A week ago, I and many others were stopped in our tracks by the video released by Google to accompany their promotion – sadly, in North America only – for early adopters to try Google Glass.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Since its debut announcement a year ago, many people have been eagerly anticipating Glass. Back then, in its demo form, it was little more than a digital camera on a headset, but it was easy to see how it might develop, particularly in its Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities. Now, some of those capabilities are being fleshed out and they highlight the way Glass will integrate with Google’s other apps, services and products.

Consider for a moment Google+ Events.

Before this month’s trip to Poland with the British Guild of Travel Writers, I set up a G+ Event for BGTW members on G+, which went ‘live’ as we landed and switched my phone to ‘event mode’ so that every time I took a photo it automatically uploaded it straight to the event where all our photos, posts and video were being aggregated.

It’s not hard to see how Glass would do the same thing.

Consider Travmonkey.com. (This is the start of my #PleaseGoogleGivePaulDowAGlassToReview campaign.)

Paul Dow, Travmonkey’s founder, has been pioneering Live Blog Trips, where he or one of his team goes to a destination for a short break and live tweets his/her experiences with images posted on Instagram. It’s not unique. Four years ago Benji Lanyado used to base his ‘live’ TwiTrips for the Guardian newspaper on tweeted recommendations from his followers, and its a key element for most blog trips – ‘live’ tweeting while there, and then writing longer blog posts afterwards.

Imagine though, how much more seamless that trip might be if he “Glassed” it, running images, voice, video, synchronised with Google Maps into a public G+ Event. Interviews with guides. Q & A sessions in a live Google Hangout on Air.

It might seem that to juggle all that would require advanced ‘live’ broadcasting skills & technique, but watch out. Generation Z are already masters at using multiple platforms and devices simultaneously in a continuous online conversation. In a couple of years time they will take to this tech like ducks to water, making our current travel blogging generation look like plodding dinosaurs. The good ones will become rock stars… well, video stars… selling their ‘live’ content into mainstream media sites and web TV channels.

So, if you are a travel blogger and eager to develop your professional skills for the future, learn this phrase: “Ok Glass…”

(Except, if you are like me you won’t be able to get the image out of your mind of an early adopting American composer having conversations with himself! No matter. You’ll probably be able to personalise your Glass with its own name. So something along the lines of “Ok, DeMille, are you ready to take a close-up?”.)

At a slight tangent, here’s another prediction, drawn from some more loose strands…

• Google likes to be associated with active sports in its marketing.
• Glass’ biggest tech problem is size. Components, particularly batteries, have to be squeezed into a tiny ‘form factor’.
• Google is working with non-IT brands and manufacturers. (Eg. Warby Parker)

I think that the technology in Glass marks a step change in mobile tech. Not the seemless integration between geolocated apps and devices, but, as Mike Elgan puts it, the transition to mainstream wearable computing.

So it’s a safe bet that in the very near future we will see a range of Google branded physical products such as bicycle helmets, ski helmets and goggles, appearing. Maybe there will be combination products, paired up so that data from one is displayed on the other? Google Bikes & Trainers talking to Google Glass, Google Snowboards talking to Google Goggles. Google Cars… well, just talking… & throwing stuff up onto a windscreen HUD!

And maybe that would explain the launching of Google retail outlets, when at the moment they only have three models of Nexus and a Chromebook to sell!

Image: Google

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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Six Navigate Media Group (NMG) bloggers will be hosted; Ayngelina Brogan of www.BaconisMagic.ca, Pete and Dalene Heck of www.HeckticTravels.com, Michael Hodson of www.GoSeeWrite.com, Michael Tieso of www.ArtofBackpacking.com and Stephanie Yoder of www.Twenty-SomethingTravel.com. Each will undertake separate itineraries during the middle of February, featuring the diversity of Finland with such activities as trekking, rapids floating, photographing the Northern Lights, hanging out with reindeer farmers, exploring the native Sami culture, riding on an icebreaker ship, looking at an ice castle, and enjoying the variety of the cultural and food life of Helsinki.

“While most people are looking for sunny destinations in winter they may be overlooking Finland, one of the most iconic Arctic destinations in the world,” said Dalene Heck of Hecktic Travels.

Navigate Media Group will undertake a number of objectives for Visit Finland, including increasing interaction on the #VisitFinland hashtags on both Twitter and Instagram, creating a Pinterest presence for Visit Finland and also conducting a social media training seminar for various Finnish businesses in the travel sector. In recent years, workshops, seminars and media training events have become an established way to add practical value to projects like this.

The emphasis is on photography for Twitter, Instagram, and in particular, Pinterest. VisitFinland’s target audience are ‘modern humanists’.

“It is image marketing,” says VisitFinland’s Johanna Vierros. “The main target is to increase Finland’s ‘attractiveness’ as a travel destination, as well as spread knowledge of Finland as a country.”

She confirms that the project is very different to a traditional travel journalist press trip, but not exclusive.

We do a lot of co-operation with traditional travel journalists (press, radio, TV) throughout the year, so they do not block out one another, but blogger trips add new spice to our media visits.

Navigate Media Group contacted us last year and suggested this project. Since we had already hosted our first blogger trip (“Blog Around the Clock”) in June 2012 , we were ready to take it to the next level by adding more intensity and social media actions for the trip in 2013, and after some research on their blogs we decided that NMG is an eligible partner.

The project differs from traditional press trips in more fundamental ways too.

The new generation of professional travel bloggers are no longer pure ‘editorial’; they also have to be commercially-minded publishers (with a transparent editorial policy), and the formation of new marketing groups like Navigate Media reflects that new approach. A number of national and local tourism promotion organisations are already engaging commercially with bloggers in ‘host + cash’ deals.

In this case, what is interesting is the way NMG works. Navigate Media Group is a collaboration of nine full-time, professional travel blogs working together on campaigns involving travel blogging and social media concepts, and all the members of the group benefit financially. In addition to the five traveling blog members activity on site with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and traditionally blogging, the four additional members of Navigate Media not on the trip (Sherry Ott of www.OttsWorld.com, Kate McCulley of www.AdventurousKate.com, Cailin O’Neill of www.TravelYourself.ca, Lisa Lubin of www.LLWorldTour.com) will be providing social media amplification of the campaign in real-time.

In order to avoid the ‘same stories, same time’ problem with group blogger trips, each NMG blogger is heading to a different destination. Johanna says they were able to choose their own destination from a selection of five: Helsinki, Kainuu (eastern Finland), Luosto, Kemi and Saariselkä.

Each trip is designed to meet the Visit Finland’s marketing themes, which are Wild & Free, Cultural Beat and Silence Please. Each trip consists of specific activities representing the specialities of each region in Finland. In Kainuu the bloggers go wildlife watching, in Kemi they visit the snow castle and so on. The goal is to show the versatility of Finland as a winter destination, and we hope that we succeed in it. Each VisitFinland regional office will provide the bloggers with WiFi gadgets so they can work in real time.

