Are Travel Writers Becoming Extinct?

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

Yes, if all they write about are places they travel to.  It seems the traveling public is more interested these days in travel ideas, trends, travel news and technology, than in destinations.

Travel writers love to travel. That’s why most of them are in the business.

But it that the right reason?
I don’t think so.

Matador Notebook points out that the world is so thoroughly Googleized that the tradition of destination travel writers may be coming to an end.

Historically, authentic travel content came from world explorers, cultural investigators and scribes like like Ibn Battuta, W. Somerset Maugham,  and even our own, Paul Theroux,

But how relevant can traditional travel writers be in this Googleized world where all kinds of destination travel advice, reports and images are available everywhere?

Do consumers really need another article on the “impossibly blue waters” of the Caribbean or another “Top Ten Destinations,” - or “Top Ten Travel ” anything?

The Society America of Travel Writers, the professional organization representing many travel writers, seems disinclined to look closely at the role and value of travel writers in this time of ubiquitous travel information.

Then there’s the question of motivation.

I read a number of  blogs and articles proclaiming that becoming a travel writer was a free ticket to free travel: hotel rooms, airfare, meals. Most everything.

If not free, then deeply discounted. But mostly free.

And after a few conferences, I was, not for the first time, struck by how many professional travel writers measure their success and clout (Klout) by how many press trips they get invited to.

Much of the energy in professional travel-writing conversations centers around how to get noticed by Destination Management Organizations (DMO’s), like public relations or marketing companies,  so that the yearned for  invite to a Caribbean island or an exotic destination like Bali would be more forthcoming.

Journalists usually chose their professions because they are consumer-facing, committed to providing timely, compelling, useful information to the public. In some cases journalists are actually committed to revealing a truth or exposing unsavory practices. Think Watergate, of course.

Travel writers often seem by comparison to simply want to indulge their passion for travel, and want to write about their trips.

They seem less guided by what information the public needs or wants or finds relevant, and more by the destination the writer wants to visit.

So, something isn’t right when I read a long, puerile  thread on Linkedin Discussion Groups about  the distance one has to literally travel ( 50 miles?1000?) to be considered a real travel writer.

And then there are those posts with titles like,  “So You Want To See the World for Free? Become a Travel Writer”.

In my own practice as a member of the travel writing community, I made the shift to writing about travel trends, technology, travel news and the business of travel.

Of course I like to travel and file a report about an interesting inn or an especially positive travel experience.
I think sometime the public is curious and likes a professional point of view.

But if numbers matter, content about travel brands and social media, or women bloggers or the veracity of TripAdvisor’s reviews, get far more Tweets, comments and views than my St. Lucia story does.

And when I combine an article on how Ireland is cleverly using Foursquare as a marketing tool, and add a video, the content does best.

I still love to travel, and write about it, but my passport is getting dusty.

And I notice really informed DMO’s (and the public) are looking for more than a destination piece on how great they are. They seem to be moving toward a marketing package that includes their destination, but  in the context of travel trends, travel technology and travel news.

[Allan Lynch]

Shhhhh, Keleel. If you keep being useful even working old-school farts like us will grumble about how the work has dried up.

I am constantly bemused by people who think I do nothing but vacation and then write 'little stories about what I did'. Let them think it. Deadwood drifts away. I spoke to a class of J-school students and they couldn't believe it when I told them I had made four trips to the Caribbean before I had time to go into the water.

I don't blame people for writing magazine articles on how to travel for free by becoming a travel writer. Hey, it's a commission. The last one I saw was probably $1,000 for the writer. What stunned me was the magazine that carried it. I thought they had greater depth. Apparently not.