Practical logo guides by trade
Travel agency logo: positioning, booking flow and brochures
A travel agency’s customers meet your logo at every step: a post, your website, the booking engine, the confirmation email, the travel documents. It must stay recognizable on landscape photos, in a header a few pixels tall and on a printed brochure. This guide helps an independent agency or tour organizer build an identity that holds together along that whole journey.
BrandMotion Lab · Published · 6 min read
Luxury, adventure, family or business: choose a positioning
Tailor-made and luxury travel
Discretion and elegance: refined typography, perhaps a monogram, a limited palette. The logo must sit next to high-quality photography without competing with it.
Adventure and nature
Sturdier shapes, tones inspired by landscapes, a simple symbol. Beware of detailed illustrations of mountains or trails, unreadable at small sizes.
Family holidays and stays
Warmth and clarity: a name that is easy to remember, welcoming colors, perfect legibility on mobile, where bookings are often prepared.
Business travel and events
Restraint close to a consulting firm’s identity: the logo appears on proposals, programs and badges.
An independent agency gains nothing by imitating the codes of large networks: its strength is often its specialty or closeness, which the name and logo can carry.
Plane, globe, palm tree: symbols to avoid
Plane, globe, palm tree, suitcase, compass, map pin, sunset: these symbols say “travel”, but thousands of agencies use them. A plane over a globe says nothing about your specialty. More personal directions: an initial, a shape linked to your flagship destination, a simple line suggesting a route or a horizon.
The two concepts below were generated by BrandMotion Lab’s engine for fictional brands from the tourism sector of our demo gallery; they are not customers. The comparison is about their design.
A consistent logo across the booking journey
- Social post or ad: the symbol or compact version on a photo.
- Agency website: the horizontal version in the header, the symbol as favicon.
- Booking engine: often supplied by a third party, with a header of limited height and a set background. Check which versions and sizes it accepts.
- Confirmation email: a reasonably sized PNG, since many email clients do not display SVG.
- Travel documents (itinerary, travel pack, invoice): the logo in the header, with a black version for printing.
Customers should feel they are still with the same agency from one step to the next: same colors, same logo version, same typeface in headings.
Legibility on mobile and in narrow headers
On a phone, the header of a website or booking engine leaves little height. A very long horizontal logo becomes tiny; a compact version or the symbol alone reads better there. Test your logo at the actual size of a mobile header, and check the favicon in a browser tab.
Brochures, travel packs and business cards
- On a photo: prepare a white (or light) version of the logo, legible against a sky, a sea or a mountain, and place it on a calm area of the image.
- Printed brochure: give the printer a vector file; they handle color conversion and send you a proof.
- PDF travel pack: the logo in the header or footer, at a modest size.
- Business card: a small format; check the logo at actual size, and the symbol can take the back.
Social media
An agency’s social accounts mostly show destination photos. The profile picture, cropped to a circle, takes the symbol alone. On visuals, a small discreet logo in a corner is enough; a large watermark logo spoils the photo that makes people dream.
Colors and typography
- Sky blue and turquoise are everywhere in the sector; a more personal color, or an unexpected accent, sets you apart more.
- Think about photos: your color must stay visible next to very colorful images, hence the value of a white version.
- Typography that reads small: very thin script lettering disappears in a mobile header.
Versions of the same logo
| Version | Use |
|---|---|
| Horizontal | Website header, brochures, travel documents |
| Compact | Mobile header, booking engine, business card |
| Symbol only | Favicon, social avatar, corner of visuals |
| White | On destination photos and dark backgrounds |
| Black | Invoices, printed programs, administrative documents |
What a logo does not replace
In France, for example, according to Atout France, travel and holiday operators must register with Atout France to operate, and must show a financial guarantee and professional liability insurance to do so (article L. 211-18 of the French Tourism Code). A logo satisfies none of these requirements, and it must not suggest a guarantee, label or affiliation the agency does not hold. In other countries, check the local regulations for travel businesses. The French source is listed at the bottom of the page.
Common mistakes
- A plane over a globe or a suitcase under a palm tree: symbols the whole sector uses.
- A detailed landscape illustration, unreadable in a mobile header.
- No white version, and a logo that vanishes on photos.
- A different logo on the website and in the booking engine, which undermines trust at the moment of payment.
- Suggesting a label or guarantee in the logo.
- A name that ties the agency to a single destination when the offer is meant to grow.
Creating your logo with BrandMotion Lab
- Define your positioning (tailor-made, adventure, family, business) and your specialty.
- Test a direction with the no-account trial: two watermarked previews, limited, with no downloadable files.
- With an account, compare six free Logo Pack concepts; set aside those that pile up planes, globes and palm trees.
- Test the chosen concept on a destination photo, in a mobile header and in an email.
- After the one-time payment, use the SVG or PDF for brochures and the PNGs for the website, booking engine and emails.
Not sure whether to choose the Logo Pack or a subscription? The Pricing page compares both paths. For a website header and favicon, see creating a favicon for your website.
Frequently asked questions
- Does a travel agency logo need a plane or a globe?
- No. These symbols are instantly understood but used by thousands of agencies. An initial, a horizon line or a shape linked to your specialty set you apart more.
- My booking engine imposes its header: which version should I provide?
- Usually a compact or short horizontal version, as a PNG, on the background the tool provides. Ask the provider for accepted dimensions and formats, and check the result on mobile.
- Should the logo show the agency’s registration?
- No, that is not its role. In France, for example, registration with Atout France is a requirement of the activity; check with Atout France which information must appear on your documents, next to the logo. Elsewhere, follow the local rules.
- Which files for a printed brochure?
- A vector file (SVG or PDF) and a white version for photos. With the Logo Pack, the final pack contains an SVG built from vector paths, a vector PDF, PNGs and dark and light monochrome versions; the printer handles color conversion.