Combined together, Navigate Media brings in just under 200,000 unique visitors who read close to 500,000 page views a month. They have over 100k Twitter followers, 45k Facebook fans, 12k RSS subscribers, 8k newsletter subscribers, and over 6k Instagram followers.

“Finland Blogsposure stands to be one of the most comprehensive and complete blogging and social media campaigns undertaken by any destination in the world,” said Michael Hodson. “We are thrilled to be on board to help take Visit Finland to the next level of social media interaction.”

Image: Suomenlinna sea fortress in Helsinki – Flickr/VisitFinland

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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The PTBA has been formed by a core group of around 50 travel bloggers who treat their blogs as a business and want to create an organisation of professionals to promote their interests within the travel & tourism industry, and develop their resources, skills, careers and business opportunities.

As a highly democratic organisation (there are elections on the way for a Board of Directors and Officers), with so many individually-minded founders, it has taken just over a year of careful collaboration to build a framework of goals, policies, bylaws & ethical guidelines, plus a website to draw it all together, but that point has finally been reached and attention now turns to recruitment.

To be a member, travel bloggers will need to have been blogging for over 9 months and have over 3,000 page views in the last 30 days. Membership costs US$75 per annum.

Setting this entry level has been one of the most contentious issues the founding team have had to settle – high enough to exclude short term amateur bloggers, eg. gap yearers writing for friends & family, while low enough to include the new niche bloggers that are becoming so sought after by the travel industry wanting to target specific markets.

Membership is also open to travel industry and PRs at $300 per annum for individuals, or $500 for a group/company/DMO/organisation. Industry membership gives access to the database of blogger members, which has two tiers of information:

• Basic Information supplied by the blogger such as Blog name/url, Contact info, Overview, Current location & Planned trips, Language and Niche (selectable), Newsletters & RSS subscriber numbers.
• Statistical information authorised by the blogger but collected remotely such as Unique visitors & pageviews (via Google Analytics), Twitter followers, Facebook fans, LinkIn connections, G+ circle connections, YouTube subscribers, Pinterest followers, Kred score, PeerIndex score, Klout score)

Michael Hodson, one of founding members who has been overseeing the development of the website thinks this powerful search capability (searches can combine any of those fields) will be very attractive to the 10,000+ exhibitors at ITB Berlin 2013 who will be offered free access for a two week period.

The tie up with ITB came about really rapidly in the last week so we are still tying up the technical loose ends right now, but it’s really exciting and we hope, once they see how vibrant the search engine is, some of them will sign up as Industry members.

Also as part of the partnership agreement, both Michael and fellow co-founder, Ayngelina Brogan, will be speaking at eTravel World in ITB on the topic of “Finding and Working with Travel Bloggers”, giving them the opportunity to showcase the new PTBA search engine.

ITB will also give the PTBA a chance to demonstrate its international credentials.

When we consulted with the industry on what they would want from the search engine, the feedback was unanimous. They want two key things: the ability to search for niche bloggers, and the ability to search for languages. The active DMOs (Destination Marketing Organisations) were saying ‘we want to find the bloggers who blog in Portuguese because we want to target the Brazilian market’. And, from the other direction, when I spoke at a conference down in Brazil earlier this year I met 50-60 South American bloggers who wanted to join PTBA because they wanted access to the international travel & tourism industry.

Michael says there is still work to be done to the website and the database, and structural work to the organisation; sorting out the elections and with them a mandated management team to run the PTBA, but there’s no doubt this is a significant milestone in the association’s history.

If you are a travel blogger will you sign up to a professional association? If you are in the travel & tourism industry, is this the kind of resource your are looking for?

Image: Bigstock/Ivonnewierink

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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In mid-November, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) – the United Nations agency responsible for promoting responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism – launched a 1 Billion Tourists 1 Billion Opportunities campaign. It asked us to consider the positive difference that only one conscientious tourist can make and then “imagine if every one of the one billion tourists did the same. One billion small actions, one very big impact.”

As part of the campaign, the UNWTO arbitrarily selected December 13 as the symbolic day on which this landmark number of potential do-gooders would be reached. On that day – tomorrow! – the UNWTO will launch a Thunderclap campaign to help spread the message that “one billion tourists mean one billion opportunities.”

With no time to lose, you are of course strongly encouraged to be part of the show of mindful force.

But then, on December 14, perhaps we need to take a hard look at whether it changed minds. And if it didn’t, we need to reflect on what that says about our travel industry priorities. Remember, we’re talking about the UNWTO, arguably one of the most high-profile and far-reaching global tourism bodies in existence. Faith might move mountains, but what if faith in the mountain itself is no longer enough?

Inspiration and Action

The genesis of the campaign is refreshingly simple. “It actually came in an internal discussion when we were talking about numbers and trends and statistics,” shared Sandra Carvao, UNWTO Chief of Communications. “We were saying that we’re going to reach this amazing number this year, and I said we can’t really escape this big opportunity to call people’s attention to what it means. And actually to reinforce our message of saying it’s not about 1 billion, of course, but it’s 1 billion we have on the ground and the possibility that if we can mobilise this 1 billion to change one of their actions, at least, how much that can impact.”

The campaign therefore encourages every supporter to do three stupendously easy things, all of them very much in keeping with the values promoted by proponents of responsible travel and local travel.

• First, everyone should ‘vote‘ by committing to one or more of a quintuple of the kinds of 21st-century actions that should be common practice but still aren’t: save energy, buy local, use public transport, protect heritage and respect local culture.

• Second, participants should ‘shout’ by lending their voice to the Thunderclap that will take place at 2pm GMT on December 13th. At precisely that moment, tweets and Facebook posts about #1billtourists (the hashtag to use) will simultaneously appear from all registered supporters.

• Third, travellers can ‘join’ the effort by sending in travel self-portraits (to comm@unwto.org), the best of which are uploaded to a special Faces of the One Billion Facebook album. (Be sure to include your name, place of origin and the place where the picture was taken.)

“Our idea is really to use this – of course this is until we reach the 13th – with a very specific objective: getting people engaged to vote, getting people to have on that day something on Facebook saying if there’s 1 billion people around the world, see why it matters and what difference we can make,” commented Carvao.

Is It Enough?

There’s one question asked several times about this campaign: Is the energy put into a one-off or one-sided campaign like this enough to make a difference? Or, after the great social-media clap of thunder on December 13th, will the brief focus on mainstreaming socially conscious travel behaviour again be eclipsed by other less high-minded mobilisation efforts, especially within UNWTO ranks?

“For us, more than a goal itself – saying, OK, in December, on the 13th, we will be reaching this landmark – this is connected to our long-term objective, which is to use tourism to promote economic growth, development and, in the end, to be a force that actually works more on the positives, and minimises the negative impacts. So, the communications goal is let’s take this forward to following years as well,” responded Carvao.

That’s very good to know, but remains to be seen. At the time of writing, just 18 hours before the Thunderclap, the response has hardly been staggering. Despite the UNWTO’s heft and influence, a mere 266 people have registered their support, for a combined social reach of not quite 300,000 digitally aware souls. A drop in the bucket compared to the 1 billion on the move.

