GetYourGuide Doesn't Accept My Country: What Now?

If your business is based in a country where GetYourGuide has restricted supplier onboarding, its standard sign-up won't let you through on your own, and no VPN, borrowed identity or bought account changes that. You still have legitimate routes: sell through an approved supplier that operates or properly contracts the tour, book GetYourGuide activities for your clients as a travel agent, grow on other channels, or have a supplier account set up in your own name with specialist help. If your country isn't restricted and you were declined anyway, the cause is usually something you can fix.

First, check that the restriction really applies to you

GetYourGuide keeps two separate country lists on its Restricted Activities page. One covers countries where business is limited because of sanctions. The other covers "restricted onboarding" countries, which GetYourGuide says are restricted because of elevated business risk. That second list is the one most tour agencies run into, and we go through it country by country in our guide to GetYourGuide's restricted countries.

Two details are worth reading carefully:

It's about the business and the activities. When verification is declined for location reasons, GetYourGuide's verification guide says it can mean "your business or activities are based somewhere we don't currently support." So the question isn't only where your company is registered.
The list can change. Everything here reflects the page at the time of writing. Check GetYourGuide's own page before you make a decision based on it.

If your country isn't on either list, skip ahead to the section on fixing a declined application.

What you can't do

The honest answer first: while your country is on the restricted onboarding list, applying on your own through the standard sign-up won't get your business verified as a supplier. Agencies try a few shortcuts, and they all have the same weakness: the account doesn't really belong to the business that runs the tours.

A VPN or a foreign address. Verification checks a government ID and a live selfie through an identity partner, and compares company details against the official business registry. Where you appear to connect from has nothing to do with who you are.
A relative's or friend's details. The account then legally belongs to them, along with the payouts, the contract and the liability for every booking.
A company abroad that exists only on paper. If your team in your home country actually runs the tours, a foreign registration doesn't change where the business and the activities are based. Presenting that company as the operator is misrepresentation.
Buying or renting an existing account. Whoever GetYourGuide verified is the supplier. You'd be running bookings on an account you don't own, with no contract of your own with GetYourGuide.

When one of these arrangements is discovered, the usual outcome is the one described in our article on disabled accounts: bookings stop, payouts can be withheld, and the reviews you built are gone with the listing. That tends to happen after you've started depending on the income.

Route 1: Work through an approved supplier

This is the route most agencies in restricted countries end up using. A supplier that GetYourGuide has already verified lists the tour and is the operator GetYourGuide deals with. Your agency provides the ground service, such as guides, vehicles, and local knowledge, under a written contract with that supplier.

There is one rule that decides whether this is done properly. GetYourGuide's supplier terms say a supplier may not subcontract performance of the services without GetYourGuide's prior written consent, and that the supplier stays fully liable for its subcontractors. So a partner who takes your tour has two clean options: run it as their own operation, or get GetYourGuide's consent to use you as a subcontractor. Ask which one they're using before you sign anything.

Be clear about what you give up:

The listing, the reviews and the customer relationship on GetYourGuide belong to the supplier.
GetYourGuide pays the supplier, not you. According to its payment cycle page, payouts go out monthly, or twice a month for an extra 2% commission. Your partner will usually pay you after they get paid.
Your price has to cover GetYourGuide's commission plus your partner's margin, so your net rate per guest will be lower than selling direct.

Before you commit, a written agreement should cover:

your net rate per person and when it is paid
who handles guest messages, complaints and refunds
what happens with cancellations, weather and no-shows
what happens to the listing if the partnership ends

That last point matters because the listing stays with the supplier.

Operational quality matters on their side too. GetYourGuide's performance standards ask for a cancellation rate of 1.0% or lower and a no-show rate of 0.2% or lower, measured over a rolling 90 days. If your team misses a pickup, it's your partner's account that takes the hit, and a good partner will ask how you prevent that.

Also know that GetYourGuide decides which new activities go live. Travelers can book activities in several restricted countries (at the time of writing, GetYourGuide showed hundreds of activities in Cairo alone), but every new product still goes through review. GetYourGuide's activity review guide says products are often rejected for being too similar to existing ones, and a rejected activity can't be resubmitted. A fifth near-identical pyramid tour is a harder sell than something the platform doesn't already have.

