Travel blogs and niche websites focused on Canada have great earning potential. There are many travel affiliate programs for Canada like car hire, ferry tickets, guided tours, rail holidays, yoga retreats and even helicopter rides over the Niagara Falls.
The types of vacations taken in Canada generally fall into three categories.
- Nature vacations
- Winter sports
- City Vacations
Nature vacations can cover hiking holidays, self-drive and fly-drive, as well as people visiting the National parks.
Winter sports are a big hitter in Canada, which isn’t surprising considering the National sport is ice hockey.
There is potential to leverage NHL sports affiliate programs or even partner with Ticketmaster.ca for tickets to any of the sporting arenas.
Skiing in Canada is a combination of winter sports and nature as some of the slopes are in National parks with tree-lined runs surrounded by wildlife.
These are considered bucket-list destinations for skiers and snowboarders the world over.
Top Visitor Attractions in Canada
According to Statista.com, city vacations in Canada is centered around five metropolitan areas.
- Toronto
- Montreal
- Vancouver
- Calgary
- Ottawa
Every July, the city of Calgary hosts the world’s largest agriculture event – the Calgary Stampede.
This event draws over a million visitors each year. It’s also a cowboy themed event so traditional holiday clothes are swapped for denim, cowboy hats, and boots.
This is a perfect opportunity for cross-sells to promote suitable fashion affiliate programs for Canada, such as Marks.com for denim and you can boost your Shareasale commissions with the e4hats.com affiliate program selling cowboy hats to those heading here.
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls straddles the US-Canadian border so it can be viewed from New York or Canada, but its best views are on the Canadian side.
It’s reachable by public transport from Toronto.
To understand just how massive this hotspot is, consider these numbers.
- 21 million tourists visited Canada in 2018.
- Trips to Niagara are over 13 million every year!
A lot of your revenue potential will be around Niagara Falls as it is a major tourist attraction.
For international visitors heading to Canada’s capital of Ottawa, about a 6-hour ferry ride across the water is Quebec where most locals speak French Canadian.
In addition to the commissions from travel affiliate programs, there’s also an opportunity to promote programs to learn French in preparation for trips to Quebec.
RocketLanguages.com is one option listed on Clickbank that pays affiliates 70% commission on any foreign language lessons.
Banff National Park
Tourists visiting Canada to experience its natural outdoor beauty will head to the Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies.
The area is best known for its rocky mountain scenery and turquoise lakes including Lake Louise and Lake Minnewanka, with cruises avaialble on both.
Between 3 and 4 million tourists visit the Banff National Park each year.
Canada Travel Website Ideas
Traveling in Canada has a lot of potential routes for you to choose. You could focus on the “Canada” aspect of things, and really focus on Canadian culture, cities, and sports.
Alternatively, your affiliate site could be about a specific activity, and just enjoy one aspect of what Canada has to offer. For example, you could do a site about extreme snowboarding, and of course Canadian travel destinations would be a perfect fit for your affiliate campaigns.
With all that in mind, here are 12 Canadian travel affiliate programs to consider!
12 Travel Affiliate Programs for Canada
- Trafalgar
- Intrepid Travel
- Skyscanner Canada
- ACP Rail
- 365 Tickets
- Tours4Fun
- Book Retreats
- Get Ski Tickets
- Top of the Mountain
- Gift Gator
- Cruise Direct
- Direct Ferries
1. Trafalgar
Trafalgar is the company to partner with for guided tours that let tourists experience the most of Canada during their trip.
As well as promoting great guided tours, you can also promote an ethical brand knowing that they give back to the communities they visit.
Trafalgar is known for two things.
- Exceptional guided tour holidays worldwide and sustainable travel.
- The Treadright Foundation (treadright.org) which gives back to the communities their trips bring tourists too.
The iconic Rockies and Western Canada tour is just one of Trafalgar’s tour packages – A 13-day trip reaching 11 cities costing over $4,000.
As a Trafalgar affiliate, when your referrals book any of their guided tours within the 90-day cookie window, you earn a 5% commission. That’s over $200 commission and they’ll give you the creatives to help your marketing.