Could It Ever Be Enough?

Rather than asking ‘Is the energy enough to make a difference?’ the question might more logically be ‘Was enough energy put into it?’ especially by a presumed juggernaut like the UNWTO. As we all now know, no matter how big the entity involved, it’s just no longer enough to launch a campaign and expect that it will instantly find legs and then build momentum. Time, energy and resources have to be arrayed behind it, to propel it for as long as it takes.

“We have coordinated within our networks, our outreach to people we are in contact with,” explained Carvao. “Being an organization working in several areas, our colleagues responsible for different areas as well have multiplied the call within their own networks. But as you know, we are probably one of the most fragmented sectors, so it’s really difficult to make sure that we reach everyone that we should be reaching.”

True. But for all the multiplications, the campaign may only have further exposed divisions. It has a few hundred supporters and very limited reach with travel writers and bloggers. It caught off guard so many people from the responsible, sustainable and local travel communities that a good lot remain unconvinced by it (perhaps to their own detriment). Just how deep and wide must the fragmenting fissures run for the uptake to have been so flaccid? I am as unwowed by the results of the campaign as I am embarrassed by the industry it seeks to rally.

Where Do We Go from Here?

How can we, including the UNWTO, not lose hope? “We have to make these people [supporters] count… always, not just on the 13th, not just this year. I think [the campaign]‘s more of a starting point than an end point,… something that we want to continue doing,” concluded Carvao. “This is something that takes time for people to realise, get engaged, spread the word. In the end, what we are aiming at is that everyone gets engaged and multiplies the same message.”

Notwithstanding all the other concerns, that’s a sentiment with which I couldn’t agree more.

With that in mind, given my long-standing commitment to responsible, sustainable and local travel, not to mention my belief that travel industry stakeholders, especially writers, need to be part of the solution, I’m one of the few hundred who have thrown their support behind #1billtourists.

In the very short amount of time remaining, will you too? For this campaign, it’s now or never.

Images: UNWTO

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Ethan Gelber.

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Rather like Facebook Groups, the new Communities feature allows G+ users to create groups to share interests, organise, and communicate around those topics. Up till now, users with shared interests have had to congregate around hashtags and shared circles. Communities gives them a structured home where they can post under topic categories, start Hangouts, create events, and use the +1 button anywhere across the web to share content with community members.

New Communities can be Public or Private (only invited members can view) and if they are public their membership can be Open (anyone can join) or By Approval.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s likely the range of Communities created on G+ will be different from those on Facebook. Google+ snobs have always portrayed G+ users as ‘broadsheet newspaper’ types, and ‘tabloid’ Facebook to be the home of the masses. A little patronising perhaps, but many geeks, engineers and techy types have felt at home in the quieter environs of G+ and the make up of the G+ Communities is likely to reflect that.

So what’s in it for the travel & tourism industry and travel media?

And does anyone care? Google+ is “a wasteland” isn’t it?

Gizmodo famously called it “a wasteland for visitors” back in Aug 2011 when TNW had calculated 47% of G+ subscribers hadn’t actually posted anything. Unfortunately the description stuck and became common currency. However, that was 18 months ago – a lifetime in web technology – and as Google’s Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vic Gundotra, said yesterday, things have changed:

Today Google+ is the fastest-growing network thingy ever. More than 500 million people have upgraded (to G+), 235 million are active across Google (+1′ing apps in Google Play, hanging out in Gmail, connecting with friends in Search…), and 135 million are active in just the stream.

As a result there has been a lot of interest in the launch of Communities (I should know. I spent a large chunk of yesterday in a Hangout with high-powered Google-watchers on both sides of the Atlantic seizing on any snippets of news from the Googleplex or signs of it being switched on and rippling through the data centres!) and with it, the chance to play with yet another social media tool.

Already there have been early-adopters in the travel blogging sector. Within a few hours Michael Turtle (Travel Talk), Peter Daams (Travel) and Caz Makepiece (Family Travel) had set up communities. Melvin Boecher (Travel Experiences)joined them this morning. Already Michael Turtle’s Travel talk community has passed the threshold of interest (100+ members) set by TNW scouting for active new communities.

But, just because we can create a new travel community, should we?

And what should travel bloggers/writers or travel PRs & industry folk look for in a G+ travel community?

I think we are going to see a small explosion of travel communities over the next few days, many of which will launch and then slowly go dormant. As they decline their members will drift away to mega-communities which will grow through consolidation. I think the communities to watch for will be the small (150 member) public communities with membership by approval.

These are the Communities that will establish themselves as ‘centres of authority’ on niche topics and whose members will have the most influence. A Community that puts a ceiling on the numbers of members will enable its members to avoid the poor ‘signal-to-noise’ ratio in the mega-communities while leveraging the benefits of exclusivity. As Groucho Marx might have said of the mega-communities:

I don’t want to belong to any kind of club that will accept people like me as a member!

So, are you going to start/join a G+ travel community?

Image: G+

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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Forget Generation Y (aka “The Millennials”, born between 1980-2000). They are already here. Generation Z are the first generation born (1995 – 2010) into a world dominated by the Internet, Social Media, and Mobile – and they are about to arrive in the marketplace.

I should know. I have one. Born December 1995, the world of “…adding him to my car insurance is going to cost HOW MUCH?!” has finally arrived for me!

What does this mean for travel media?

Subjectively, not a lot. We write for the generation we are. Gary Arndt is not likely to start a niche blog on ‘Clubbing in Ibiza’ anytime soon and nor am I (I’m not ruling it out, Gary. Just saying ‘unlikely’!). So Gen-Z is not an audience we have to reach, but it is a generation we will have to compete with. If anyone thinks the travel blogosphere and social media networks are already too busy with Gen-X & Y bloggers, influencers & content creators, they’d better brace themselves because Gen-Z are going to be all over the online travel space like a swarm of bees.

This is the generation who aren’t just in constant communication with their friends. They are in constant communication simultaneously on multiple platforms! (I see it every evening. My son sits on the sofa with his iPhone and laptop, talking to overlapping groups of people on Skype, on his phone and through the Xbox that he is playing FIFA 12 matches on, with his team mates… while at the same time messaging & posting on Facebook.)

Gen-Y, and some X, writers may have been the first to occupy the online travel space, but over the next decade our presence there is going to be competitively diluted. Fortunately our voices will still be heard (thank goodness for search and the ‘long tail’!) but in a few years our resources will begin to diminish as the travel & tourism industry turns its attention to the new and growing customer base.

What does this mean for the travel industry?

A new concentration on seamless online technology says Grail Research. Companies wanting to target Gen-Z will need to…

• Adopt technology-based marketing and sales channels such as text messages (SMS), mobile Internet, social networking portals, etc.
• Aim to ‘catch them young’ (especially relevant for technology companies)
• Enhance their virtual world presence with online product information and purchase facility
• Develop high value-for-money products that are multifunctional with simple and interactive designs
• Provide ‘green’ products and services or take a proactive stance toward the environment

That last one is an interesting and encouraging trend. Grail point out that access to a large online information pool has made Gen-Z acutely aware of modern day challenges such as terrorism, climate change, etc. 74% of teenagers, globally, consider climate change and global warming to be a greater threat than drugs, violence or war. Grail have produced an excellent summary of who Generation Z are, and their defining characteristics.

