The Client
The Miami Experience sells tours and experiences in one of the most visited cities in America — a market where global booking platforms outspend every local operator and take a cut of every reservation they touch.
Why Is Google Ads Hard for Tour Operators?
- Viator, GetYourGuide, and TripAdvisor dominate the auctions and the organic results for nearly every "things to do" query.
- Travelers book on impulse and on mobile — a slow funnel or a vague ad loses the sale in seconds.
- Demand swings with seasons, weather, and events, so static budgets either waste money or miss the surge.
- Generic sightseeing queries burn budget on researchers who book nothing.
What Did We Do Differently?
- Built Search campaigns around booking-intent queries for specific tours and experiences rather than generic tourism terms.
- Tracked calls and booking actions back to their keywords so budget flowed to what actually filled departures.
- Used relentless negative keyword discipline to cut job, free-activity, and pure-research searches.
- Scaled spend into proven high-demand windows instead of pacing evenly through the year — sustaining a 3.93% CTR account-wide.
What Results Did The Miami Experience Get From Google Ads?
| Metric | Verified Result |
|---|---|
| Booking leads | 17,869 |
| Cost per lead | $4.36 |
| Ad spend | $78K |
| Clicks | 93,168 |
| Impressions | 2.4M |
| Click-through rate | 3.93% |
Key Takeaways
- 17,869 booking leads at $4.36 each is direct demand a tour operator owns — no marketplace commission attached.
- A 3.93% CTR shows the ads matched what travelers were actually looking to book.
- Local operators don't have to surrender their category to the booking giants — they have to out-target them.
How Much Should a Tour Company Spend on Google Ads?
This operator invested $78K over the life of the account and received 17,869 tracked booking leads — $4.36 per lead. Compare that to the commission a booking platform takes on a single tour and the math speaks for itself. The right budget is the one that fills departures directly; this account shows $4.36 per booking lead is achievable in the category.
About This Campaign
All figures are lifetime totals pulled directly from the Google Ads account. Leads include tracked calls and booking actions.