In tourism, hospitality and visitor attractions businesses, email marketing is often thought of a as an acquisition tool, to help connect with new clients or drive sales. But the value of email marketing doesn’t begin or end at that point. Done well, email marketiing guides people through every stage of the customer journey, from first a first spark of interest, through planning, the visit itself, into loyalty and repeat visits.

Many marketers still assume email’s role is transactional “send a deal, get a booking.” In reality, it’s one of the most versatile and effective ways to personalise experiences, build trust and deepen engagement long after the initial click. Let’s explore how.

1. Capturing Attention Before Booking

Before someone books a trip, hotel stay or attraction visit, they often go through a long decision-making process. Email marketing helps to keep your brand top of mind throughout that journey.

Email open rates in tourism remain strong, especially for personalised content with travel offers seeing open rates as high as 42%, compared to general averages which are far lower.  In the hotel sector, segmented campaigns can drive a 760% increase in revenue for travel marketers when executed with good data segmentation. 

Rather than waiting for the moment a visitor is ready to buy, email allows you to capture interest early whether through newsletters, sharing inspiration, segmented updates based on preferences, or drip sequences offering helpful tips and guides. This nurtures intent and builds connection before a booking decision is made.

2. Supporting the Planning & Booking Phase

Emails are uniquely positioned to shepherd travellers through planning and booking with tailored messaging. Abandoned booking emails can recover 8–12% of lost travel bookings, making email a direct contributor to conversion.  When used as part of a holiday or trip planning workflow, segmented emails can boost click rates significantly, meaning more recipients actually take action. 

For example, a boutique hotel might send a gentle sequence of emails when someone abandons their reservation midway: first a reminder, then potentially a tailored offer or guide to area attractions. Similarly, visitor attractions can trigger emails to people who browsed specific dates or events but didn’t complete their booking bringing them back into the customer journey. These emails are much more than reminders; they demonstrate relevance, trust and value.

3. Enhancing the Experience During the Visit

One of the most powerful but under-recognised roles of email marketing is the pre-arrival and in-trip experience support. By setting up automated pre-arrival emails they can see open rates above 60% far higher than typical promotional campaigns.  They help set expectations, provide practical information and reduce friction (e.g., reminders, packing tips, directions), which enhances satisfaction before guests even arrive.

Hotels commonly use this tactic to pre-send check-in details, room perks and local recommendations. Visitor attractions can do the same by sharing event schedules, weather forecasts or “what to bring” tips, ensuring guests feel informed, welcomed and excited.

4. Building Loyalty After the Visit

Once a trip or visit is over, email continues to play a major role in nurturing ongoing relationships, something that social media alone currently struggles to achieve. Traveller loyalty data shows that 79% of travellers say receiving personalised rewards (often communicated via email) increases their loyalty to a travel brand. 

Birthday, welcome or loyalty emails often outperform regular promotional newsletters in engagement and revenue. Post-visit emails can take many forms, such as:

• Thanking guests for their visit
• Asking for a review
• Sharing photos or suggested places to visit next
• Inviting them back with tailored offers

These messages not only increase the likelihood of repeat visits, but also generate word-of-mouth, reviews and referrals.

Why Email Marketing Works

Unlike social media, where algorithms control reach and stories fade fast, email is a direct line to the customer’s personal space their inbox. It is:

• Owned media: you don’t pay for visibility the way you do with paid ads.
• Highly personalisable content can be tailored to preferences, past behaviour and booking history.
• Measurable, you can track opens, clicks, conversions and funnel performance

This combination makes it uniquely suited to supporting each stage of the customer journey, not just the point of sale.

In Conclusion

Email marketing is more than a booking reminder and far to often many tourism and leisure businesses treat it as an afterthought, something used only to announce promotions or confirm reservations.

But when you think about email as a conversation that spans discovery, planning, experience and loyalty, it suddenly becomes one of your most strategic assets. It builds trust, creates personalised experiences and deepens visitor relationships long after the booking is made.

If you want your emails to work harder and not just focus on driving bookings, start thinking in terms of the entire customer journey not just the destination and of course if you would like some help making your email marketing work harder, please get in touch.