Jon Keefe, CEO at KMP Digitata told delegates at last month’s Travolution Summit that it’s the Gen-Z girls who will have the most impact on the travel industry:

We’ve been researching these girls, known as “Disruptive Divas” and they are incredible. They are constantly connected across multiple channels both in groups and privately. They spend on average 2-9 hours a week video chatting and they send between 500 and 3,000 messages a week via platforms like BBM (Blackberry messaging) and Facebook.

What is particularly interesting is the group behaviour – group chat and group video chat. Multi-conversational across multiple devices.These girls will start a conversation in real life with friends at school. They’ll continue using BBM on the way home on the bus, and they’ll pick it up again on group Skype or Google Hangouts later on in the evening. They embrace the idea of shared experience and in three years time these girls are going to become your customers, bringing their ingrained digital behaviour to your front doors.

KMP Digitata’s interest in Gen-Z girls is in the development of their concept travel platform, Factor 15, which will enable group collaboration and purchasing, by creating a ‘trip board’ which will gather and curate the group’s conversations from multiple networks (Twitter, Facebook, BBM, G+ Hangouts), and insert product suggestions, content (video, photos, reviews) and prices. Very different to today’s travel websites, although Expedia have been making advances in collaborative purchasing.

Gen-Z are not patient browsers or searchers, says Jon Keefe, they want ideas fed to them organically as the site ‘listens in’ to their conversation. Nor is privacy an issue. They want stuff brought to them, now. They’ll hand over their personal details to get it, with no worries.

Privacy is for old farts – generation X people, like us!

The Factor 15 site will also enable the divas to get live feedback on their ideas. Jon describes a scenario where the girls get a live video review in a ‘hangout’ from another Gen-Z who is actually on holiday in the destination they are interested in, and for a 15% discount off his holiday, has agreed to make himself available for reviews on demand.

Now there’s an opportunity for travel writers/bloggers to exploit – ‘live’ reviews on demand!

Image: Bigstock/wrangler

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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Our friends at Expedia want to invite you to submit your idea of how you would explore a city using Expedia. The trip is open to any English language bloggers. You can submit and centre your itinerary around anything, choosing a particular theme such as art, fashion, food, or incorporating a bit of everything.

All itineraries need to be submitted before midnight on 2nd December. Once received, Expedia will upload them onto the Expedia UK Facebook page, for the Expedia community to look at and then choose the itinerary that speaks to them the most.

Voting by Expedia’s Facebook community will be open until around 17th December. Four itineraries will be chosen for the final trip to Berlin, which will take place around 21st January 2013. Expedia will also help to connect all winning itineraries with local experts in Berlin, providing you with relevant tips and advice for the type of activities and interests submitted as part of your itinerary.

The four chosen itineraries will receive the following:

• A sponsored trip to Berlin with Expedia providing a £750 voucher to cover the cost of return flights from major airports in the UK and hotel accommodation. (Participating bloggers can supplement this budget if they wish).
• Expedia will also cover the cost of relevant activities (chosen by you) from the Things to do section on Expedia.co.uk
• Expedia will also promote the trip through Expedia social media channels before, during and after the trip, linking to your blog and re-tweeting/ re-posting your social content about the trip
• After the trip Expedia will also promote your blog on Inside Expedia pages and if the content fits well, may also be able to integrate it into destination focused pages on the Expedia site.

If you are interested in submitting an itinerary and taking part please email your itinerary to bloggers@expedia.com before the closing date.

The entry guidelines are as follows:

• Entry to be written in English (Word count is capped at 200 and character length needs to be max 1000 incl. spaces)
• Entry to be made by midnight (CET) on Sunday 2nd December
• Entry to be sent to bloggers@expedia.com

Itinerary entry to include a destination description (detailing how you plan to explore the destination, your particular focus/interests and what you will do there), describing in 200 words or less…

• a hotel you wish to stay in
• at least 1 restaurant
• at least one Expedia activity and 1 top travel tip (this can be as general as you wish)
• One head-shot and 3-4 images of the location with owned copyright (these images can be any style, whatever suits you and your blog)

Contact and personal details:

• Full name
• Country of residence
• Blog name and URL
• Blog logo
• Twitter handle
• Pinterest profile
• Language of blog
• Email address
• Phone number
• Any relevant additional information

Well? Don’t just stand there! ;)

Image: Noud W

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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There have been several moments this month when I’ve been struck by a mis-match in the way that travel media and travel professionals talk and think about travel. It’s a bit like that old GB Shaw quote about how America and Britain are “two cultures separated by a common language”; the words are the same but their meaning is different.

In particular there is a lack of recognition on both sides. Travel blogger Neil Barnes highlighted it when he wrote about the mixed messages he picked up as a first-time visitor to World Travel Market (WTM):

Upstairs in the seminar rooms travel bloggers were hailed as being the future of travel. Our work was appreciated and travel companies were urged to reach out to bloggers and utilise our skills and audience.

Downstairs when approaching various stands the mention of being a travel blogger bought only blank stares, awkward looks and silence. Maybe the people on the stands weren’t the right people to be talking to about working with travel bloggers, I assume they’re at WTM to sell their product so that’s probably fair enough, but the mixed messages made my head spin.

Well, they are there to sell their product to each other, and the media – the ones with black badges – are supposedly there to listen in, observe and report. Strictly speaking, from a WTM point of view, if travel media want to ‘sell’ themselves – pitch for work or sponsorship – they should perhaps wear a yellow (trade visitor) badge, just as the non-editorial Sales & Marketing staff from newspapers, magazine publishers and TV companies do.

Of course the issue has always been blurred – not least by all those PRs who want to engage with influential travel media, and more recently with the evolution of travel bloggers who are by definition editors, marketing managers and publishers all at the same time. No wonder the sourcing of ‘press facilities’ and advertising/sponsorship, not stories, has become the primary focus of most black badge holders at WTM.

 I suspect most travel media, and travel bloggers in particular, don’t really think about travel industry professionals as people who have much to do with ‘travel’ at all.Indeed I suspect most travel media, and travel bloggers in particular, don’t really think about travel industry professionals as people who have much to do with ‘travel’ at all.

The only interest a travel writer/blogger is likely to have in a ferry company for example, is as a cheap or possibly free way to get across the water, or maybe as a source of advertising. They don’t see people with years of commitment and engagement with the communities of their destination ports and hinterlands.

How does the travel  industry view travel media?

To be fair, I’m not sure the travel industry thinks that travel media have much to do with travel either. They are struggling to understand the fast-changing blogosphere and for the most part, ignoring it and getting on with their own world. Last week there were two events involving the top people from the top UK travel brands that I thought demonstrated that point rather well.

