Good travel agency Instagram post ideas each do one job: inspire someone to want a place, prove that you deliver, offer something bookable now, inform a client before they make a mistake, or greet them on a day they keep. Below are 36 ideas grouped by that job, with when to use each, how often, what each one needs, and a sample fortnight.
Why group post ideas by job
A list of a hundred ideas produces a feed of a hundred unrelated posts. Grouping by job shows the balance at a glance: three offers in a row read like a catalogue, and three sunsets in a row sell nothing.
Each job also needs different raw material: on Monday you know what to gather for Thursday.
| Job | What it does | A starting rhythm | What it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inspire | makes a place wanted | 2 a week | one strong photo you have the right to use, one line on why to go |
| Prove | shows that you deliver | 1–2 a week | a real client's words or photo, with their permission |
| Offer | sells something bookable now | 1–2 a week | a price-from with its basis, what is included, travel dates, when the offer ends, the contact line |
| Inform | saves a client a mistake | 1 a week | one tip you would give on the phone |
| Greet | marks a day your clients keep | when the day comes | the day's correct name, in the client's language, and nothing to sell |
The rhythm is a starting value, not a rule. If most followers are past clients, offers can run higher; on a new account, inspire and prove do more of the work. Judge each post by the enquiries it brings, not the likes.
Inspire: posts that make someone want a place
These do the slow work: nobody books from them today, but they are why your name comes up when someone decides to go.
- The one-photo postcard. One great photo, one line on why to go. Any week. The photo must be one you may use: see free travel photos for commercial use.
- The season is coming. "Cherry blossom is eight weeks away." Post when the booking window opens, not when the season starts.
- Three places for one kind of trip. Three islands for a honeymoon, three cities for a short break. Monthly. Needs three photos of the same quality.
- Where we are sending people this month. Your real bookings, with no names. Monthly. Only places you have actually sold.
- A day on the trip. A sample day hour by hour, from the itinerary you really operate. When you launch a programme.
- The view from the room. A hotel you contract, from the balcony, with its permission or your own photo.
- The pick nobody in your market thinks of. Quarterly, and only where you can book a trip.
- The route. A multi-stop trip drawn as a line, with nights per stop. With a programme launch.
Prove: posts that show you deliver
Inspiration is everywhere on Instagram. Proof is the post only you can publish.
- A client's words. A short quote with first names and the trip. After they return. Needs written permission; never invent or tidy up a review.
- A client's own photo. Reposted with credit, within a week of their return. Needs permission and their handle.
- Bon voyage. A departing couple or group, with consent, or a simple card if there are no faces. On departure day.
- Behind the desk. The rooming list, the call to the hotel, the transfer check. Monthly. No names or rates on screen.
- Meet the team. One person and the trips they plan. Monthly, with their agreement.
- The problem you solved. The cancelled flight and the rebooking at 2 a.m. Rarely, with the client's approval.
- Your own numbers. Trips run this season, cities covered. Yearly. Only figures you can back.
Offer: posts that sell something bookable now
An offer post is an advertisement. The price rules your market applies to a flyer apply to it too, so read the travel advertising price rules before you post one.
- The package. Nights, inclusions, a price-from. Whenever you have stock to sell.
- Early bird. Book by a date, travel later. Weeks before the season's booking peak. Needs the booking deadline and the travel window.
- Last minute. Seats or rooms going in the next week or two. Only with real availability.
- Long weekend break. Two to four nights around a public holiday, posted a month or more ahead; the timing is in long weekend travel promotions.
- Group departure. A fixed date with seats. When the date is set, then as seats fill. Needs a seat count you can honour.
- Price drop. A lower price than before, only when it is genuinely lower. Needs the earlier price and when it applied, as your market's rules require.
- Festival offer. A trip for Diwali, Eid, Christmas or Lunar New Year. Weeks before the day, never on it.
- Service offer. Visas, foreign exchange, insurance, flights. Monthly.
Every offer post needs five things: a price-from with its basis (per person twin share, per room, taxes included or not), what is included, the travel dates, when the offer ends, and how to book, on the picture and not only in the bio. "Bali from 999" alone invites a hundred messages asking what 999 buys.
Inform: posts that save a client a mistake
- The documents check. Passport validity, copies on the phone. Before each peak season.
- Packing for a kind of trip. Safari, ski, pilgrimage, cruise. Before each season.
- One trade term, explained. Half board, twin share, private transfer. A weekly series, one term per post.
