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For non travel writers: did y'all know that the only way most travel writers are able to write about the places they write about is because we get sponsored by city and state tourism boards as well as hotels and other attractions? As in, it is paid for in hopes of coverage?
I ask because maybe there's some misunderstanding about how people are able to write about other places. Unless you are rich or well-off (or have rich/well-off family), travel is a hard thing to come by. Even more so for folks who struggle financially (see: most writers)
Apparently there's some article going around I won't share regarding this. And there's some debate about the ethics of whether or not it's okay to accept a free meal in order to write about a restaurant, or a free hotel stay to write about said hotel.
But ethics are a personal matter in that some people are able to accept something and if they have a terrible/negative experience, they'll flat out either not write about it, or be forthcoming in that yes, this place/experience? AWFUL.
Yes, some folks may have trouble with being able to stay ethical on this (these folks well, are likely not very professional, or perhaps just very new to the game). But on the whole, this practice allows for diverse voices to write about destinations.
Imagine if ALL TRAVEL WRITER were only written by those who can frequently afford to fly and stay in hotels and eat at all kinds of restaurants and enjoy all kinds of attractions? In fact much of travel writing likely IS still written by such folks.
But that means they won't notice things that diverse people would notice. Those people won't write about a lack of accessibility, or that some things are downright unaffordable for most. They might not seek out the lesser-known or written about spots that are POC run.
They might go on a press trip to Mexico and ONLY talk about their experience at the hotel and may look at "the help" as "the help" versus as actual people worth talking to and interviewing to get a more in-depth look at what the hotel is actually like and how they treat employees
Or they might suggest to their white readers to visit markets and try to haggle down on prices on crafts made by people who are already selling you goods at an extremely fair or exceptionally low rate, instead of reminding you that this is how they make a LIVING.
Are SOME of the writers who get chosen for press trips affluent already? Of course. But some of us? Some of us are paycheck-to-paycheck folks whose families only ever dreamed of going on vacations. Some of us can't afford those lifestyles.
And we take these trips with the knowledge we may like what we see, but we'll dig deeper to find the right stories. Or we may try to focus on ways our visits can help those communities rather than exploit them. That's what solid journos do.
If we want to talk about the ethics of paying for travel writers to come to your town, why don't we talk instead about why we still have a diversity problem in the travel industry on the whole? And how we need to do better as writers, editors, PR people, etc.?
And that's not even digging into other problems regarding how tax dollars in an area are spent (trust, there are bigger fish to fry on this matter). But it shouldn't be a shock that writers get sponsored to go on these trips to familiarize themselves with a destination.
As long as you're not promising to write something flattering even if the place is a shithole, it's OK. And doubly so for those who are underrepresented in this industry (let alone whose communities don't get to enjoy travel as much due to issues of equity, accessibility, etc.)
Also, if we want that to change, have publications foot the bill instead. Oh wait, publications can't because most can barely pay a semi-decent rate for a 1k word story let alone pay for airfare, hotel stays, meals, etc. Some pubs refuse to publish work to come from comped trips.
And that's fine but they're also doing a disservice to their readership by only allowing affluent travelers to write their stories. But then I suppose this is kind of like the gated community and HOA phenomenons. Y'all want to keep the "riff raff" out yeah?
Or maybe they just figure historically marginalized folks don't travel as much so why write for them? Idk. There's a lot of complexity to it. Way more than I can fit into a tweet thread. And I'm by no means perfect or the authority on this.
Anyway, if you're a travel editor or publisher, make sure to hire diverse writers and pay them well. And if you're in travel PR, make sure to invite diverse writers as well. *jumps off soapbox*
