Travel is one of the most lucrative niches on the internet. With an average family in Britain spending a colossal £2,725 on a holiday abroad, there is plenty of potential to earn good money in a well established sector.

For those looking for a cheap getaway abroad, “Lowcostholidays.com” (their affiliate program can be found at Affiliate Window) offers cut price and affordable holidays to a variety of different locations. They run a series of different promotions, including trips to Egypt from £9 per person per night, and heavy discounted breaks in Florida (useful for those looking to book Kissimmee Hotels). In total, there are over 30,000 different hotels on offer on the site, all of which are at very low prices. Through the online booking system, you can create your own package holiday – selecting from various options that are applicable to the specific needs of the traveller or group.

The program offers a 5% commission rate, a 60 day cookie and considerable cash bonuses for achieving a certain number of sales within a month. Some of the more luxurious holidays available within the site could result in some very high basket values, and the site offers a good range of destinations that should cater for the vast majority of needs. However, there is a limited range of advertising material available and you may not display any links on a site targeted at an audience of children.

An incredibly popular choice with affiliates is Sunshine.co.uk (who are with Affiliate Future) – as former affiliates themselves, the team behind Sunshine have built a fantastic business backed up with some brilliant tools and their showcase product Sunpress, a wordpress plugin.

For something a little bit closer to home, many families choose to holiday in Britain instead of venturing abroad, particularly in the current financial climate. Although cheaper than going overseas, the average cost of a holiday in Britain still stands at £1,103, and so high basket values are still realistic throughout British programs. One of the leading companies offering British breaks is “Park Holidays UK” (their affiliate program can be found at Affiliate Window).

Park Holidays UK offer a good range of caravan holidays in the South of England, including beach breaks and more park based locations. An average 4 night break for a family of four costs around £100, and the site displays various special offers including 7 days from just £180. A section is also available to buy your own holiday home, which is also included in the affiliate program. The standard commission rate is good, standing at 8%. The program also offers a generous cookie length of 120 days. There’s an impressive range of advertising material available and the program allows you to bid on competitor brand names.

For those who have already booked their hotel and simply need the flights, many programs are available which cater for buying air travel. One of these is “Cheapflightseats.com” (their affiliate program can be found at Affiliate Future). The site boasts one of the widest choices of destination on the internet, whilst also offering good prices. With flights costing in many cases more than £200, large basket values are again a good possibility. This is furthered by the option to book up to 23 tickets in one transaction.

The program offers £3.00 per flight booked, which increases to £4.20 if you manage to refer over 1,000 customers. They offer a fair amount of advertising material; however, you may not bid on the brand name in any PPC campaigns.

One aspect of traveling that is becoming increasingly important in the current market is travel insurance. Especially when going abroad, travel insurance is becoming a prerequisite when booking a holiday, and so it stands to reason that online providers are booming. One such provider is “Flexicover.net” (their affiliate program can be found at Affiliate Future). Their site boasts an easy to use interface with a range of different categories and options (for instance, gap year travel insurance). Standard cover for a single adult in Europe for a week is £7.20. The options to include Winter Sports coverage and the option to purchase annual coverage increase the possible basket value. It is also easy to buy insurance for multiple people through one transaction.

The program offers a straight 15% commission on all sales made, and a broad range of advertising material. The nature of the services on offer means that the website would fit well if advertised along with other travel websites.

Travel websites certainly offer an affiliate the opportunity to make good returns. The high basket values and strong commission rates found across many of the programs give rise to good average earnings if managed correctly. However, conversion rates are notoriously low across the industry, and so many of the programs would only be relevant for a heavily travel focused website.

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