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Press Trip Protocols for Travel Writers
How get those travel writer perks, and how to behave when you’re on one
Notes: This article first appeared in Writing Magazine in March 2016. (*= affiliate link: I sometimes use affiliate links in my posts. This won’t cost you anything, but if you go on to buy from a link I may earn a small commission.)
Despite the ever-falling circulation figures of print publications, PR agencies and businesses are still keen to get their travel and tourism messages across in print format. We, as freelance writers, can help them achieve this, with a little help from an organised press trip. However, when it comes to the business of writing, getting the most out of a press trip means having a business-like attitude at all times.
A press trip is not a holiday. There may be an opportunity to grab ten minutes to sit, relax and enjoy the scenery, but that’s either because the person you’ve lined up to interview is running late or you were running late and another journalist has stepped in and grabbed your time slot.
Press trips tend to fall into two categories: organised events hosting a group of writers and journalists from a variety of publications, or individually tailored affairs, built around a commission. Either way, the commission is important. Tourist boards and…