- When this trip sells out. Your own experience of when a trip fills. Before its booking window.
- Insurance in one picture. Why to buy it and when. Quarterly. No cover claims you cannot back.
- Check entry requirements early. Where to check, never the rules themselves: they change.
- Seven days to go. What a travelling client should do this week. As a story, ongoing.
Greet: the occasions your clients keep
Greetings keep the account warm and are the one post nobody resents. They sell nothing, so put nothing for sale in them.
- The festival greeting. Diwali, Eid, Christmas, Lunar New Year, Songkran, Holi, on the day, in the client's language. Moon-sighted days can move by a day, so check before you post.
- National days. Yours and your strongest markets', on the day, with the day's correct name.
- New Year. A thank-you for the year.
- Your agency's anniversary. Years in business, and thanks. Yearly.
- The trade fair. For a DMC or operator: where partner agencies can meet you. About three weeks before.
- The end of a busy season. Thanks to clients and partner agencies.
Two rules of thumb. The greeting goes out on the day, but the festival's offer goes out weeks earlier, because festival travel is booked well before the festival. And some days are solemn: a day of mourning is not a day for "warm wishes".
If you sell to several countries, keeping that list is the hard part. iTravel Studio's calendar shows what is coming up in the countries you sell to, each with when to post: the greeting on the day, the offer a set number of days before (30 for Diwali and Eid, 45 for Christmas and Lunar New Year). Solemn days are listed with no greeting drafted. More in festival posts for travel agencies.
A sample fortnight
Twelve posts in two weeks, with Sundays left quiet. Fewer good posts beat more weak ones.
| Day | Job | Post | Format | Have ready |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 1 | Inspire | Postcard of a beach you sell | Feed 4:5 | licensed photo |
| Tue 1 | Offer | 4-night package, per person twin share | Feed 4:5 and story | the five offer facts |
| Wed 1 | Inform | What "half board" means | Feed 4:5 | one term, plain words |
| Thu 1 | Prove | A honeymoon couple's words | Feed 4:5 | written permission |
| Fri 1 | Offer | Long weekend break, a month out | Story | the holiday in your market |
| Sat 1 | Inspire | Three cities for a short break | Feed 4:5 | three matched photos |
| Mon 2 | Inspire | The season is coming | Feed 4:5 | the season's real window |
| Tue 2 | Prove | Behind the desk | Story | no names or rates |
| Wed 2 | Offer | Early bird for next season | Feed 4:5 and story | booking deadline, travel window |
| Thu 2 | Inform | The documents check | Feed 4:5 | general advice only |
| Fri 2 | Greet | A festival, on the day | Feed 4:5 and story | the day confirmed per market |
| Sat 2 | Prove | Bon voyage for a departing group | Story | consent, or no faces |
The stories carry the feed's offer on a vertical screen, and the same file works as a WhatsApp status; WhatsApp status ideas for travel agents covers what changes there.
Sizes, captions and the contact line
For the feed, make a portrait 4:5 (1080 × 1350 pixels), a taller 3:4 (1080 × 1440) or a square (1080 × 1080); for stories, 1080 × 1920, with the words kept clear of the top and bottom, which the app covers. Social media image sizes for travel has the full list.
Studio makes a design in each of those sizes. Resize lays one design out again in up to ten other sizes, each a new design that keeps your words and photos, so the feed post and its story come from one piece of work.
Studio's brand kit is filled from your account's branding the first time it is used: logo, brand colour, phone, WhatsApp, email and website (what belongs in a travel agency brand kit). The poster templates end in a contact line bound to the kit, and on any design you can add the phone, WhatsApp number or website as text that follows it.
Before a download, a check flags a price that does not say what it covers, words under a story's bars, and a contact detail still showing a stand-in. A caption is drafted from the design (its words in reading order, the price on one line, two hashtags) for you to edit. Studio does not post to Instagram for you: on a phone, Share hands the file to the share sheet and copies the caption, ready to paste.
Before you post: a checklist
- One job. You can say in three words what the post is for.
- The photo is yours to use. Licensed, your own, or a client's with permission.
- An offer carries all five: price-from with its basis, inclusions, travel dates, offer end, how to book on the picture.
- The price is real. You can sell it on the dates the post names.
- A greeting sells nothing, goes out on the day, and the day is confirmed for each market.
- The words are in your client's language and read by someone who speaks it.
- A story keeps the price and contact clear of the top and bottom bars.
- Permissions are recorded for every client's words or photo you use.
- The week's mix still matches the table at the top.
