Travel & tourism UTM builder.
Pick a channel, choose the destination and product, and the campaign name follows one convention every time.
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Five tags, one link
What UTM tags actually do.
UTM tags are short labels added to the end of a link. When someone clicks, your analytics reads the labels and records exactly where the visit came from.
No extra code is needed for GA4 to read them. The five standard tags answer five questions about every visit, and GA4 uses the source and medium to decide which channel the visit belongs to.
The five tags
| Tag | Answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
utm_source | Where did the click come from? | google, facebook, newsletter |
utm_medium | What type of traffic is it? | cpc, paid_social, email |
utm_campaign | Which campaign was it? | spring-sale_202611 |
utm_content | Which ad or link was clicked? | hero-banner, video-a |
utm_term | Which keyword or audience? | running shoes |
Four reasons to tag every link
Why it matters for reporting.
01
Credit goes to the right campaign.
Without tags, a click from an email or WhatsApp message often shows up as Direct, and the campaign that earned it gets no credit.
02
Channels are compared fairly.
One naming convention across every channel means paid, owned and partner traffic line up in the same report.
03
Leads and revenue connect to marketing.
Stored with each lead, UTM tags show which campaign produced customers, not just clicks.
04
Budget follows results.
Clean data shows which ads and messages to scale and which to stop.
From link to report
Tag the link. Then trust the report.
Use the builder
Step 01
Paste the offer page, room page or booking engine link.
Step 02
Choose the channel, including metasearch, OTAs, partners and in-room placements.
Step 03
Build the campaign name from property, destination, product, season, source market and booking window.
Step 04
Copy the link, then test that the tags survive the jump to your booking engine.
The naming convention
Pattern{destination}_{product}_{date}
Exampledubai_room-stay_202611
Parts are joined with underscores and words inside a part use hyphens, so you can split the name back into columns in a spreadsheet or Looker Studio. Optional parts are skipped when empty. You can switch the separator under Formatting rules.
Source, medium and GA4 channel
Every channel, mapped to GA4.
The source and medium each preset uses, and the GA4 default channel it reports under. Unassigned means GA4 has no default rule for it; add a custom channel group rule.
| Channel | utm_source | utm_medium | GA4 channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads: Search | google | cpc | Paid Search |
| Google Hotel Ads | google | cpc | Paid Search |
| Google Ads: Performance Max | google | cpc | Paid Search |
| Microsoft Advertising | bing | cpc | Paid Search |
| Tripadvisor | tripadvisor | cpc | Paid Other |
| Trivago | trivago | cpc | Paid Other |
| Kayak | kayak | cpc | Paid Other |
| Skyscanner | skyscanner | cpc | Paid Other |
| Facebook ads | facebook | paid_social | Paid Social |
| Instagram ads | instagram | paid_social | Paid Social |
| TikTok ads | tiktok | paid_social | Paid Social |
| Snapchat ads | snapchat | paid_social | Paid Social |
| Pinterest ads | pinterest | paid_social | Paid Social |
| Google Ads: Display | google | display | Display |
| Google Ads: Demand Gen | google | cpc | Paid Search |
| YouTube ads | youtube | cpv | Paid Video |
| Email newsletter | newsletter | email | |
| Pre-arrival email | pre-arrival | email | |
| Post-stay email | post-stay | email | |
| WhatsApp message or broadcast | whatsapp | social | Organic Social |
| SMS | sms | sms | SMS |
| Loyalty app push | loyalty-app | push | Mobile Push Notifications |
| Instagram bio or story | instagram | social | Organic Social |
| Facebook post | facebook | social | Organic Social |
| YouTube description | youtube | video | Organic Video |
| OTA listing link | booking.com | referral | Referral |
| Travel agent or DMC | agent-name | referral | Referral |
| Travel blogger or affiliate | blogger-name | affiliate | Affiliates |
| Influencer | instagram | influencer | Organic Social |
| Google Business Profile | google | organic | Organic Search |
| In-room or lobby QR | in-room | qr | Unassigned |
| Trade show QR (e.g. ATM, ITB) | trade-show | qr | Unassigned |
| Brochure or print QR | print | qr | Unassigned |
For travel & tourism marketers
Tips that keep the data clean.
01
Check your booking engine.
If it runs on a different domain, set up cross-domain measurement in GA4 or the booking will be credited to your own site as a referral.
02
Tag source market separately from targeting.
The same offer often converts very differently for GCC, India and European travellers.
03
Use "early-bird" and "last-minute" consistently so you can compare booking windows across seasons.
04
Put in-room and lobby QR codes on their own source.
They show which on-property placements drive direct rebookings and upsells.
05
Tag the Google Business Profile website link for each property to separate map traffic from regular search.
Store UTMs with every lead
Get UTM data into your CRM.
GA4 counts visits. Your CRM or database records who became a lead or customer. Unless the UTM tags are saved with each record, the two never meet, and you can't tell which campaign produced which sale. Share this brief with your website developer.
