[This post was updated April 2025]
Certain essential tasks really strike dread into the hearts of even the bravest spirits… such as filing taxes, getting a new drivers license, or analyzing the Google Analytics data of your business. We can’t help you with that daunting government paperwork, but we can help make Google Analytics more approachable.
One reason why TourismTiger websites work so well is because we spend a lot of time in Google Analytics. Most web design companies have little or no understanding of Analytics, which means they don’t actually have any idea what does and doesn’t work. We do, which means our websites help you the best with growing your business. Additionally, we do backlink profiling(opens in a new tab), which is a huge aspect of off-page SEO. That is a great step to take after you understand the basics.
Until most recently, most guides and tutorials referred to Universal Analytics (UA). As of July 1st, 2023, Google has officially deprecated UA and replaced it with a new, more powerful tool: Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about GA4—what it is, why it matters for your business, and how you can use it to grow your bookings.
Note: This post assumes that you have already installed Google Analytics and set up Google Webmaster Tools. If you need help with these steps, look here(opens in a new tab).
1. What is Google Analytics GA4?
G4A is Google’s next-generation analytics platform, designed to provide more intelligent insights into user behavior. Unlike UA, which tracked sessions and pageviews, G4A uses an event-based model to capture every interaction a user has with your website.
Here are some key features:
- Event-based tracking
- Enhanced cross-device tracking
- Improved privacy and compliance
- Built-in machine learning for predictive insights
This means that you no longer have to rely on limited data points or predefined goals. Instead, you can create custom events that reflect how your visitors interact with your tours, whether they’re scrolling through photos, watching videos, or starting a booking process. GA4 also simplifies multi-device tracking, so you get a clearer picture of your customer journey across phones, tablets, and laptops.
Understanding the structure and logic behind GA4 is essential to do before diving into reports and setup—which brings us to why this matters for tour operators specifically.
2. Why Tour Operators Should Care
GA4 offers tour operators a better way to understand how travelers are interacting with their site. You will be able to see how they found your site and determine whether it is an efficient way to drive sales. Through tracking every step of the user journey in detail, you can determine what’s working on your site and what’s not. You’ll be able to optimize your website and drive traffic to truly grow your business.
Let’s take a look at some benefits for tour operators:
- Identify high-converting tours
- Spot drop-off points in the booking funnel
- Analyze marketing campaign performance
- Improve user experience across devices
Let’s look at an example. Say you want to know how many users viewed your whale-watching tour but didn’t book. GA4 can help you set up events and funnels to identify exactly where people are dropping off. You can also segment your audience by behavior or location to tailor your marketing efforts more effectively.
By understanding what drives interest, you can optimize your tour offerings, website content, and promotional strategies to turn visitors into bookers. Now, let’s dive in and take a closer look at how to navigate the GA4 platform and find the data that matters most to your business.
3. Navigating the GA4 Interface
GA4’s layout has changed quite a bit from Universal Analytics. Here is a breakdown of the main sections:
- Home: This contains an overview of user trends and activity.
- Reports: In this section you will see standard performance metrics like acquisition, engagement, and monetization.
- Explore: Here you can build custom reports and funnels.
- Advertising: You’ll see campaign and attribution analysis in this section.
4. Understanding Key GA4 Metrics
GA4 introduces many new metrics that replace old UA ones, including:
- Engaged Sessions: These are sessions lasting 10+ seconds or sessions with a conversion.
- Engagement Rate: This replaces the “bounce rate” and shows the % of engaged sessions.
- Events: These are all user interactions (clicks, scrolls, form submissions, etc.).
- Conversions: Events you mark as valuable (for example: bookings).
5. Setting Up Events and Conversions
On Google Analytics 4, you can track:
- Clicks on “Book Now”
- Views of tour details pages
- Add-to-cart actions
- Completed bookings
If you are familiar with Universal Analytics, then you are likely familiar with “Goals”. In GA4, “Goals” have been replaced by “Conversions”. You can mark specific events (i.e. the examples provided above) as conversions.
To set up Events and Conversions:
- Open Admin > Events in GA4.
- Click Create Event.
- Define the event name and conditions.
- Mark key events as Conversions by going to Admin > Conversions and toggling the relevant events.
