Creating content while traveling the world is something that many people dream of doing, but finding ways to finance your trips is often the biggest hurdle. Earning money for something you love doesn’t have to be just a fantasy; by partnering with the best affiliate programs as a travel creator, you can take the community you’ve already built and begin earning a commission for the products you love and trust.

With diverse niches, from backpackers to luxury traveling, and multiple categories to focus on — like hotels, flights, insurance, tours, and gear — travel creators can balloon their bank accounts. Even if you’re not a full-time travel blogger, vlogger, or creator, you can still join an affiliate program and start earning the easy way.

Finding affiliate marketing programs for travel might sound difficult, but it’s simple with Mavely. Join Mavely, a social commerce platform where everyday influencers can easily promote trusted travel and lifestyle brands for commission, and find the right affiliate program for your content. 

Best Travel Affiliate Programs to Join as a Creator

Mavely makes it easy to find and work with brands that connect with your audience. With over 20 categories, you can find affiliate programs that match your niche no matter what it is. In Travel alone, there are more than 65 brands to choose from. Here are seven exceptional affiliate programs available through Mavely for travel creators to consider. See which brands match your style and fan base before applying. 

1. Airalo

• Niche: Enhanced phone and data plans for travelers on a budget
• Commission Rate: Up to 10.5%
• Cookie Duration: 30 days
• How to Join: Sign up through Mavely 
• Perks: Global appeal and very high commission

About the Brand:

Travelers know one of the most annoying things is arriving to a new country and not having phone service. Instead of heading through the airport and buying an overpriced SIM card, they can use Airalo. With Airalo, travelers with eSIM devices can get data plans for over 200 countries and regions globally before they even step on the plane. eSims are useful for travelers of all types. Airalo offers a very competitive commission rate, making it a lucrative opportunity for affiliates. 

Customer-Facing Benefits:

• Access to global data packages
• Easy installation through phone settings
• Affordable data plans that avoid roaming charges
• Dual SIM compatibility

Affiliate-Focused Benefits:

• Can promote to all types of travelers worldwide
• Access to the rapidly expanding eSIM market
• High-earning potential 
• 24/7 support and pre-built brand assets to use

What Makes It Stand Out:

Airalo’s competitive rates and international appeal make it an excellent fit for everyone from backpackers to luxury travelers. Because eSIMs are entirely digital, it’s easy for consumers to download and install immediately after a promotion.

2. TripAdvisor

• Niche: Authentic, trusted reviews and deals for all things travel
• Commission Rate: Up to 5.6%
• Cookie Duration: 14 days
• How to Join: Sign up through Mavely 
• Perks: Deep linking and high commission

About the Brand:

Not everyone uses a travel agency to plan their trips, so TripAdvisor helps users find the perfect hotels, restaurants, transportation, and activities for their trip based on thousands of reviews. People who use TripAdvisor can save on travel expenses and get real-life critiques to help them make decisions. TripAdvisor has advantages for affiliates too, like the ability to deep-link to over 500 city or hotel pages, so coordinating with specific travel content is easy.

Customer-Facing Benefits:

• Features around 1 billion user-generated reviews
• Great for authentic travel research
• Includes price comparison capabilities
• Allows for geographically relevant questions and recommendations on community forums

Affiliate-Focused Benefits:

• Global users and interest in the platform
• Trusted brand
• Increase conversions with deep linking
• Consistently adding new products and promotions

What Makes It Stand Out:

TripAdvisor offers a safe community where people can share travel photos, experiences, and recommendations to make booking more convenient. Creators can capitalize on these genuine insights to promote the platform.  

3. Contiki

 

• Niche: Curated, sustainable tours to a variety of destinations
• Commission Rate: Up to 3.5%
• Cookie Duration: 90 days
• How to Join: Sign up through Mavely 
• Perks: Long cookie duration and creator support
• About the Brand:

Some people don’t like solo travel or just want a tour guide to explain everything to them as they go. Contiki offers global tours to over 40 countries for travelers aged 18 to 35. These carefully planned trips let travelers enjoy an effortless travel experience while taking in the sights, culture, and cuisine of new and unique spots. Contiki’s long cookie duration, creator tools, and promotional support give affiliates more opportunities to earn.

Customer-Facing Benefits:

• Over 200 trips across 75 countries to choose from
• Trip managers make the experience fun and easy
• Trips are 20% cheaper than planning them yourself
• Contiki is climate-conscious and net carbon neutral 

Affiliate-Focused Benefits:

• Access to help from the affiliate management team
• Extensive cookie duration length
• Includes a collection of assets on travel insights and trends
• Earnings have real-time tracking and reporting 

What Makes It Stand Out:

This youth-centric tour company has a long history of providing unforgettable travel experiences. Travel influencers can encourage their audience to have their own adventures through Contiki.

