I love serendipity. As I was updating my talk ‘Introduction to Travel Writing’, which I give from time to time at libraries and writers’ groups, a blog post popped up in my emails from my colleague Lindy Alexander, at The Freelancer’s Year, entitled There has never been a better time to be a travel writer.
While I caution my workshop participants that it can be difficult to break into the freelance travel writing world, I believe well written, well targeted travel stories will find a paying market. Sure, the pay rates are not always great, and in many instances have gone down in recent years. Even Don George says in Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing, “More people are making less money than ever before in the history of Travel Writing.” Which is why I find Lindy’s blog post so timely.
As she says in her post, “Over 10 per cent of all global economic activity in 2018 was generated by the travel and tourism industry.” She points to stats saying that travel and tourism is the second-fastest growing sector in the world. Consequently travel-related advertising is very strong – you only have to look at the weekend newspaper travel sections to see that. While other newspaper sections are shrinking or being culled, travel sections are growing. So pop over to The Freelancer’s Year and be motivated.
While you’re there, check out her post What no one ever tells you about being a travel writer. She goes behind-the-scenes and talks to a variety of travel writers around the world, myself included, about the rigors of the job, and what goes on before, during and after the time spent traveling. Like most jobs, it’s not always as glamorous as it seems. But the rewards are enormous. We are incredibly privileged to be able to travel so widely and to be able to share that with our readers.