Using Google Analytics to Understand Your Audience

Google Analytics Real-Time Overview

The Real-Time tab shows what’s happening on your website right now — within the last 30 minutes. This helps you see if your latest campaign, post, or promotion is working right away. You’ll know what’s getting attention and where your audience is coming from.

What you’ll see:

• How many visitors are currently on your site
• What pages they’re viewing
• Where they’re located
• How they found your site (social media, email, search, etc.)
• Whether they’re new or returning visitors

Use this report to quickly spot trends, monitor live campaigns, or make sure everything’s running smoothly during a launch or event.

Google Analytics Realtime Overview

Life Cycle Reports: Acquisition Overview: How People Find You

Ever wonder how travellers are discovering your website? The Acquisition section in GA4 tells you exactly that. Whether visitors find you through Google Search, Instagram, paid ads, emails, or by typing your URL directly, this report breaks it down so you know what’s working—and what’s not.

What you’ll see:

Acquisition Overview

Get a high-level snapshot of where your website traffic is coming from—whether it’s organic search, social media, referrals, direct traffic, paid ads, or email campaigns. Great for quickly comparing what channels are performing best.

User Acquisition (First User Source/Medium)

See how people found your site the very first time. This helps you understand which channels are helping you reach new potential visitors. For example, if most first-time users came from Instagram, you might want to keep investing there.

Traffic Acquisition (Session Source/Medium)

This section looks at all sessions, not just the first one—giving you a deeper view of how people return to your site and through which channels. It’s great for tracking ongoing campaign performance, returning user behaviour, and repeat visits that lead to bookings or inquiries.

These reports are especially valuable when you’re running marketing campaigns or partnerships. Want to know if that travel blog feature actually sent traffic your way? Or if your paid social ads are driving bookings? This is where you’ll find the answers.
 

Google Analytics Acquisition Overview

Lifecycle Reports: Engagement & Conversions: What Visitors Do on Your Site

Once visitors land on your site, what do they actually do? The Engagement section in your GA4 reports shows how visitors are interacting with your content—how long they stay, what they click on, and what pages are keeping their interest.

This is where you find out if your content is working. Are people browsing your event calendar? Clicking through your itineraries? Reading about your wine tours or travel tips? This section tells you what’s capturing their attention—and what’s not.

What you’ll see:

Engagement Overview

See an at-a-glance view of how much time people are spending on your site, how many pages they visit, and your Engagement Rate. Unlike the old “Bounce Rate,” this newer metric highlights meaningful activity—like scrolling, clicking, or watching a video—rather than just whether someone left quickly.

Events

GA4 automatically tracks many basic actions as “events” (like page views, scrolls, video plays, or file downloads), but you can also set up custom events to track tourism-specific interactions—like clicking “Book Now,” using your trip planner, or viewing a location map. Events are the foundation for measuring Conversions.

Pages and Screens

See which pages are keeping people engaged the longest. Are users diving into your blog about hidden hiking spots, or are they leaving quickly from your homepage? This helps you fine-tune your content and layout for better performance.

Landing Page Report

Find out which pages people arrive on first when they visit your website. This is especially helpful for understanding which blog posts, experience pages, or campaign landing pages are drawing traffic. It can also help you optimize those pages to guide visitors toward next steps—like booking, exploring more content, or signing up for a newsletter.

Use these reports to help you understand what content is working. The more you understand how visitors engage with your site, the easier it is to turn curiosity into bookings.

Google Analytics Engagement Overview

Lifecycle Reports: Monetization – Tracking Revenue on Your Website

The Monetization tab in GA4 helps you understand how your website (or app) is generating revenue. For tourism businesses, this could include online bookings, product sales, gift cards, or vacation packages. While GA4 doesn’t track purchases automatically, with the right setup, this tab can give you clear insights into what’s selling—and what’s driving that revenue.

What you’ll see:

Overview

A snapshot of your total revenue, number of purchases, average revenue per user, and top-selling products or services. Great for spotting trends at a glance.

Ecommerce Purchases

Detailed reporting on each item or service sold. See how often something was viewed vs. purchased—helpful for understanding interest vs. action (like a popular page that isn’t converting).