What to ask for
Step 01
Read the UTM tags and ad click IDs from the URL on every page load.
Step 02
Save them in a first-party cookie for 90 days.
Keep a first-touch copy that is never overwritten, and a last-touch copy that updates on each new tagged visit.
Step 03
Ignore visits without UTM tags, so an untagged return visit never wipes the saved values.
Step 04
Add hidden fields for every value to every form: contact, booking, sign-up and checkout.
Step 05
Fill the hidden fields from the cookie when the form is sent.
Step 06
Store each value in its own column on the lead or order record, and map the same fields into the CRM.
Step 07
Test it: open a tagged link, send a form, and check the record shows the right values.
Fields to add to each lead or order
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
first_utm_source … first_utm_term | First tagged visit. Set once, never overwritten. |
last_utm_source … last_utm_term | Most recent tagged visit before the form was sent. |
gclid, fbclid, msclkid | Ad click IDs, for offline conversion uploads. |
landing_page | Full URL of the first page seen. |
referrer | The site the visitor came from. |
first_touch_at, last_touch_at | Timestamps of both visits. |
A starting point for the developer
const KEYS=['utm_source','utm_medium','utm_campaign','utm_content','utm_term','gclid','fbclid','msclkid'];
const q=new URLSearchParams(location.search);
const hit={};KEYS.forEach(k=>{if(q.get(k))hit[k]=q.get(k);});
if(Object.keys(hit).length){
hit.landing_page=location.href;hit.referrer=document.referrer;hit.at=new Date().toISOString();
const save=(n,v)=>document.cookie=n+'='+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(v))+';path=/;max-age=7776000;SameSite=Lax';
if(!document.cookie.includes('utm_first='))save('utm_first',hit);
save('utm_last',hit);
}Request: store UTM data with every lead and order
Why: GA4 shows visits. Our database shows leads and sales. Saving the UTM tags with each record tells us which campaign produced each lead and how much revenue it brought in.
Steps:
1. Read the UTM tags and ad click IDs from the URL on every page load.
2. Save them in a first-party cookie for 90 days. Keep a first-touch copy that is never overwritten, and a last-touch copy that updates on each new tagged visit.
3. Ignore visits without UTM tags, so an untagged return visit never wipes the saved values.
4. Add hidden fields for every value to every form: contact, booking, sign-up and checkout.
5. Fill the hidden fields from the cookie when the form is sent.
6. Store each value in its own column on the lead or order record, and map the same fields into the CRM.
7. Test it: open a tagged link, send a form, and check the record shows the right values.
Fields to add:
- first_utm_source … first_utm_term: First tagged visit. Set once, never overwritten.
- last_utm_source … last_utm_term: Most recent tagged visit before the form was sent.
- gclid, fbclid, msclkid: Ad click IDs, for offline conversion uploads.
- landing_page: Full URL of the first page seen.
- referrer: The site the visitor came from.
- first_touch_at, last_touch_at: Timestamps of both visits.
Starting point:
const KEYS=['utm_source','utm_medium','utm_campaign','utm_content','utm_term','gclid','fbclid','msclkid'];
const q=new URLSearchParams(location.search);
const hit={};KEYS.forEach(k=>{if(q.get(k))hit[k]=q.get(k);});
if(Object.keys(hit).length){
hit.landing_page=location.href;hit.referrer=document.referrer;hit.at=new Date().toISOString();
const save=(n,v)=>document.cookie=n+'='+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(v))+';path=/;max-age=7776000;SameSite=Lax';
if(!document.cookie.includes('utm_first='))save('utm_first',hit);
save('utm_last',hit);
}Never put names, emails or phone numbers in UTM tags. Store them only in your own database, under your privacy policy.
The ones that come up most
Common questions.
01Why do my bookings show up as referrals from my booking engine?
If the booking engine is on another domain, GA4 starts a new session when visitors move to it and credits the booking engine as the source. Set up cross-domain measurement in GA4 and add the booking domain to the unwanted referrals list so the original campaign keeps the credit.
02How should I tag metasearch like Tripadvisor or Trivago?
Use the metasearch site as the source and cpc as the medium. GA4 doesn't have these sites on its search list, so they appear as Paid Other, which keeps them separate from Google Ads.
03Should I tag links on OTA listings?
Where the OTA lets you add a website link, yes. Tag it with the OTA as the source and referral as the medium, so you can see how many travellers check your own site before booking.
04How do I compare source markets?
Add the market to the campaign name, for example "beach-resort_maldives_holiday-package_summer_india_early-bird_202610". You can split it into columns later to compare cost per booking by market.
05Can I track QR codes in rooms and lobbies?
Yes. Use a source such as "in-room" and medium "qr", with the placement in utm_content. GA4 reports qr as Unassigned by default, so add a custom channel group rule if you want an Offline channel.