The British Travel Press Awards featured 20 categories, judged by 60 senior figures (CEOs, Directors) in the travel industry. They were all about traditional media, except one for ‘Travel Blogger of the Year’.

The next day senior managers and directors from all the top UK travel brands gathered as delegates to learn about the developing digital marketplace and online trends at the Travolution Summit. Around mid-morning I noticed I had not yet heard the word “blogger” and began to keep my ears peeled (sic) for it. It never came. A whole day’s conference on the digital marketplace, on social media, on Mobile and ‘local’, and the word ‘blog’ appeared only once – on a slide, in parenthesis with other content types, as part of the legend for a graph!

So maybe travel writers/bloggers are getting the lack of recognition they deserve for speaking the same language – travel – but not listening and engaging with the industry, who clearly speak it in a different dialect.

Part of the problem could be arrogance.Part of the problem could be (reaches for tin hat) arrogance. Or, to put it more gently, ‘ownership’.

Most travel bloggers are experienced travellers, and passionate about it. That’s why they are good at travel writing (passion always comes across on the page) and that’s why they are so experienced – they travel. A lot.

So it’s a bit like being a fan, and we know how that works. There you are, let’s say… Justin Bieber’s biggest and most devoted fan (!) and somebody comes along and launches the “official” Justin Bieber fan website. How do you react? With a little indignation – “What the hell do they know about Justin!?” – and then studied shunning, probably.

It’s easy, when travel is ‘your territory’ to forget that it belongs to the people who work in travel too. Even worse, they have just as much ‘ownership’ and probably more expertise.

Give me some examples

Take tour operator, Max Lawrence, for example. His dad drove to Morocco from England in 1966 and then set up as a tour operator. Max and he built one of the best known and most successful UK tour operators to Morocco, which they sold on and then Max set up another. They’ve created tourism villages, several individual riads/hotels, and local businesses. I’ve listened to Max talking business and joking with his suppliers in the fluent arabic he has learned over years of living and working there. I know some really experienced and knowledgeable travel writers, but none who have that level of knowledge, love and passion for Morocco.

The nature of that role is different too, observes James Mundy from specialist tour operator, Inside Japan. Travel writers, like clients, are observers in a destination. Travel professionals are participants.

Seasoned travel writers may get ‘under the skin’ of a destination, perhaps over an extended period living there, but there’s a fundamental shift in the relationship with locals when you do business with them or they work for you. Then you begin to really understand how things work and what makes people tick.

When the tsunami devastated Japan last year it wasn’t travel writers or the mainstream media keeping the Japanese diaspora in the UK up to date with events on the ground on social media. It was James’ partner Simon King, Inside Japan.

Anyone blogged on a cultural event recently? Like the Bregenz festival or opera at Verona’s ancient Arena? Do you feel you got the emotional intensity across, or any of the historic & cultural significance? You could always ask a tour operator like Martin Randall. I’ve seen heavyweight lecturers and academics meekly defer to Martin’s knowledge of the arts. They don’t defer to any journalists I know in the same field.

How about Africa? Any specialist writers or bloggers with expert knowledge on safari in Botswana or the skeleton coast of Namibia. Wait. Don’t bother. I’ll ask the Managing Director of tour operator Expert Africa. After all Chris McIntyre wrote the definitive (Bradt) guide to both in 1990 and has been taking people there ever since.

I could go on all day, making the same point…

Hotels? The travel media community is stuffed full with experts on hotel accommodation. I doubt many have the sheer love of the industry and experience of somebody like David Morgan-Hewitt, Managing Director of The Goring hotel in London.

What about the ocean? I know dozens of very experienced specialist cruise writers/bloggers, but even they would acknowledge the amazing enthusiasm and depth of knowledge of some longstanding cruise travel agents like the late Bill Whalley of Tappers Travel, or Edwina Lonsdale at Paul Mundy Travel, or the industry knowledge and experience of longtime cruise line managers like David Dingle, who started out as a trainee at the P&O Steam Navigation Company in 1978 and is now CEO of Carnival UK, whose brands include P&O Cruises and Cunard.

You want passion? Take Michael Krafft who as a young boy rowed out to the derelict hull of the 5-masted tea clipper Preussen in a Swedish estuary and fell in love with her. Michael spent the rest of his life in the marine industry and founded the Star Clippers cruise line, who’s flagship, Royal Clipper, is his modern replica of Preussen.

I worry that unless the new generation of travel writers & bloggers acknowledge and engage with the travel industry instead of looking simply to exploit it, they won’t tap its richest seams – its passion and expertise.

Where to start? Well, almost every week I see a travel blog post with yet another interview with a ‘star’ in the travel firmament, IE. a blogger. I don’t see any with the kind of travel lovers/experts listed above.

Ok, they are particularly UK-centric, but those same travel industry characters with a knowledge and love of travel every bit as passionate as any travel writer, are to be found in large numbers in every country…

Take Canada for example, where a decade ago Andrée Boivert, the Commercial Director of inbound tour operator Misa Tours, was a little disturbed to find one of her guests sobbing as he watched the sun setting in Quebec.

“No, you don’t understand,” he told her when she asked what the matter was. “All my life behind the Iron Curtain I dreamed of this and it’s better than my dreams.”

“THAT is why I love working in travel!”, she says.

Image: Bigstock/urbanraven

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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It has been setup by bloggers, for bloggers who want to learn, network and have fun in the most efficient way possible.

The core of the event will be held on a Saturday with a Friday evening “Travel Massive” style welcome event in order to be as flexible as possible for those that have full-time jobs. The format should appeal to those who don’t want to take three or more days from their 20 days holiday entitlement per year or spend a large portion of their holiday budget attending a conference.

http://traverseevents.eventbrite.co.uk/

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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The event also marked the announcement of the new Travel Blogger of the year, which means that we have to say goodbye to the previous reigning blogger queen, Jayne Gorman (blog 40 before 30) and hello to Emily Chappell (That Emily Chappell) Britain’s new travel blogger of the year.

The audience included over 250 travel writers, journalists, broadcasters, photographers, editors and senior members of the UK travel industry.

Creators of the awards, Kingley Event Management recruited the services of a group of senior travel industry executives and senior travel editors to judge an overwhelming 500+ nominations and entries, ranging from national newspapers, consumer and trade titles, online travel titles, travel guide books and both television and radio programmes. Kingley’s Michael East said:

The media are hugely important to the travel industry, but until now not enough recognition has been given by the industry to the many exceptional writers and broadcasters who specialise in the sector.

Winners of the British Travel Press Awards 2012

The Outstanding Contribution Award: This award recognises two individuals who have achieved the utmost excellence in their contributions as travel writers, photographers or broadcasters judged by the leading figures in the world of PR and travel.

