How Do I Reduce My Dependence on Viator or GetYourGuide?

If you are asking how to reduce your dependence on Viator or GetYourGuide, you are asking the right question at the right time. The answer is not to delete your listings tomorrow. It is to build your own booking channel until the OTAs become one source of bookings instead of the source.

We work with outfitters, tour operators and guided experience providers on exactly this. Below is the order we work through it, and what to expect from each step.

First, know what your OTA bookings actually cost

Before you change anything, get the real number. Pull last season's bookings and split them into direct and OTA, then add up the commission you paid on the OTA side.

Most owners we talk to have a rough guess and the real number surprises them. That number is your marketing budget sitting in someone else's account. It also tells you how much room you have to invest in your own channel.

The other cost is the guest relationship. OTAs sit between you and the person who just had a great day on the water, which makes repeat bookings and referrals harder to earn. We covered the tradeoffs in detail in what OTAs are and when you should use them.

Step 1: Make your own site the easiest place to book

Here is the uncomfortable part. A lot of operators lean on OTAs because the OTA checkout works better than their own. If someone finds you, likes you, and still books through Viator, that is usually a website problem.

Fix the basics on your trip pages before you spend a dollar on traffic:

• Price, trip length, meeting place and what is included, visible without scrolling forever
• Real availability and a booking button that works on a phone
• Photos of your actual trips and your actual crew, not stock images
• Your cancellation and weather policy written in plain words
• A phone number and a way to ask a quick question before booking

We rebuild sites around this on our website design for outfitters side of the house. The goal is simple: no reason for a guest to go looking for a different checkout.

Step 2: Get found before the guest ever opens an OTA

Most trips start with a search. Someone types in a river, a species, a town, a season. If an OTA page ranks for that search and your page does not, the OTA earns the commission for a guest who was already looking for what you do.

This is where organic ranking matters most. Getting on page 1 of Google organically for your trips and your region is the single best way to lower OTA share over time, because it puts your own page in front of the guest first.

It is also the slowest step, and we will not pretend otherwise. Marketing is a system, and it takes time and data to figure out what works. Ranking comes from consistent outdoor industry SEO work over months, not from one blog post.

Step 3: Own the guest relationship on the backend

OTAs are good at follow up. They email the guest, suggest the next trip and keep the relationship. If you want fewer OTA bookings, you need that same follow up on your side.

That means a system that captures every inquiry, responds fast, and keeps talking to people who did not book the first time. A guest who asked about a float in June and never heard back is a booking you paid to get and then dropped.

Our Outfitter Pro Online CRM exists for this reason. Ad spend without a backend system leaks bookings, and no amount of traffic fixes a sales flow that stops at the inbox.

Step 4: Market to the people who already know you

Your past guests are the cheapest direct bookings available. If you have their email and permission to use it, you have a channel the OTAs cannot touch.

Two things to run here:

• A simple email to past guests before booking opens for the season, with a direct link to book on your site
• Retargeting ads for people who visited your trip pages and left, which we walk through in how to retarget website visitors for your tour business

For guests who originally came through an OTA, follow the platform rules on contacting them. Integrity and accountability matter here. We always do what's right, even if it costs us a booking or two in the short run.

Step 5: Use paid ads to fill the gaps while SEO builds

Organic ranking takes time. Paid ads do not, which makes them useful while the slower work compounds.

We use Google Ads to show up for high intent searches in your area and social media ads to reach people planning a trip. Both send traffic to your pages and your checkout instead of an OTA listing.

Ads are not a replacement for the system. They are the part of the system you can turn up when you have open seats and turn down in the off season.

What a realistic timeline looks like

We are not going to tell you that your OTA share drops in 30 days. Hiring an agency does not make direct bookings appear overnight.

What usually happens is slower and steadier. Site and booking fixes show up first because they affect every visitor you already have. Follow up changes show up next season as inquiries turn into trips. Organic ranking is the long build, and the operators who give it time are the ones who see their direct share climb.

[Add a client example here: which operator cut their OTA share, what we changed first, and over what timeframe.] You can see more of our work in our case studies.

Should you keep your OTA listings at all?

Usually yes, at least for now. OTAs reach international travelers and last minute planners who may never find your site, and commission on a seat that would have gone empty is still better than an empty seat.

The goal is balance, not a clean break. Decide what percentage of your calendar you are comfortable giving to OTAs, then build your direct channel until the rest fills on its own. [What direct booking percentage would you call a win for your operation?]

Where we fit

You started your business to spend more time outside guiding people, and less time sitting at a computer chasing algorithms. We help solve that for you.

Paul has been in this industry since 2008 as a guide and as a rafting company founder, and he asked the same question you are asking now. That is why our methods come from doing the work itself, not from an agency playbook written by people who have never run a trip.

If you want to talk through your numbers and what it would take to lower your OTA share, book a call with us. We will tell you straight whether we are a fit.