50% — making it one of the most competitive in the space. The minimum payment threshold of $500 encourages affiliate partners to make a continuous effort to earn commissions and drive traffic through their trackable links.
5. Bookaway
Commission rate: 5-10%
Referral window: 30 days
Bookaway is a popular online platform that allows travelers to book ground transportation — including buses, trains, ferries, and private transfers — across more than 135 countries. Through the Bookaway affiliate program, partners can earn between 5% and 10% commission for each confirmed sale, with a 30-day cookie duration allowing for generous conversion opportunities and completed bookings.
The platform’s niche focus on local and overland transport makes it especially valuable for travel content creators targeting independent travelers or those exploring off-the-beaten-path destinations. Bookaway provides affiliate partners with a special discount for their audience to encourage conversions, as well as instant access to real-time reports, trackable links, and search widgets that make integration simple.
With a growing global presence, the Bookaway travel affiliate program is an excellent addition for website owners who want to diversify their travel offerings beyond flights and hotel bookings.
6. Viator
Commission rate: 8%
Referral window: 30 days
Another huge name in the travel industry, Viator is a portal that lets you easily plan and book travel in advance, create custom vacation packages, and book premade ones. It also boasts one of the largest affiliate networks in the travel industry.
The 8% commission rate might not look that attractive to potential affiliate partners at first glance, but the Viator travel affiliate program stands out for its ability to do payouts through PayPal on a weekly basis. Affiliates also get instant access to a collection of affiliate tools and marketing materials — plus the program requires no traffic minimums, making it accessible to website owners and social media influencers at any stage.
7. Agoda
Commission rate: Up to 7%
Referral window: 1 day
Agoda is an online travel agency with a network of over two million lodgings worldwide. Rather than focusing on a specific travel niche, Agoda opts for a diverse audience — even translating its platform into over 38 world languages. This makes it even easier for partners in the Agoda affiliate program to reach new audiences and convert travel bookings across global markets.
The commission structure goes between 4% and 7% depending on qualifying booking volume per month, encouraging affiliate partners to drive traffic consistently through their affiliate links.
8. Tripadvisor
Commission rate: 50-80%
Referral window: 14 days
While Tripadvisor is mainly known as a portal for hotel and restaurant reviews, it also functions as a platform where you can book vacation rentals, restaurants, or sightseeing tours. The Tripadvisor affiliate program takes advantage of this, letting partners earn a share of the commission by sharing trackable links for hotel bookings.
The commission structure for this program is based on clicks rather than completed bookings, making it particularly easy for affiliate partners to earn commissions. The usual rate is a generous 50% but can go up to 80% during special incentive campaigns — representing some of the best commission rates in the travel affiliate program space.
9. Hostelworld
Commission rate: Up to 40% of the deposit
Referral window: 30 days
As its name suggests, Hostelworld is a travel website offering hostel bookings in over 179 countries. Although its travel niche is budget traveling, the affiliate program lets partners earn comparable profits to what they’d earn through luxury travel affiliate programs.
Affiliate commissions are calculated on a CPA basis based on the deposit left per qualifying booking, going up to 40%. The program provides affiliate partners with trackable links and marketing materials to help drive traffic and more bookings through their channels.
10. Trafalgar
Commission rate: 5-10% (on average order value of $6,100)
Referral window: 30 days
Known for its expertly curated group tours across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and beyond, Trafalgar is a favorite among affiliate marketers looking to promote guided travel experiences.
Trafalgar’s travel affiliate program offers a flat commission rate on every successful booking, which can be significant considering the high average order value of over $6,000 for multi-day excursions. With commission rates of up to 10%, each qualifying booking has serious earning potential to maximize earnings. Payouts are handled via the Impact affiliate platform, making the commission structure and tracking smooth and reliable.
Affiliate partners also get instant access to marketing materials and a support team, including banners, destination guides, and promotional offers to help boost conversion rates. With over 70 years in the travel industry and a trusted brand reputation, Trafalgar is a solid choice for partners targeting audiences seeking premium travel experiences.
11. Travelpayouts
Commission rate: Varies
Referral window: Varies
This online platform is unique from most of the others on the list since it’s an affiliate network uniting 100+ travel affiliate programs — including most of the others on this list. It allows affiliate partners to keep most of the commissions from various individual programs while managing income and analyzing performance through a single partner program dashboard.