Route 2: Sell GetYourGuide activities as a travel agent

If your agency mainly builds trips and books other people's tours, the supplier account may not be what you need. GetYourGuide doesn't onboard online travel agencies or destination management companies as suppliers, and its eligibility page points those businesses to its partner program instead.

GetYourGuide also describes a way for travel agents to book activities for their clients and earn commission on those bookings. You don't list your own tours this way. You earn on the tours your clients buy. Check the partner terms and whether the program is open in your country before you plan around it. We haven't confirmed that for every restricted country.

Route 3: Other channels

GetYourGuide is one marketplace. Other platforms have their own supplier rules, and those rules are separate from GetYourGuide's. Don't assume a platform accepts or rejects your country until you've read its supplier requirements. Our GetYourGuide vs. Viator comparison covers how the two biggest ones differ on audience and commission.

Direct sales still count: your own website, hotel and cruise partnerships, and contracts with agencies abroad that send you groups. None of them replaces a big marketplace, but they don't depend on anyone else's onboarding list.

Route 4: An account set up in your own name

This is what we do at OperatorGateway. We set up a GetYourGuide supplier account in your own name, for your own business, from day one. There is no account transfer at the end and nothing is bought, rented or borrowed: once the account is live, the login, the payouts and the control are yours. We don't publish the exact working method, and it isn't the right fit for every agency. Our package guide explains the three ways to work with us.

If you're not on the list but were declined

A declined verification from an accepted country is usually a paperwork problem. GetYourGuide's verification guide names the main causes:

The wrong business type. Registered company and individual trader need different details.
Details that don't match the registry. The legal company name has to match exactly, including punctuation and accents, and so do the registration number and the registered address.
A poor ID photo or selfie. Glare, cut-off corners and hats or sunglasses all cause trouble.

The same guide says you get three attempts in total, so fix the cause before you try again rather than resubmitting the same data. If you applied as a natural person and an automated check declined you, it also says you can ask Supplier Support for a human review under GDPR.

One more check: if your agency resells tours that other companies operate, you'll be declined as a supplier wherever you're based, because GetYourGuide works with direct operators only. In that case Route 2 is the one to look at.

Will the restriction be lifted?

GetYourGuide doesn't publish a timeline for reviewing the list. The practical approach is to plan as if it will stay, build the routes above, and check the restricted activities page from time to time. If your country comes off the list, you'll already have a product, reviews from other channels and an operation that works, which helps when you apply.

FAQ

Can I apply with a company registered in another country?

Only if that company is genuinely the business that runs the tours. GetYourGuide looks at where the business and the activities are based, not only at the registration certificate. A company set up abroad just to pass verification, while your team at home does the actual work, misrepresents who the operator is.

Is it safe to buy or rent an existing GetYourGuide supplier account?

No. The account belongs to whoever GetYourGuide verified. If the arrangement comes to light, the account can be suspended with payouts withheld, and you have no contract with GetYourGuide to fall back on.

Can an approved supplier list my tour for me?

Yes, if they run it as their own operation or have GetYourGuide's written consent to subcontract it to you. Either way, the listing, the reviews and the payouts are theirs, and you're paid under your contract with them.

Can travelers book tours in restricted countries on GetYourGuide?

Yes. The restriction is on onboarding suppliers based in those countries, and many activities there are already on the platform. Whether a new activity gets approved is GetYourGuide's decision, and products that are too similar to existing ones are often rejected.

I'm a travel agency that resells tours. Could I ever become a supplier?

Not as a reseller. GetYourGuide accepts registered businesses and individual traders that directly operate their own tours. If you do operate some of your own tours, those could qualify once your country is accepted. For the rest, GetYourGuide's partner program for travel agents is the channel it offers.

How will I know if the list changes?

GetYourGuide publishes it on its Supply Partner Help Center. Check the restricted activities page directly rather than relying on older blog posts, including this one.

If you'd like to talk through which route suits your agency, including an account set up in your own name, you can reach us through the contact page.