Sign up to the Trafalgar Affiliate Program here
2. Intrepid Travel
Intrepid Travel has a reputation for adventure holidays, but if you watch the interview with intrepid’s co-founder Darrell Wade and Nathan Chan of Foundr.com, you’ll learn a lot about it.
Intrepid Travel isn’t so much an adventure travel company, but rather a travel company for the adventurous.
Like someone who wants to go off exploring on their own because for whatever reason, their friends can’t make the trip.
The company caters to solo travelers and small groups, however, a key takeaway from the interview linked to above is that the hotels and the travel part of the trips are just the logistics.
Intrepid takes travelers off the beaten track into small communities to experience local cultures where they’re more likely to have an awesome experience. Those WOW moments.
That’s what Intrepid Travel is about.
The affiliate program is run on Commission Junction, has a 90-day cookie and pays 4% commission on tours booked and $0.50 per lead when a referral requests a brochure.
Sign up to the Intrepid Travel Affiliate Program here
3. Skyscanner Canada
SkyScanner.ca is a flight search engine for people to get cheaper domestic flight tickets in Canada.
For this program, you’ll want to check your website analytics and join other regional Skyscanner affiliate programs based on your traffic.
The Skyscanner Canada affiliate program only pays commission on Canadian traffic. See the Skyscanner partner page for information on which countries are served by which affiliate network. They’re on all the bigger channels.
As an affiliate for Skyscanner Canada, you’ll earn commission on domestic flights and international flights for Canadians heading out of Canada. For people flying in, you’ll need to join the appropriate affiliate program for whichever country your audience is flying from.
Since it’s launch in 2003, the company’s gone on to help up to 80 million monthly travelers to book cheaper flights, hotels, and car rentals.
The commissions are 50% revenue share on car rentals and obviously flight tickets, but there’s also a $1 cost per install (CPI) paid when someone from Canada installs the app.
Sign up to Skyscanner Canada affiliate program here
4. ACP Rail
Most cities in Canada have frequent trains connecting the cities. The two major hubs are Toronto and Montreal with subway systems and above-ground rail networks connecting the cities.
The majority of rail networks are covered by ACP Rail, which is part of ACP Marketing, a business solely built around connecting people to train journeys the world offer.
Via Rail is a Canadian rail network with frequent journeys between cities. As an affiliate of ACP Rail, people can buy rail passes in advance of arriving to be able to travel by rail for less.
The affiliate program is privately run, pays competitive commissions based on performance and has 90-day cookies. Payments are made in USD and paid to PayPal on the 15th of each month.
Apply to the ACP Rail affiliate program here
5. 365 Tickets
365Tickets.ca is your one-stop-shop for tickets to any of Canada’s top attractions. People can book sightseeing tours for Vancouver, helicopter tours over the Niagara Falls, or take a boat cruise to get really close or get tickets in advance for Canada’s Wonderland theme park based in Ontario.
Webgains.com runs the affiliate program for 365tickets Canada and affiliates start on the default commission of 3%. Up to 10% is available on some products, but expect to earn 3% on general tickets.
To increase your conversions, use the deep linking functionality to promote tickets to specific attractions and keep an eye on the newsletter for offers to tell your subscribers about.
Join the 365 Tickets affiliate program here.
6. Tours4Fun
Tours4Fun is a booking website with a range of travel packages for East and West Canada.
Some of their tours are holidays such as a 7-day vacation in the Canadian Rockies, whereas others are short tours such as a day hiking trip at San Josef Bay.
In terms of content monetization, the Tours4Fun affiliate program could be good for putting together a list of things to do by area, and using the deep linking functionality to promote experience days rather than vacations.
The affiliate program is available on both Shareasale and Commission Junction. Commissions are up to 5% per sale and the average basket value is $650
Sign up to the Tours4Fun affiliate program here
7. Book Retreats
You don’t need to be a travel affiliate per se to make bank on certain types of travel affiliate programs in Canada.