Checkout Journey

See how visitors move through your booking or checkout process. This helps you spot where people drop off—whether it’s at the cart, entering payment details, or the final confirmation.

Purchaser Report

Learn more about who is completing purchases. See trends by country, device, or returning vs. new users. Great for understanding who your paying customers are—especially helpful if you’re marketing to different types of travellers (local vs. international, mobile vs. desktop).

Monetization reports give you powerful insights into what your visitors are buying and where they might be getting stuck. With the right setup, you’ll be able to see what’s driving revenue—and where there’s room to improve the path to purchase.
 

Google Analytics Monetization Overview

User Reports: User Attributes: Who’s Visiting Your Website

The User Attributes section gives you a breakdown of visitors exploring your website by age, gender, interests, language, and location. This is especially useful when you’re trying to understand if your experiences are attracting families, solo travellers, adventure-seekers, or cultural explorers.

You can also see Geographic reports showing where your visitors are located—from the country level down to the city. Tourism businesses can use this to help shape and understand where potential travellers are coming from and if they should be supplementing any advertising in that area, such as advertising.

What you’ll see:

• Overview: A snapshot of your audience, including age ranges, gender (if available), country, and top interests. Use this for a quick look at who’s engaging with your site and where they’re from.
• Demographic Details: A more detailed breakdown of visitor traits—like age, gender, language, and location (from country to city level). This can help you identify patterns, like whether you’re attracting more local visitors or out-of-province travellers, and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
• Audience: This section lets you view and create groups of users based on shared traits or behaviours. Some basic audience data is available by default, but you also have the ability to build custom audiences that reflect your specific goals or campaigns.

For example, you can create audiences like:

• Visitors who spent more than five minutes on a cultural experience page but didn’t book
• Users who came from Instagram ads and visited the events page
• Return users from Alberta (or other destination) who viewed winter packages

These custom audiences are incredibly valuable for tourism marketing—especially for remarketing, campaign targeting, and understanding travel intent across regions and demographics.

Learn how to build custom audiences.
 

Google Analytics User Attributes Overview

User Reports: Tech: How Visitors Are Viewing Your Site

The Technology tab shows you how people are accessing your website—whether they’re on a phone, tablet, or desktop. For tourism businesses, this matters more than ever. Many travelers research, plan, and even book while on the go, so knowing which devices and browsers they’re using can help you make sure your site is working smoothly for them.

If your mobile experience is clunky or pages aren’t loading well on certain devices, this section can help you catch those issues before they cost you bookings.

What you’ll see:
 

Overview

A summary of the most common devices, browsers, and operating systems your audience is using. Quickly see if most visitors are on mobile, or which browser they prefer (e.g. Chrome, Safari). This helps you prioritize testing and optimize your site for the platforms your audience actually uses.

Tech Details

A deeper look at exactly how people are accessing your site, including:

• • Device category: Mobile, desktop, or tablet
  • Browser and OS combinations: Like Chrome on Android or Safari on iPhone
  • Screen resolution and size: Helpful for making sure your site and images scale correctly. These details are useful for troubleshooting design issues, testing your booking engine, or refining how your pages load across devices.

 
Knowing how your visitors access your site ensures you’re delivering the best experience—whether they’re planning a trip from their laptop or booking a last-minute tour on their phone. With the Technology tab, you can catch display issues early and make smarter design and development decisions.
 

Google Analytics Tech Overview

Data Modeling and Privacy

GA4 is built to work even when it can’t track every user action directly. It combines data from cookies, device IDs, and machine learning models to fill in the gaps and provide a clearer picture of visitor behaviour.

With growing privacy protections—like cookie consent banners and iOS tracking limits—some users choose not to be tracked. Instead of leaving those visits blank, GA4 uses smart data modelling to estimate trends and interactions. While the data isn’t perfect, it’s designed to give you reliable patterns so you can still make informed marketing and website decisions.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

GA4 isn’t just a fancy analytics tool—it’s a powerful way to grow your tourism business. With the right insights, you can improve your website experience, connect with the right visitors, and create content that truly resonates.

You don’t need to be a tech expert to get started. Google’s free Analytics Academy offers helpful beginner-friendly courses, and the GA4 Help Center is always available when you’re stuck.

Let the data work for you—so you can focus on what matters most: creating unforgettable visitor experiences.