Making Travel PR connections?

[GreenGlobalTravel.com]

We've been covering travel in a freelance capacity for major airline and hotel magazines (AirTran, American Airlines, American Eagle, Spirit Airlines, Marriott, etc) for several years now. But we're trying to expand our coverage via our new website, which is launching soon and will feature everything from travel news and budget-friendly deals to destination features and cultural essays.

Our list of PR contacts in fairly limited: Is there any sort of website or page with a regularly updated list of which PR firms are handling specific destinations? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Bret Love & Mary Gabbett
GreenGlobalTravel.com

[José Balido]

A good place to start is right here on Tripatini's Travel Marketers/Publicists group, where you'll find hundreds of the world's top travel PR specialists.

Good luck!

[Ed Wetschler]

As president of the New York Travel Writers Association, I've explored this same issue. Seems to me that Jose is right; this really is as good a source of marketing and p.r. people as I've found, because neither PRSA nor SATW publishes its members' contacts. Moreover, even if they did, you'd still be working with something akin to the Tripatini list -- that is, the names of the public relations firms rather than the clients would be the first to come up.

[GreenGlobalTravel.com]

Thanks, guys! It's been a struggle, because we've gotten assignments in the past year we've had to do as research-based stories rather than experience-based just because we couldn't figure out which PR firms handled the various countries' Tourism Board media relations (including Guatemala, Panama and Peru). Seems strange that it's so difficult to track that info down...

[Mary A Huff]

Hi Bret. Jose and Ed are right about Tripatini. In addition, you can use www.Profnet.com and www.helpareporter.com (HARO) to post queries read by thousands of PR people. Good Luck!