Simon Calder & Lyn Hughes

Travel Trade Writer of the Year: Katherine Lawrey, TTG

Consumer Travel Writer of the Year:  Chris Leadbeater, freelance travel writer

Travel Blogger of the Year: Emily Chappell, thatemilychappell.com

Young Travel Writer of the Year: Helen Warwick, National Geographic Traveller UK

Travel Trade Publication: TTG Luxury

Consumer Travel Publication: Sunday Times Travel Magazine

National Newspaper Travel Section of the Year: The Independent Traveller

Consumer Magazine Travel Section of the Year: Joint Winners – Marie Claire & Stylist

Online Travel Trade Publication of the Year: Tnooz.com 

Online Consumer Travel Publication: Telegraph.co.uk/travel

Travel Broadcaster of the Year: Karen Bowerman

Guide Book of the Year: DK Family Guide to Washington, DC

Narrative Travel Book of the Year: The Voyages of the Princess Matilda by Shane Spall published by Ebury Press

Travel & Tourism Photography Award: Justin Foulkes, freelance travel photographer

Broadcast Travel Programme of the Year: 48hrs in Bermuda with Simon Calder on Independent.co.uk/travel

Travel Trade Feature of the Year: Mark Nicholls for Time Travel published in HRG Journal On Business

National Consumer Travel Feature of the Year: Matt Bolton for The Tallinn Cables published in Lonely Planet

Regional Consumer Travel Feature of the Year: Karen Bowerman for Winter Delights published in Cambridgeshire Agenda Magazine

Travel Editors Green Award of the Year: Explore Worldwide

The British Travel Press Awards (BTPA) reflect the travel industry’s view of travel writing, broadcasting and photography, each category being judged by three senior personnel from some of the leading travel businesses in the UK including: Carol Marlow, P&O Cruises; Ted Wake, Kirker Holidays; Matthew Crummack, lastminute.com; Simon Johnson, P&O Ferries; Julia Kemp, Avis; Allan Lambert, Bourne Leisure; Hugh Morgan, Monarch Travel Group; Peter Shanks, Cunard Line; John Bevan, VoyagePrive; Tony Seaman, Attraction World; Maria Whiteman, Directline Holidays; Diane Bouzebiba, Amadeus; Alison Copus, TripAdvisor; Rob Grover, Expedia; John McEwan, Advantage Travel Centres; Richard Tams, British Airways; John Wimbleton, TUI; Derek Jones, Kuoni; Paul Simmons, easyJet; Lol Nichols, Fred Olsen Cruise Line; Steve Byrne, Travel Counsellors; Steve Odell, Silversea Cruises; Denis Wormwell, Shearings Group; Roger Allard, All Leisure; Geoff Cowley, Hoseasons Group; Peter Traynor, Collette Worldwide Holidays.

In the case of the Travel Blogger Award this category was judged by Jeremy Ellis, Marketing Director of TUI, Susan Hooper, CEO of Acromas, (owners of Saga and the AA) and Darren Neylon Sales Director, Superbreak.

Each category has 5 finalists. For the travel bloggers category, they were: Victoria Brewood, Emily Chappell, Gavin Haines, Chris Leadbeter and Iain Mallory.

Emily Chappell won for her blog relating to her cycling around the world with the judges commenting that they “greatly admired the fantastic writing of Emily’s deeply personal travelogue of cycling around the world. Hugely inspiring, insightful and highly entertaining” were just some of the words used by the judges in describing this blog.

The BTPA’s are open to entry from any travel writer, no need to be a member of a Guild or Association; in the case of the blogging category the only criteria was that the blogger must have had a minimum of 12 months regular travel writing to be considered for the award.

Giles Harper, Commercial Director for the BTPA, doesn’t see any category changes in the pipeline:

We review all categories annually but at the moment have no plans to add any additional blogging awards to the event.

Principal sponsors for the awards were: Canadian Tourism Commission, Affordable Car Hire and Attraction World. Award category sponsors were LAX Tourism & Los Angeles World Airports, World Travel Market, Peregrine Adventures and Palladium Hotel Group.

Image: Bigstock/mandygodbehear

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 17:01 UTC

Last session of the day. Is not really a session. It’s a pre-recorded video interview with Glenn Fogel, Head of worldwide strategy & planning for the Priceline.com group.

… so I think our Travelllll.com Twitter and onsite live blogging comes to an end here.

It’s been an excellent and informative day. Many thanks to Travolution, Sabre and the others sponsors for staging this event.

 

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 16:40 UTC

New session: Gerard Doyle, CEO of DiscountVouchers.co.uk delivers a keynote presentation wrapping up earlier themes from other sessions (particularly ‘big data’) titled Why you should ditch your affiliate programme.

 

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 16:21 UTC

New session. Patrick Lynch, Commercial Director of Criteo talking about Data in marketing – Moving towards a single customer view throughout the purchase funnel.

Patrick is talking through the history of banner advertising, and how ads can and are being targeted personally across websites using big data. Criteo is targeting travel website visitors with ads, or maybe not displaying ads, based on a sophisticated instant analysis of their browsing behaviour.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 16:12 UTC

And the winner….

 

Iris :)

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 16:07 UTC

New session: The Innovators. Pitches from three startups…

• Jason Jefferys, CEO iRiS. A personal digital hotel app where guests can be welcomed on their phone before they arrive. They can book the in-room services, have their room pre-stocked with drinks they want, the room temp they want when they arrive, book a spa session, and other services. Even using their phone as the room key. Hotels can interact with their guests, get feedback and suggest services. The app is already being used by several well-known luxury brands.
• Jon Keefe, CEO KMP Digitata. Factor 15 is the name of their travel social network concept. It’s based on their research program looking at the online behaviour of generation Z – the most digitally savvy set of travel consumers that the industry has encountered.
• Omer Granot, CEO CancelOn. CancelOn addresses the issue of non-refundable reservations. It is an online marketplace where travellers can sell bookings that they can no longer use.They estimate that 250,000 paid-for hotel rooms are unused every day worldwide.

Soon the delegates at Travolution Summit will be voting on which startup they think shows the most potential. Watch this space!

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 15:09 UTC

Matt Mills describes future applications on the Aurasma platform using film extracts so that you can visit a film location and see the scene played out on your phone or tablet in situ.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 14:59 UTC

Matt Mills, Global Head of Partnerships for Aurasma is presenting How augmented reality is shaping the future of mobile, demonstrating how he can point his phone at an advert and show a video, information or even take the user straight through to a sales form.

 

 

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 14:46 UTC

Mark Iremonger, iCrossing

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 14:43 UTC

New session: Discover the UK travel cluster and the connectedness index.

Mark Iremonger, Chief Strategy Officer for iCrossing is demonstrating the scale and connectedness of website on a kind of star map. The cluster of UK sites looks small compared to the rest of the Internet (the largest ‘stars’ in there are BBC, Ebay & Amazon).

 

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 14:19 UTC

Graham Cooke says that companies are missing out on creating big data resources from themselves because they don’t realise that the new asynchronous javascript applications on the front end of your site can run by themselves without slowing the back end server operations and you can use tag management systems to collect the data that drives your visitor’s personal experience online.