Learn more about creating or modifying events here(opens in a new tab).
6. Using GA4 to Improve Your Tour Business
With the right setup, GA4 can assist you in achieving your business goals. It allows you to track data so that you can make informed decisions, continuing to better your services and generate more bookings. Here are just a few of the things Google Analytics 4 can help you with:
- Identifying top-performing tours
- Visualizing where users drop off in the booking flow
- Monitoring traffic from Facebook, Google Ads, and email campaigns
- Using Explorations* to create funnels and cohort analysis
*Explorations are advanced tools that go beyond standard reports and allow you to dive deeper into data and discover more detailed insights. Learn more about explorations here(opens in a new tab).
7. Segmenting Your Audience
Segmenting allows you to isolate specific groups of users based on behaviors, traffic sources, or demographics.
In GA4, segments have become more flexible and can include:
- User segments (e.g., returning users from Canada)
- Session segments (e.g., visits from paid ads)
- Event segments (e.g., users who clicked “Book Now”)
You can build segments within the Explore section. To create a segment:
- Go to Explore > Create a New Exploration.
- Click + Segment in the Variables column.
- Choose from User, Session, or Event segments.
- Define the conditions, such as “users who viewed a specific tour page but didn’t book”.
Segments are extremely helpful for identifying different types of travelers, such as returning customers, mobile users, or people from specific countries.
8. Ecommerce Tracking in GA4
Being able to track the exact dollar spend of each visitor is super valuable. Imagine knowing—and this is a completely made-up example—that visitors from TripAdvisor tend to spend $500 per booking compared to $200 per visitor from Facebook?
GA4 fully supports ecommerce tracking, but it’s handled through events rather than the older “Enhanced Ecommerce” plugin, and it’s more customizable.
Key ecommerce events tour operators should consider implementing:
- view_item: when someone views a tour
- add_to_cart: when a user selects a tour to book
- begin_checkout: when the booking process starts
- purchase: when the booking is complete
To find ecommerce data in GA4:
- Go to Reports > Monetization > Ecommerce Purchases.
- View metrics such as item views, add-to-cart actions, and purchases.
To set up Ecommerce, you need to work with your booking software provider to implement these events correctly using Google Tag Manager or direct tagging. But now you have the basic Analytics skills to take this next step when you are ready. You can read more about the fundamentals of Ecommerce here(opens in a new tab).
9. Privacy & Compliance
GA4 is designed with privacy in mind. Here’s what you need to know:
- IP anonymization is built-in
- Data retention is customizable
- Cookie-less tracking support (essential for privacy regulations)
It is important to make sure you’re also compliant with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and similar regulations by using Consent Mode(opens in a new tab) and updating your privacy policy.
10. Helpful Tools and Integrations
- Google Tag Manager (GTM): Easier event setup without coding
- Looker Studio: Custom dashboards for your marketing team
- Booking System Integrations: GA4 can work with platforms like Rezdy(opens in a new tab), FareHarbor(opens in a new tab), Peek Pro(opens in a new tab), etc.
Final Tips
Analytics is a great tool which must be part of an organized marketing plan. If you don’t have an overall plan, you won’t get a huge amount of value from your Google Analytics statistics. If you need suggestions on where to begin with developing long-term marketing strategies, read here(opens in a new tab). An important tool to put into action while developing your marketing plan is Google My Business. Learn more how to do this here(opens in a new tab). An advanced option is to place an ad with Google Ads(opens in a new tab).
It is a complex topic, no doubt—but most sales stem from carefully crafted marketing plans, and we can’t overstate how important that is. At TourismTiger, we review our analytics every week, using the data to fine-tune and improve all our campaigns.
Here are some final tips we have for you:
- Focus on tracking only what matters (bookings, page views, cart activity, etc.)
- Don’t be discouraged by the learning curve
- Check your reports regularly to spot trends and make informed decisions
Google Analytics 4 is the future of website analytics. It may seem daunting at first, but it offers powerful tools to help you grow your tour business. As you continue to gain a greater understanding of your audience and optimize your digital strategy, you will be able to make smarter decisions that will lead to greater bookings and happier customers.
Resources
Check out these extra resources for further help and instruction:
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