Is it possible to make a decent living as a full-time travel writer? I think the answer is yes, if you’re smart about taking advantage of resources available to you, as well as diversifying your portfolio of work. (That entails having regular gigs with clients paying higher rates than consumer travel publications do.)
One of those resources is the press trip.
PR professionals provide travel journalists the opportunity to attend group press trips or individual hosted visits. Often misperceived as a free trip, a press trip or FAM is actually an exchange of services. A hotel or destination agrees to host a journalist, on their own or as part of a group, at no cost, in exchange for the journalist agreeing to pitch and write stories about them for media outlets.
Press trips enable journalists to have travel experiences they might never be able to afford on their own, for the sake of writing about them for a larger audience.
Is It Getting Harder to Place Press Trip Stories?
One concern I’ve heard lately among travel writers is the increasing difficulty of placing press trip stories after returning home. Writers are saying it’s harder to find publications that accept press trips.
It has been more challenging as of late to get responses to emails, across the board. I believe this is attributed to an explosion in email volume and more freelance writers in the pool, and on the publication side, constantly shifting strategies and budget cuts.
At the same time, I’ve also noticed an increasing number of publications that accept press trips coverage. That why I’ve decided to publish this list, which I’ve compiled through research and conversations with writers and editors within our Pitchcraft community.
There’s a caveat, though: Please read. By listing these outlets that accept press trips, this means that they do not have a no press trips policy, to our knowledge. These publications may openly state they accept travel ideas that come from anywhere. They may require disclosure of ideas that have stemmed from a hosted visit. Or, they may follow a “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy.
It’s also critical to note that by accepting press trip stories, I am not suggesting you pitch these publications a play-by-play account of a hosted visit. In fact, I’d venture that not one on this list would accept a pitch with such an angle. It’s the job of the freelance writer to determine unique, timely story angles from a trip and carefully read publications they’re considering pitching to assess fit.
From the PR perspective, it’s helpful to be familiar with which publications do and do not accept stories from press trips to help you manage expectations when determining which journalists to invite on a trip.
Publications that Accept Press Trips*
AAA Explorer
Afar
Architectural Digest
Artful Living
Azure Road
Better Homes & Gardens
Birds & Blooms
BizBash
Bon Appetit
Bourbon Plus
Brides
Business Traveler
Bustle
Camille Styles
Conde Nast Traveler
Country Living
Covey Rise
Cowboys & Indians
Culture
Decanter
DuJour
Eat This, Not That
EasyJet Traveller
Elite Traveler
enRoute
enVoyage
Essence
Farm Flavor
Fifty Grande
Flamingo
Fodors
Food & Travel
Food & Wine
Garden & Gun
Global Traveler
Golf
Good Grit
Good Housekeeping
Goop
Hemispheres
High Life
Holland Herald
Hotels Above Par
InsideHook
Katie Couric Media
Local Palate
Marin
Matador Network
Men’s Journal
Midwest Living
Mindbodygreen
Motorcoach Living
Okra
Parade
Parents
People
Popsugar
Prevention
Prevue
Qantas Magazine
Rails to Trails
Range
Re:porter
Reader’s Digest
Real Simple
Robb Report
Route Magazine
Saveur
Scandinavian Traveler
Scuba Diving
Shermans Travel
Smart Meetings
Smithsonian
Southern Living
Spa & Beauty Today
StyleBlueprint
Success
Sunset
Surfer
The Daily Beast
The Everygirl
The Knot
The New Wine Review
The Points Guy
Thrillist
Town & Country
Travel Awaits
Travel + Leisure
Travel Curator
Vera
Veranda
Via
Viator
Vie Magazine
Virtuoso, The Magazine
Vogue
Well + Good
Wine Enthusiast
Wizz
Woman’s Day
Worth
*We have compiled this list of publications to the best of our knowledge. We don’t take responsibility for pitching repercussions that result from incorrectly listing a publication that does not accept press trip coverage. We will be updating this list accordingly if any errors are spotted. If you are an editor or writer with publications that you’d like to add to or subtract from our list, please email me, kelsey@pitchcraft.media, or drop a comment below.
Publications with No-Press-Trips Policies
For transparency, we also are sharing a short list of publications that do not allow pitches that come from press trips. Of note, some publications on this list do not accept pitches from writers who have gone on any press trips, for any outlets, within the past few years, or sometimes, ever, regardless of the section you’re pitching.
We recommend carefully examining the press trip policy of any publication you want to pitch now or in the future when evaluating whether you want to attend a press trip.
Again, if you have any to add to this list, feel free to email me or comment below.
BCC
CNN Travel
Forbes
Insider
Lonely Planet
The New York Times
TripSavvy
USA Today
Washington Post
WSJ Off Duty
Two More Things to Consider
Don’t forget, many local, regional and state publications, both print and digital, are open to pitches from press trips. Broadcast stations and podcasts may also be receptive to pitches from these hosted visits, and are not included in this list.
Remember to think outside the box when pitching publications that accept press trips. A wide variety of publications cover travel from different perspectives, or can accommodate ideas that come from trips, without being considered travel outlets. It’s wise for freelance writers to leverage people they’ve met on press trips as sources or experts in stories, too.