Such an approach makes this particularly attractive to travel content creators and travel bloggers, who are likely to seek affiliate deals with multiple partners in the travel industry at once. With instant access to hundreds of affiliate tools, trackable links, and program terms across the network, Travelpayouts is a powerful way to earn commissions and achieve affiliate marketing success at scale.
12. G Adventures
Commission rate: 5% on confirmed sales
Referral window: 90 days
As the most popular website in the adventure travel niche, G Adventures caters to a fairly specific yet global audience. With an average online order valued at $2,600, the G Adventures affiliate program lets partners keep 5% of each confirmed sale made through their affiliate links — and the 90-day cookie duration is one of the most generous available, giving affiliate partners ample time to convert travel bookings.
However, the specific travel niche also means that any affiliate working with this program would need to develop smart strategies to drive traffic and attract new customers.
13. GetYourGuide
Commission rate: Over 8%
Referral window: 31 days
GetYourGuide is a platform that lets clients easily book guided tours and sightseeing tours by connecting them with local guides. It offers 24-hour cancellation on 85% of products and supports 35+ languages, making it easier for affiliate partners to convert traffic across global markets.
Affiliates who join the program receive a minimum commission rate of 8%, paid monthly, with instant access to extensive affiliate tools. The most attractive part of the partner program is the additional rewards: free travel, affiliate marketer training, networking events, and a dedicated support system that sets this travel affiliate program apart from most other programs.
14. Skyscanner
Commission rate: Up to 20%
Referral window: 30 days
While Skyscanner started off as a platform for booking airline tickets, its travel offerings expanded to cover hotel bookings and car rentals too. It has a partner program targeting high-ranking websites with up-to-date travel content and UX passing Skyscanner’s requirements — the trusted brand cares about its reputation and wants affiliate partners to be up to the task.
As a reward, website owners and partners in the affiliate program receive a percentage of all commissions made through their trackable links, which climbs along with qualifying booking volume per month. The maximum commission rate is 20%, and the commission structure rewards consistent effort to drive traffic and earn commissions over time.
15. SafetyWing
Commission rate: 10%
Referral window: 365 days
SafetyWing is an insurance company geared toward travelers, digital nomads, and other individuals who need active insurance while outside their home country. It also features an ambassador travel affiliate program offering a 10% monthly recurring commission on subscriptions — designed by our own CEO, the program currently generates $350k per month in sales, making it one of the most successful travel affiliate programs we’ve worked on.
Many of the program terms are highly convenient for affiliate partners: SafetyWing’s cookie duration is a highly generous 365 days, and the minimum threshold for monthly payouts via PayPal is only $10 — making it easy to earn passive income and maximize earnings from even modest travel content traffic.
16. JRPass
Commission rate: Up to 10%
Referral window: 28 days
Japan Rail Pass, or JRPass, is a travel business offering tickets for the Japanese railways specifically designed for international visitors. It also features a travel affiliate program that we helped revitalize after a price hike that led to affiliate partner dropouts.
The successful revitalization showed the importance of open and transparent communication and partner nurturing for affiliate marketing success. Regular check-ins, cross-promotions, guest posts, and honesty about program terms and commission structure changes — while staying optimistic about prospects — were vital for improving conversion rates and helping partners earn commissions again.
17. OneWayFly
Commission rate: 10%
Referral window: 30 days
OneWayFly is a portal for airline bookings and hotel reservations, specializing in one-way flights — which sets it apart from most other programs in the travel affiliate program space. In 2022, we launched its affiliate program by targeting social media influencers and online communities, helping OneWayFly gain competitiveness against more established travel website owners.
The program offers a flat 10% commission rate for all first completed bookings made by new customers. Affiliate partners get instant access to trackable links and the payouts can be made at the beginning of each month via PayPal for accounts with a balance of at least $30.
Wrapping Up
If you’re aiming for affiliate marketing success in a highly competitive travel industry, it’s essential to constantly stay on top of your game with all your business efforts, including marketing.
A successful affiliate network will help you increase your conversion rates, expand your reach through affiliate partners, and boost your travel business revenue. These successful examples of the best travel affiliate programs may prove inspiring — but an even better option is to directly consult with experts who had a hand in designing some of them.
Vivian Agency offers a free personalized consultation — book a call with our team and let’s talk about your ideas and how to put them into reality right away!
