Why Google Things to Do Matters for Tour Operators (and What It Won't Fix)

Every few years something arrives that is supposed to change everything for tour operators. Most of it does not. So I want to be careful with this one, because Google Things to Do genuinely changes something specific and important — and it leaves a lot of other things exactly as they were.

Here is the honest version of what it does, what it does not do, and whether it is worth your time.

What it actually is

Google Things to Do is the panel of bookable experiences that appears in Google Search and Google Maps when someone looks for an attraction, a tour, or something to do in a city. Each entry shows a product, a price, and a link that goes straight to a checkout.

The important part is whose checkout. For years, those links belonged almost exclusively to online travel agencies. Someone searched your business by name, saw your listing, tapped the booking button, and bought from Viator — and you paid a commission on a customer who was already looking for you specifically.

Things to Do lets you put your own booking page in that slot, with an Official Site badge on it. Full detail on the mechanics is in what is Google Things to Do.

What changes commercially

You stop paying commission on demand you already generated. This is the whole thing. Branded searches — people typing your business name — are the cheapest, highest-intent traffic in your funnel, and OTAs have been intercepting a slice of it for free. Recovering that slice is not incremental growth; it is margin you were already earning and giving away.

Your price becomes visible before the click. Travellers comparing three kayak tours see yours with a price attached. That is a qualification filter working in your favour.

You get an ad surface you did not have. Once your inventory is live, Google Things to Do Ads let you buy placement in that panel on a cost-per-click basis. You are bidding for a click, not surrendering a percentage of the sale — which for most operators is dramatically cheaper than a 25% commission.

You own the customer. Email, phone, terms, refund policy, follow-up. On an OTA booking, none of that is yours.

What does not change

I want to be equally clear about the limits, because overselling this helps nobody.

It does not create demand. Things to Do captures people who are already searching. If nobody is searching for your category in your city, a listing will not conjure them. This is a conversion and interception channel, not an awareness channel.

It does not fix a weak product page. Google reviews the page your listing points at. If it is slow, the price is hidden, or booking takes five clicks, you will either get rejected or convert badly. The landing page criteria spell out the standard.

It does not replace OTAs entirely. OTAs still reach international travellers who have never heard of you, planning from another continent. The goal is not zero OTA bookings. The goal is that people searching your name book with you.

It is not instant. Verification, feed setup, and review take days to weeks. Anyone promising same-day results is selling something.

Who it is worth the most to

Operators with brand recognition in their city. If people search your name, you have the most to recover.

Operators with margin pressure. If commissions are the difference between a good and a bad season, this is the most direct lever available.

Operators with a functioning booking page. If you already sell online competently, the feed is a short step. If you take bookings by email, fix that first — lesson two of the course, booking system and website, covers it.

Who should wait: anyone without a verified Google Business Profile. That is the prerequisite for all of it, and the setup and verification guide is where to start.

What it takes to get on it

Four steps, in this order:

1. Verified profile, with the right category and correct details.
2. A booking page that shows the product, the total price including fees, and a way to book immediately.
3. A feed — either Google's own Tickets and Activities editor, or a connectivity partner who submits and maintains your inventory. Our post on what a Google connectivity partner is explains the difference and why Google steers operators under 100 properties toward the partner route.
4. Compliance details: titles that match the title guidelines and images that meet the image guidelines.

The free Get Found Online course walks through all four in order if you want to do it yourself.

The eligibility fine print

Not everything qualifies. Tours, attractions, tastings, classes, rentals used for recreation, and recurring venue-based activities are in. Airport transfers and car services, movie tickets, one-off concerts and festivals, overnight stays and multi-day cruises, and virtual-only experiences are out. Alcohol-based experiences, axe throwing, and paintball are allowed where legal, even though standard ads policy is stricter.

Pricing rules are strict too: the price you show is the total an adult pays including fees and taxes, it must match your landing page, and there is no child pricing. Get this wrong and your listing comes down until it is corrected.

The verdict

It is not a revolution. It is the removal of a tax you have been paying on your own name. For an operator doing meaningful volume through branded search, that is worth more than most of the marketing tactics competing for your attention this year.

Getting your activities into the feed with your own site as the booking destination costs $25 a month, and signing up is free. See how it works, or the pricing page for the full breakdown.