Tour operator · Sicily, Italy 
Read the case study →
Sicilian Food Tours: from a DIY website to $100,000+ in bookings
"Wonderful professional service and definitely works wonders for your business."
Carmel Ruggeri
Director, Sicilian Food Tours
Paying booking platforms for travellers who could book you direct?
Tour operators have relied on platforms to be found, and AI search is now taking their traffic. I check what you're paying for, with real data and facts, then show you in plain English how to be found and booked on your own merit.
Tour operator
$100K+
Tour bookings at
$4,000 a person
Tour operator
475+
Lead form
submissions
Photography tours
300%+
More website visitors
year on year
4WD tours
$40K+
Tour bookings
within 90 days
Reviews
107
Google and
LinkedIn reviews
What I usually find
When I audit a tour operator or travel business, the same problems turn up again and again. Most owners don't know they're there.
Ads paying for the wrong searches. Job seekers, "free things to do" and trips you don't run, all charged to your account.
No conversion tracking. Nobody can say which enquiries or bookings came from which dollar of spend.
Reports that count activity, not bookings. Rankings, impressions and clicks, but never the number of bookings.
Relying on booking platforms. Commission on travellers who would have booked direct if they could find you.
A Google Business Profile left half finished. Wrong categories, few photos and no routine for collecting reviews.
A website that doesn't work on a phone. Slow, no clear itinerary or price, and stock photos instead of your own guests.
Accounts in someone else's name. The domain, website or ad account belongs to the agency, not the business.
Free 20 minute discovery session
I listen to what's happening and tell you honestly whether I can help. If I can, a full audit is how I find out which of these problems are costing you, and what to fix first.
What you're spending on marketing now
What's working and what isn't
Where you want the business to be
Mon to Fri 7am to 7.30pm · Sat 9am to 1pm
Real examples
Real situations from tourism clients, plus patterns I see in every industry.
Years of great tours, but online bookings depended on people already knowing the name.
A new website and content built around how travellers search.
$100,000+ in bookings
Photography tours The problemA tour business found almost entirely through platforms it didn't control.
Market analysis, positioning and SEO aimed at the gap competitors left.
Visitors up 300%+ year on year
Travel agent The problemGeneric copy and stock photos instead of first-hand detail from travellers and destinations.
Written advice on what to change. Not all of it was followed, and the case study shows the cost.
55 enquiry leads, and the lessons
4WD tours The problemThe agency was chosen for its 4WD experience, but tours still weren't selling online.
Audit, rebuild and local marketing, without spending on ads.
$40,000+ in tours within 90 days
Transport The problemA tiny house page was planned for a boat transport site. Different buyer, different search.
A separate one-page site built around that buyer and how they search.
873 leads with no changes in four years
Security manufacturer The problemEveryone assumed the advertising was working. Nobody had checked.
Ads switched off, the money moved into the website and its SEO.
Leads up 49%
Check your contractor in 60 seconds
These turn up again and again when I look inside a business's marketing.
Your monthly report is full of graphs but never says how many calls or quotes you got.
You don't have the login to your own Google Ads account or website.
You're locked into a 6 or 12 month contract.
They talk about "rankings" and "impressions", not bookings.
You're paying platform commission on travellers who'd have booked direct.
Enquiries come from people looking for trips you don't run.
Your website shows stock photos, not your guests and your tours.
Nobody can tell you what one lead costs you.
Your "marketing" is boosting Facebook posts.
Sound familiar? Book a free call to find out if I'm the right person to help.
Book a free 20 minute discovery session →How I work differently
A specialist looks after one channel and gets paid whether the rest of your marketing works or not.
I look at all of it: your website, ads, social media, content and how your brand comes across. If something outside the job I'm doing is holding the results back, I'll tell you, because it affects whether my work pays off.
Typical agency or contractor
Working with me
What gets looked at
One specialty, such as ads, SEO or social media
All of it: website, ads, socials, content and brand
Who does the work
An account manager, often a junior behind them
Me, start to finish
What the report shows
Impressions, rankings and clicks
Enquiries, bookings and cost per booking
Who owns the accounts
Varies
You. Every account in your name
Contract terms
Often a minimum term
No lock-in contracts
How it works
1
Discovery
20 minutes, free, on what you're paying for now.
2
Written findings
What's being wasted and what to fix first.
3
The work
An agreed plan, then I do it.
4
Real data
Results tracked to enquiries and bookings.
5
Ongoing help
Mentoring so you're never in the dark again.
Tourism results
Record enquiries, more bookings and new customers who had never heard of them before, with the figures published.
"Wonderful professional service and definitely works wonders for your business."
Carmel Ruggeri
Director, Sicilian Food Tours
"Paul provided objective analysis of the market, my position and the gap opportunity. Very thorough, exceptional value... I secured contracts for retail store photography and 2-3 Santa photography centres this Christmas."
Terry Rogan
Director, PictureMe Sydney
Every month you leave it
TripAdvisor's own financial disclosures show AI search eroding the traffic it used to send for free.