4. Got Bag

• Niche: Activewear, athletics, and travel accessories
• Commission Rate: Up to 3.5%
• Cookie Duration: 30 days
• How to Join: Sign up through Mavely 
• Perks: Eco-friendly and high-quality products

About the Brand:

Got Bag is a sustainable fashion brand that sells bags, backpacks, and accessories to help travelers get from place to place ethically. This brand uses ocean plastic, making it great for eco-conscious travelers looking for durable ways to transport their belongings. Affiliates can use its strong narrative and long-lasting products to pitch this brand to their fanbase.

Customer-Facing Benefits:

• Eco-friendly
• Waterproof and durable products
• Two-year warranty with free repairs
• Adjustable volumes for functional travel

Affiliate-Focused Benefits:

• A compelling mission statement to drive storytelling
• Appeals to all types of travelers
• High average order value 
• Products ship to the U.S., Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region

What Makes It Stand Out:

Because Got Bag makes their products from discarded ocean plastic, travel creators can make a positive difference in the world while pitching these products.

5. Marriott International Global

• Niche: Luxury travel accomodations from a trusted brand name
• Commission Rate: Up to 2.1%
• Cookie Duration: 7 days
• How to Join: Sign up through Mavely
• Perks: Known brand and global appeal

About the Brand:

You may have heard of brands like The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Courtyard, and Residence Inn. These all combine to make up Marriott International’s 8,500 properties worldwide. Partner with Marriott International Global to help out luxury, business, and family travelers. Affiliates that do so can promote a trusted brand with a global reach and dedicated support, such as analytics and search widgets.

Customer-Facing Benefits:

• A wide range of properties and brands 
• Choices spanning from budget studios to luxury suites
• Loyalty programs allow customers to accumulate points
• Flexible booking options that allow customers to modify or cancel reservations

Affiliate-Focused Benefits:

• Deep linking to any city or hotel
• Routinely provide new and intriguing offers
• Affiliate newsletter provided
• Dedicated affiliate support team available

What Makes It Stand Out:

Marriott International Global can appeal to a very broad customer base with locations worldwide and accommodations for all types of budgets. Creators who partner with Marriott can promote brands that their audience has likely already heard of.

6. Expedia

• Niche: Travel platform with a variety of money-saving tools
• Commission Rate: Up to 2.8%
• Cookie Duration: 7 days
• How to Join: Sign up through Mavely 
• Perks: Recognized brand and broad appeal
• About the Brand:

No matter which type of traveler your content targets, Expedia can be a valuable tool for almost everything. Expedia offers deals for flights, hotels, car rentals, activities, and more. It also provides various affiliate tools and support for creators, including property images, analytics, customizable banners, and search widgets.

Customer-Facing Benefits:

• Customers can use the Expedia platform for a variety of services
• Travel rewards program lets users save money
• Easy to compare prices, amenities, and ratings in the same place
• Discounts for military members, students, teachers, and seniors

Affiliate-Focused Benefits:

• Affiliates can use trackable hyperlinks, search widgets, and banners
• Worldwide audiences can use Expedia
• Well-known and trusted travel brand
• Travelers in any niche can promote Expedia

What Makes It Stand Out:

Creators can pitch Expedia in numerous ways that fit in with their content. The top-notch tools, paired with Expedia’s excellent reputation, can make this a quick sell for viewers.

7. Hertz

• Niche: Affordable car rental 
• Commission Rate: Up to 2.1%
• Cookie Duration: 1 day
• How to Join: Sign up through Mavely 
• Perks: High demand and a popular brand

About the Brand:

Having a vehicle while traveling can open up a destination to unlimited possibilities. Hertz can help. This brand appeals to all travelers, from business travelers to road trippers to family vacationers. Hertz car rentals are in high demand, making it easy for travel creators to promote them. It also offers easy integration with search widgets and deep linking.

Customer-Facing Benefits:

• Available in over 150 countries
• Customers can enroll in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for loyalty benefits
• EV and Green Traveler collection for environmentally conscious customers
• Convenient airport locations

Affiliate-Focused Benefits:

• Steady demand from corporate travelers, tourists, and locals
• Car rentals can last days to weeks, leading to higher commissions than other travel services and products
• Award-winning and recognizable brand reputation
• Access to links, banners, and other promotional material

What Makes It Stand Out:

Hertz appeals to travelers of all kinds from around the globe. When customers rent a car for an extended period and add on insurance, upgrades, and additional drivers, affiliates can make more.

How to Choose the Best Travel Affiliate Program

Travel affiliate programs give creators excellent opportunities to profit from their efforts. However, there are several things to consider to give yourself the best chance at earning commissions.

