list of pr contacts and their clients?

[Sheila O'Connor]

Hi I am a freelance travel writer with over 750 articles published in the US and worldwide (print and web) and would love to be put in touch with PR folks who have travel clients and who run press trips for writers.  I wonder if such a list of PR companies and their clients exists? If not, I'd be more than happy for public relations companies to contact me with a view to adding me to their database for any upcoming trips. Clips of my work are available on request.  I would need airfare provided and I live in San Francisco. Many thanks.

[Ed Wetschler]

Sheila, I saw your post a week ago and figured someone else would have a better answer than I do. Turns out I was wrong; nobody else has stepped forward, and maybe that's because PRSA's website prevents people from accessing its member list. This strikes me as a questionable decision, because one would think publicists want publicity rather than privacy.

Anyway, do look at Tripatini's Travel Marketers / Publicists group. The group has about 350 members, and each member has posted a profile so you can see who's who. Alternatively, if there's a particular destination in which you're interested, look at the lists (to the left) on the Tripatini group page for that destination, because the publicists will have joined it.

[GreenGlobalTravel.com]

We're new here, so sorry to join this discussion so late, but it seems very odd to me as well that there's no centralized databank of any sort through which travel PR reps and travel writers, editors, photographers and publishers can connect.

I've had assignments from major international airline publications for stories on Peru, Guatemala and Panama in the past year that I've ended up having to do as research-based rather than experience-based stories simply because I was unable to track down the appropriate PR person during the deadline time allotted. I have over a dozen major clients constantly asking me for more pitches, but I've run into so many dead-ends trying to make these connections that I wind up missing the boat. We joined this site hoping to change that.

Good luck in your efforts, Sheila!

[Mary A Huff]

Hi Sheila,
Ed and Jose of Tripatini have answered this question very well: right here on Tripatini! By joining the Travel Marketers and Publicists group, you'll be able to post this query there for all to see; plus you can search for PR folks through the Advanced Search tool. Airfare is difficult for smaller visitor and convention bureaus to provide but sometimes they can work things out.
Good luck!

[Mary E Gallagher]

I had a comment on this post but it must be in cyber land...
First of all I ve spent almost twenty years establishing my contacts and to be truthful don't feel like sharing them with anyone. Like assignment letters they seem to get abused. Some sites like Media Kitty list various PR people but one of the problems is turnover especially in what we're going to see coming up. If PA and other states cut their tourism budgets by 75% everyone you and I have known will be history.
I remember a new head of tourism for KY who decided it was an error - not smart marketing - to send out press releases. About half the staff took early retirement. Good Luck Sheila but the best is to build your own roladex.