He backed this up by staging a race between someone eating a hotdog and someone creating a new ad placement trigger by a user’s data tags. The hotdog lost.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 14:08 UTC

Graham Cooke, CEO Qubit

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 14:01 UTC

Graham says on average 60% of customers abandon at checkout in 2010 according to Paypal, and big data can help reduce that by personalising the experience.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 13:59 UTC

Lunch over. The next session is Local – How the emergence of Big Data helps localise and personalise the customer experience. Graham Cooke, CEO Qubit is giving the presentation.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 13:00 UTC

Matt Rooke – Kuoni and Anneli Ritari – LBi demonstrate their successful social media campaign

And now a break for lunch.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 12:45 UTC

Case study on Kuoni’s SM campaign with LiB, using for example

• Blog content and engagement with TV traveller, Simon Reeve, following him on his travels
• Holiday health information based on taking Kuoni customers on holiday and measuring their health

..to double their organic search traffic over only a few months.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 12:34 UTC

New session: Blending Social and Search. Double-headed by Matt Rooke, VP ebusiness & publishing at Kuoni and Anneli Ritari, Associate Client Partner at LBi.

To be really successful online, brands must inspire loyalty so their products, services and stories are shared.

 

 

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 12:24 UTC

Nishma Robb says 2013 will be the year of the mobile and will be the year of ‘me’. Consumers have high expectations of personalised experience.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 12:17 UTC

New session: Nishma Robb, Chief Client Officer, iProspect is talking about the new world of digital travel. She says the hot present this Christmas will be tablets and 20% of travel search queries are already being made on tablets.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 12:03 UTC

Simon Jones, COO Digital Visitor

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 11:52 UTC

New session: Social: Using social media to increase sales from Digital Visitor. Simon Jones, Director of Operations and Co-Founder is standing in for CEO Andrew Rawlins.

Organic traffic is driven by user generated content. Digital Visitor reckon one product review can result in one organic visitor. Capturing customer content – photos, reviews, etc is important. When they are asked to post their thoughts between 10-30% of customers respond.

 

 

 

 

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 11:33 UTC

The big boys in search.

Among tour operators, Thomson & First Choice  take 36% share of  organic search. On The Beach have 90% of click share in paid search.

On flights, agencies like Cheapflights rule the pack. The only successful mainstream (non-budget) airline in flight search is BA .   The same applies to the hotel sector – agencies dominate. Hotel chains less so,  and then it’s the budget end of the market that does best in search.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 11:23 UTC

Coffee break over. New session at Travolution Summit.

This presentation is the Data Take out Session – Analysis of the top 50 brands within the travel sector, given by Glen Conybeare, CEO and Founder of Digital Visitor.

Speaking of coffee breaks… For those who missed it, I’ve had to cancel today’s ‘live’ Travel Coffee Break Hangout on Air for techy reasons. The next one will be Monday at noon GMT.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 10:52 UTC

Brannon Winn says that Vayant open up their flights data to new startups and their experience now is that the developers don’t  design for multiple platforms these days. They are all focusing on just ‘mobile’. That’s where the future lies.

Mark Lenahan says it’s important that those startups don’t try and recreate the PC/desktop website experience.

I have big fingers. I can’t type well on a small device. My heart sinks when I see booking forms asking me to put in the date, the destination, and so on. I shouldn’t have to see that. I want apps to attach booking solutions – prices etc – on my Pinterest pages.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 10:34 UTC

Hooray! Brannon Winn talks about the need to create booking websites that don’t start out asking the visitor to specify destination and dates.

We need to be inspired. We need to arrive on the home page an be told “hey, here are 50 places you could go for this price”

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 10:30 UTC

Travel Marketplace panel

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 10:22 UTC

Panel on Travel Marketplace: How big data, mobile, merchandising and social media is shaping travel gets underway.

The panel are Christoph Klenner, Secretary General ETTSA; Mark Lenahan, VP Product Strategy , Openjaw; Brannon Winn, CEO Vayant; and Harald Eisenaecher, Senior VP, Sabre.

Harald Eisenaecher says that one one the key startegies for Sabre right now is to become more mobile and social.

Brannon Winn, says that customers are now hungry for new ways to buy and it’s important to create innovative tools that use data to provide good service. For example tell a warn a consumer that he has already purchased a product online, to prevent him buying twice accidently.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 10:18 UTC

Adam Shaw, BBC

 

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 09:52 UTC

Adam Shaw says that the global climate is not as gloomy as we think from a European perspective. There are areas of growth around the world and businesses should be seeking those out.  Even in an economic downturn, businesses should be looking for opportunities, he said.

This exactly the time to be re-thinking business models.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 09:40 UTC

Adam Shaw, BBC Business & Financial reporter, is setting out the current economic environment for the travel industry.

He suggests that  the current economic trends indicate a widening of the gap between rich & poor and the latest statistics suggest that luxury travel products are benefiting from that. However there is a point 5 years down the road when there may be a sudden economic contraction as people’s expenditure drops from lack of confidence, and industry managers should watch out for that.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 09:24 UTC

The summit gets underway with an introduction from Lee Hayhurst, Travolution Editor and Harald Eisenaecher, Senior VP EMEA for Sabre Travel Network.

There is a Twitter hashtag for the summit: #travosummit. Organisers are encouraging people to tweet questions. There is a twitterfall being screened in the hall.

Alastair McKenzie — Thursday, 08:39 UTC

The great and good are gathering for Travolution Summit. Coffee first, then the presentations get underway at 0900.

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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I recently took part in my first press trip, to the Outdoor Academy in West Sweden. Approximately 45 journalists, tour operators and retailers took part, and we spent our time sea-kayaking and eating crayfish. Visit Sweden ran a tight ship and as a first-timer I was very impressed with the hosts, but I soon learned that there are certain steps that attendees can take to make sure they make the most of their experience.

Here are my tips for a novice press trip attendee.

1. Be prepared

If you are required to organise anything yourself (travel insurance, transport to airport etc.) do so as soon as possible and keep a track of everything. Last minute stress is not good for you or your hosts, so be professional and be prepared. It doesn’t hurt to research the destination either. I bought a local author’s crime novel, which enriched my experience of the area and hopefully proved to my hosts that I was keen to immerse myself.

2. Don’t act like a child

Prior to departure, I read a lot describing the regressive behaviour of some press trip participants; horror stories of seemingly mature adults lapsing into their moody teenage ways, or worse, acting as helpless (and annoying) as a five-year-old child. On occasion I did have flashbacks to my school trip days, but just because someone else is in charge of the itinerary and providing the refreshments doesn’t mean you can throw a strop or expect them to do everything for you.

3. Conserve your energy

Press trips can be incredibly tiring (and mine certainly was). As everyone stressed (with a smile), press trips are not a holiday; if you’re serious about getting the most out of your trip, take it easy at the bar, get to bed at a decent time and take care of your health. You want to do a good job, so make it easy for yourself.

4. Patience, patience, patience

As bloggers/journalists, we tend to be fairly independent types, so group work can be frustrating. With some of the group acting like the children described in point two, some turning up late because they ignored point three, and some with egos that come from running a marginally successful blog or business, there’s always someone to push your buttons. Don’t rise to the bait.

