Vitaliy Levit
Founder & CEO at Gondola
Before founding Gondola, Vitaliy spent 15 years driving over $100M in revenue for technology companies. He then built a sailing charter business and local OTA, growing it to a $1M annual run rate in under three years before selling it during the pandemic. The challenges he faced as an operator — competing against large booking platforms, securing direct bookings, and navigating the digital world without the right tools — led directly to building Gondola. Today, Gondola helps tour and activity operators get high-converting websites without the complexity.
Articles by Vitaliy Levit
Google Ads for Tour Operators: A Guide
How to run Google Ads that convert for tour and activity businesses. Campaign structure, bidding strategy, and landing page tips.
How to Start a Boat Tour Business
Practical guide to launching a boat tour business. USCG licensing, vessel selection, insurance, route planning, and filling tours from day one.
How to Start a Fishing Charter Business
How to launch a fishing charter business — USCG licensing, boat selection, insurance, pricing strategy, and marketing to fill trips year-round.
How to Start a Food Tour Business
Step-by-step guide to launching a food tour business. Route planning, restaurant partnerships, pricing, licensing, and marketing.
How to Start a Jet Ski Rental Business
How to start a jet ski rental business — licensing, insurance, fleet management, and marketing. A practical, no-fluff guide.
How to Start a Wine Tour Business
How to launch a wine tour business — building winery partnerships, choosing your vehicle, licensing, pricing, and marketing to travelers.
Tour Operator Insurance: A Complete Guide
Plain-English guide to insurance for tour and activity operators. What coverage you need, what it costs, and how to avoid costly gaps.
Tour Operator Website Design That Books
Tour operator website design: the 8 elements every tourism site needs, common mistakes, DIY vs agency vs builder, and niche-specific tips.
Tourism Email Marketing: Fill Tours, Skip Ads
A practical guide to email marketing for tour and activity operators. Build a list, write emails that book, and turn one-time guests into repeat customers.
Tourism Marketing Guide for Tour Operators
The complete tourism marketing guide for tour and activity operators. Channels, budgets, seasonal strategies, and KPIs that drive real bookings.
Travel Website SEO for Tour Operators
The definitive guide to travel website SEO. Technical SEO, content strategy, local SEO, link building, and AI optimization for tour operators.
Digital Marketing for Tour Operators: A Guide
A no-fluff guide to digital marketing for tour operators. SEO, paid ads, social media, email, and content — what actually works in 2026.
FareHarbor Websites Alternative: Why Switch
Compare FareHarbor pricing and alternatives. FareHarbor moved users to paid websites — Gondola offers more features, better support, half the cost.
Evergreen Content for Tour Operators
How evergreen content brings new customers to your tour business without extra effort. Strategies, topic ideas, and how to turn traffic into bookings.
Organic Growth Case Study: Boat Tour Operator
How we ranked a tour operator on the first page of Google for every major keyword in 6 months, tripling his business.
Tour Marketing 101: Promote Your Tours
Tour operator marketing guide: the best ways to promote your tours and activities, from identifying your audience to campaigns that drive bookings.
SEO for Tour Operators: 7 Tips for Bookings
Essential SEO strategies for tour operators and tourism businesses. From keyword research to local SEO — 7 actionable tips to generate more bookings.
How To Start A Tour Company: Essential Guide
A comprehensive actionable guide covering the tour operator industry, from market research and business structure to marketing plans and website creation.
Exact Match Domains for Tour Operators
How Exact Match Domains (EMDs) give tour operators a competitive edge in search rankings, with a data-driven approach to choosing the right domain.
Magpie Powers Their Platform & Pages With Gondola
Learn how Magpie Travel adopted Gondola's experience commerce platform to eliminate customer frustration and increase booking conversion rates.
Gondola Partners with Checkfront
Gondola and Checkfront partner to help tour operators increase direct bookings and improve the customer experience.
Gondola Acquires Tour Boogie
Gondola acquires Tour Boogie, adding innovative technology to help tour companies get direct bookings and stop overpaying.