Operators who are found on their own merit keep getting booked. The rest pay more commission for fewer bookings.
Paul D'Ambra
Commission on every booking a platform sends you
Ad clicks from people looking for trips you don't run
A report that looks busy while the booking calendar doesn't
A travel agent whose visitors grew 43% while engagement time halved after content went generic
Direct bookings from your own website
Travellers who already know why your tour is different
A cost per booking you can actually see
Sicilian Food Tours: still winning AI Overview placements years later
SEO, GEO, AEO and AIO
More customers now ask an AI assistant who to call, as well as Google and Google Maps. Whether it's called SEO, GEO, AEO or AIO, it comes down to one thing: being the business that search engines and AI platforms trust enough to recommend.
Getting cited isn't about gaming the system. AI platforms quote businesses that publish clear, specific and trustworthy information about the work they do. That's what I help you create.
ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini
Perplexity
Copilot
Grok
Manus
AI Overviews
Real clients, real AI answers
ChatGPTAutomotive service, listed for dry ice blasting in Sydney
ClaudeThe same business, recommended for 4WD dry ice cleaning
GeminiNamed first of the specialists Gemini recommends
Google AI OverviewCivil manufacturer, cited in the AI Overview and ranked first
Service pages that explain what you do, who it's for and what it costs, in plain English an AI can quote.
Case studies, reviews and real photos that show you've done the work, not just claimed it.
Consistent details on your website, Google profile and directories, so AI platforms trust who you are and where you work.
Reviews from travel and tourism businesses
In their own words, under their own names. Check them on Google and LinkedIn.
"Wonderful professional service and definitely works wonders for your business."
Carmel Ruggeri
Director, Sicilian Food Tours
"Paul provided objective analysis of the market, my position and the gap opportunity. Very thorough, exceptional value... I secured contracts for retail store photography and 2-3 Santa photography centres this Christmas."
Terry Rogan
Director, PictureMe Sydney
"I have dealt with a lot of web developers and designers over many decades and I must say Paul is the best I have ever used. Quick, proactive, business smart and creative. Plus great value for money."
Tony Gattari
General Manager, Groups Division, Beyond Travel
"Paul helped us with the redesign of our website and helped us to deliver its highest ever website traffic volumes and online 4WD tour bookings."
Hayley
Owner, Adrenalin Offroad Centre
"In addition to delivering impressive growth in website traffic, Paul also provided valuable insights and guidance on my Google Business Profile. His expertise helped me to better understand how to effectively market my business online."
Bede Hunt
Founder, Supercalla Private Properties
"Paul it's very honest and giving from himself more than it's written in the contract... He grew our rental company to reach $1M in potential revenue within 12 months."
Paul Wojtek
Director, Scootering
You deal with me, start to finish
Before going independent in 2015 I spent 20 years in senior marketing roles, signing off agency budgets at Logitech, Hewlett Packard, Lotus Cars and Dick Smith. At Lotus Cars Australia I helped deliver $3M+ in new vehicle sales growth on a marketing budget under $50,000.
So I know what a padded report looks like, and which numbers an agency leaves out. For you, that means one person who checks the work, explains it in plain English, and puts every account in your name.
Marketing services for travel and tourism businesses
Fixed prices, scope agreed first, no lock-in.
A digital marketing audit: a written findings report on what you pay for and what to fix first.
From $195 ex GST · Fixed price
View service →Audit, rebuild or management, judged on enquiries and bookings, not clicks.
From $195 / month ex GST
View service →Tour and destination pages written for the way travellers search.
From $995 / month ex GST
View service →WordPress sites built around your tours, fast on a phone and easy to book.
From $1,995 ex GST · Fixed price
View service →Facebook and Instagram ads set up properly, with tracking and a page built to convert.
From $195 / month ex GST
View service →Itinerary pages, guides and guest stories written from your own trips.
From $295 ex GST · Fixed price
View service →Questions
What tour operators and travel businesses ask before booking.
That's usually when it's most useful. I check independently whether what you're paying for is turning into enquiries and bookings. Stay with them or don't, either way you'll know.
No. Sicilian Food Tours is a small operator and has taken $100,000+ in bookings through its own website. The check is scaled to your size and market.
Not straight away. We compare what each booking costs you there against what your own website could bring in, then decide.
Access to Google Ads, Analytics, Search Console and your Google Business Profile, plus your last agency report and invoice. Every account stays in your name.
Fixing tracking and wasted ad spend can show up within weeks. Adrenalin Offroad sold $40,000+ in tours within 90 days of its new site. SEO builds over months and keeps compounding.
No. Fixed prices, a retainer or a payment plan, with the scope agreed before anything starts and no lock-in.
Next step
Before you pay the next invoice.
Obligation free · Mon to Fri 7am to 7.30pm · Sat 9am to 1pm
Obligation free 20 minute discussion to see how we can work together.