BookRetreats.com focuses on wellness breaks, meditation vacations and bespoke retreats with an emphasis on unplugging and recharging.
For anyone running a wellness blog, or covering yoga and meditation, Book Retreats could be a good earner for recommending handpicked retreats in Canada to get away from the hustle, recharge and come back fully refreshed.
Creatives are provided and there is a dedicated affiliate team to help with your promotions and the team are experienced affiliates themselves.
Commissions start at 4% and the cookie duration is 3-months.
Sign up the Book Retreats Affiliate Program here.
8. Get Ski Tickets
According to skiresort.info, there’s nearly 4,000 kilometers of slopes in Canada and they’re serviced by 819 ski lifts.
Get Ski Tickets is where you can promote ski lift tickets as well as various ski resort package deals and earn commissions on ski rentals and lessons.
Get Ski Tickets has a no refund policy so any sales booked will pay 3% commission and the cookie duration is 90-days.
For any ski and snowboarding bloggers, or YouTubers, this could be a good earner when there’s promotions for people to save on ski lift tickets, or as an additional affiliate program for ski vacations that don’t include tickets for the ski lifts.
Sign up to the Get Ski Tickets affiliate program here.
9. Top of the Mountain
Top of the Mountain is located in Sun Peaks Resort (British Columbia), which has a variety of accommodation suited to all group sizes.
The Sun Peaks Resort is a winter wonderland – a playground for skiers, snowboarders and all things winter.
The resort has 3 mountains and plenty going on every day, all year. Dog sled tours, fat biking, guided ice fishing, snowmobile tours, and even heli-skiing for those who crave the fresh powder terrain.
The affiliate program for Top of the Mountain is a little like a loyalty program, but it doesn’t have to be.
If you use the resort, they’ll discount your accommodation by up to 25%. If not, you can “kickback” your savings so your referral saves on their booking.
Commissions are two-tiered with your first referral earning 10% commission. Should that referral then refer someone else who books, you earn a 2nd tier 5% commission on that booking too.
Cookies are 90-days and they also offer trackable discount codes, so if you refer someone who calls instead of booking online, the discount code will be tracked to you so you still earn the commission. Pretty neat.
Sign up to the Top of the Mountain affiliate program here.
10. Gift Gator
GiftGator.ca started out as a gift and experience site focused on promoting unique experiences in Okanagan (Ontario, Canada).
They have expanded to have different experiences in various cities.
As an affiliate of Gift Gator, you’ll be able to offer your visitors good priced experiences such as craft beer tours, wine tours, horse riding, and even paragliding experiences.
Each sale you make pays a 5% commission with the potential to increase based on sales volume.
Sign up to the Gift Gator Affiliate Program here
11. Cruise Direct
Cruise Direct operate internationally, however, they have a number of cruises for Canada and New England (around 30), ranging from 7-night cruises to 12-nights.
Suitable audiences would be honeymooners and couples looking for a romantic getaway.
The Cruise Direct affiliate program pays 3% commission and has an average order value of $2,200. Cookies are set for 45-days and the program is run on Commission Junction.
There is a product data feed available so although the site is international, you can tailor your feed to only include cruises for Canada.
There’s also an active affiliate support team to help with your marketing if you need it.
If you decide to join this affiliate program, keep an eye on the weekly newsletter as that’s where you’ll find bonus commissions being paid on selected cruises.
Apply to join the Cruise Direct affiliate program here.
12. Direct Ferries
For those taking fly-drive or self-drive vacations in Canada, including those touring the country by RV, you can partner with Direct Ferries to help your readers get cheaper ferry tickets by booking in advance.
Sailings are regular from Seattle, USA to Victoria in British Columbia and it only takes a few hours.
Across Canada, the ferry networks are important for connecting various parts of the country, including areas only accessible by ferry.
Direct Ferries is a booking engine, earning commissions from the ferry operators.
The affiliate program is based on revenue share where affiliates earn a 50% commission on ferry ticket sales, as well as any accommodation and insurance sales made in addition to the ferry tickets.