Match Programs with Your Audience’s Travel Style

Affiliate programs must match your content and the needs of your audience. If your content revolves around budget travel but you partner with luxury hotels because you can earn a higher commission, your audience is unlikely to purchase anything, resulting in less overall money for you.

Determine your niche, then use Mavely to sort through different brands that connect with your audience. For example, a booking site with tours, theme parks, and museums would be a good fit if you’re creating family travel content. Adventure bloggers may want to look for brands that sell hiking gear. Luxury travel creators might pair with designer luggage companies.

As long as your niche matches your affiliates, you’ll have better chances of earning money.

Consider Commission Structure and Booking Window

Not all programs pay the same, so you’ll need to figure out what structure works best for you. Companies will either give you a flat rate for each sale you refer or a percentage of each sale you generate. Do the math and decide which one works best.

Weigh the length of the booking window too. If the cookie duration for the affiliate program lasts 30 days, the website will track that customer’s transactions for that period. So when someone clicks on your affiliate link, they don’t need to make a purchase right away for you to get a commission. However, if that person decides to make a purchase 35 days after clicking your affiliate link, you won’t receive any commission. Finding partners with longer cookie durations will give you more chances of earning money from your referrals. 

Global Reach and Ease of Use

Many travel influencers and creators build an international community of followers. But if you join an affiliate program solely focused on people based in the U.S., you won’t make money from any international followers. It’s essential to look for affiliate programs with a global reach. Using programs that support international audiences from Europe, Asia, and beyond means more opportunities for sales. And finding programs that support multiple languages and currencies will make it easier for those interested.

Support for Content Creators

Consider how affiliate partners will support you as you grow. While receiving a commission is nice, many programs offer other tools and features to help you. 

Being able to customize your affiliate link to reflect your username or channel may not sound like a big deal, but it can be. Not only do these links look more professional than a long string of numbers and letters, but they’re also much easier to remember. Users will also be more confident clicking on them, knowing the link is directly related to you. 

Some affiliate programs have API integrations as well, meaning they connect directly to the platform you use to create content. This makes the process much more efficient as it streamlines data transfers and operations, so you can feel much more confident about getting credit and commissions for your sales. 

Is Travel Good for Affiliate Marketing?

With many different aspects of travel — such as transportation, hotels, luggage, travel services, gear, insurance, and more — travel content creators have many options when they choose to join an affiliate program.

Travel content is also a fantastic fit for affiliate marketing because it’s easy to form an emotional connection with. People who love to travel can quickly relate to the experiences of others and take an interest in the destinations, sites, and events they explore. And emotion tends to lead to more interactions and conversions. Using travel blogs, Pinterest, and YouTube to convey these emotional connections is an efficient way to gain some momentum.

You also don’t need to constantly create new content for breaking news or sports results. Travel content, like videos detailing luxury travel options or tips for certain cities, is evergreen. Viewers who are considering visiting these places will search for and watch them long after they’re posted. 

What is the Best Travel Affiliate Program?

To find which travel affiliate program works best for you, you’ll need to consider multiple factors, like what product or service would interest your fanbase, the commission structure and rate, and cookie duration. Using Mavely allows you to sort through your options quickly. Here are some brands you can partner with through Mavely:

• For hotels: TripAdvisor
• For flights: Expedia
• For experiences: Contiki
• For gear: Got Bag

Finding brands with global trust and a history of reliable payouts leads to a stress-free experience for creators.

Can You Make $100 a Day with Travel Affiliate Marketing?

While there’s no guarantee you’ll make $100 a day from travel affiliate marketing, it’s entirely possible. Pair the right products and services with your audience and make timeless content, and you’ll have every opportunity to make money daily. 

Travel content affiliates also tend to cost more for your viewers than products and services in other industries. Booking flights, hotels, and tours can be expensive, so if you earn a percentage for each, you can make more. 

You can develop an effective promotional strategy to improve your earnings as well. Making city guides, itinerary posts, comparison reviews, and travel essentials lists will provide plenty of opportunities for you to recommend your affiliates and to direct viewers to your links.

Final Thoughts: Turn Your Passion for Travel into Passive Income

Joining an affiliate program can earn you extra money while inspiring others with your travel content. You can stay true to your channel’s purpose and find suitable partners for a flawless integration that point interested viewers to helpful links. Best of all, using travel affiliate programs is easy with Mavely. 

Mavely lets content creators select the affiliate programs they want to partner with from a large selection of brands. Creators can learn about the company, view their commission rate, and see their cookie duration on the Mavely site. 

Don’t put off a great opportunity to make more from your content! Sign up with Mavely to access top travel and lifestyle affiliate programs in one place.