5. Ask questions

Scratch that; read your welcome pack and then ask any questions that have not already been answered for you. This also involves paying attention and listening to presentations, rather than chatting through them, only to expect a personal recap with the speaker.

It’s likely that you have a team of local experts desperate to share their area with you, so ask them about it! Not only will you enrich your experience and display your enthusiasm, you might just find that hook for a fantastic, unique story.

6. Talk to fellow guests

You should regard your press trip as one long networking event. Your peers are likely to be in the same industry as you, so talk to them! As a recent graduate, new to the travel industry, I was stunned to be sharing restaurant tables with seasoned travel journalists and leading tour operators, and seized the opportunity to pick their brains at every chance.

7. Be respectful and gracious in front of PRs and hosts

Perhaps I’m naïve and yet to be jaded by the world of journalism, but if someone pays for your flights, accommodation, meals and activities, whilst showcasing their home country to you, you do not turn your nose up! Complaining about having to get up early, or moaning about the weather is about as ungrateful as you can get.

8. Be ruthless

You (should) know why you took up the press trip. You know what story will interest your readers, and which aspects won’t. When you’re being presented with something that interests you, grab the opportunity with both hands; get to the front of the group to get the best pictures and the best chance of catching the speaker (whether it’s a tour operator, hotel owner etc.) for a private chat afterwards.

9. Enjoy it

It’s drummed into you the entire time: A press trip is not a holiday! That said, you’re not in an office, and while a level of professionalism is imperative, all involved will have a better time if you are relaxed and flexible. The PRs want you to have a good time, so if you have a problem, let them know.

10. Follow up

If you wish to maintain the contacts you made during your trip, it’s always worth sending a quick e-mail to thank them for their hospitality or encourage your peers to keep in touch. Try your best to meet any deadline requirements for write-ups, and do a good job. That’s if you want to get invited back.

Do you have any tips to add?

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Emma Sparks.

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There are lot of interesting discussions to look forward to and one we’re particularly interested in is a presentation from Anthony Rawlins, CEO & Founder of Digital Visitor, on using Social Media to increase sales, for travel companies specifically. In addition to tips and advice on how you generate profit from social media and show a real ROI, he will be using real-life case studies and analytics from a ground-breaking study, to show how social media can generate sales for travel companies.

We’re also looking forward to presentations from the likes of iCrossing, LBi, QuBit and Aurasma, among others and there’s a special focus on innovation as three technology forms showcase their latest product.

We caught up with Head of News, Lee Hayhurst from Travel Weekly Group and asked him to give us a bit more insight into the Travolution Summit, ahead of the event…

How did Travolution Summit come about?

Travolution has always been as much about face to face meetings and events as about covering the online digital sector  both in print and online. So the Summit was conceived from the outset when Travolution was born in 2005 as the ideal vehicle to get people from the industry together to discuss the key issues and provide some thought leadership.

What is the aim of the Travolution Summit?

The Summit has a fairly wide remit, although all the sessions are going to be relevant to the travel industry and specifically the online sector within that industry.

We have traditionally kicked things off with a broad look at the economic situation and this year the BBC’s Adam Shaw will give that opening presentation, but most of the day will see us looking at the key trends, specifically social, mobile and local. The Summit will always look to reflect what the main issues of the day are, so this year expect to hear a lot about Big Data, customer engagement and the emerging digital travel marketplace. We have also put an emphasis this year on delivering some short data sessions from partners about a new piece of research or case study that highlights an important trend in the sector. These pieces of research will be available to delegates on the day.

Have you noticed an increase in the demand or relevance of Social Media in the Travel sector?

Social Media is constantly in demand and there seems to be an insatiable appetite for people to talk about it, debate it and offer their views on it, but agreement on its relevancy seems to be still some way off. There seems to be a general acceptance that is it important but the jury is still out on exactly why, maybe to some extent because the technology and the activity it enables is developing faster than consumer behaviour, and firms  are struggling with the return on investment. However, it’s clear everyone sees this as one area they need to get on top of to future-proof their businesses.

What else can attendees look forward to at this year’s Summit?

They can also look forward to seeing a video exclusively filmed for Travolution sister title Travel Weekly of an interview with one of the online industry’s key players, Priceline’s head of global strategy Glenn Fogel. The event actually took place on the morning of the day Priceline announced the $1.8bn buy out of Kayak – the digital travel sector’s most costly deal ever. Fogel gives a fascinating insight into this giant of the global travel industry and offers his views of what’s to come in the sector.

Delegates can also see a innovators’ pitch session in which three companies will each be given seven minutes to present what they do before a short grilling by a panel of industry experts. We will then assess which the audience feels has the best chance of making a splash in the industry.

You can find the full agenda for the Travolution Summit here.

Image: Travolution

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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As you might recall, last week we wrote about Internet Week and one of the sessions that caught our eye was Sweet Retweets’ session on How news outlets write for the social web (and how you can pinch their ideas!) last Friday, held at the Google Campus. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to attend this event, but we managed to catch up with Sue Keogh one of the Sweet Retweets partners to pick her brain on the world of Social.

Can you tell us a bit more about your history /  work experience with digital, content and online publishing?

I’ve been working on the web since 1997, starting off as editor on a music-based site for BBC Radio 2. After working at ITV.com as project manager I went freelance, joining the homepage teams for Yahoo! and later AOL. I now run a business, Sookio, offering editorial services such as copy-writing  web content and social media and over the years have produced web content and social media campaigns for clients including Toshiba, Magic FM, Media Week’s Wall Blog, Lürzer’s Archive and a host of small businesses.

I work in partnership with fellow editor Christine Cawthorne from Crocstar Media to offer training in writing for social media through a series of workshops called Sweet Retweets. We go into businesses and train them to write more effective social media updates and develop strategies for upcoming campaigns.

How would you define the role of Facebook and twitter for Brands looking to engage in Social?

Facebook and Twitter are the Big Two when it comes to brands looking to engage in social. They offer a great platform to showcase their services, raise their profile, engage with people in their industry, gain feedback from customers…and keep an eye on competitors!

How would you define the role of Facebook and twitter for bloggers? Is there a difference?

Facebook and Twitter are the perfect platforms for bloggers hoping to get their content shared. They can develop relationships with fellow bloggers, readers, and product/service providers; this helps them find content for future posts and means they are engaged with people interested in their blog who will hopefully read and share their posts.

There is no difference in the opportunity for brands or bloggers. The difference is the way people respond. People may expect more of a personal touch with a blogger whereas with a brand, they may not expect them to respond to every comment they leave. Brands can be perceived as a bit more faceless (although social media is a great way of adding a human face to your product or service.)

What are the challenges for travel brands in social and content?

I ran a workshop with a niche travel company recently and the challenges they found were:

Time: how to find time to keep their social channels updated. I was suggesting that they plan their content a bit more, schedule more posts and aim for a good mix across the week. With the blog, you can plan posts for the next four months, write a batch in one go and then schedule them to go out at regular intervals. Then they don’t keep getting pushed to the bottom of the To Do list.

Finding what to say: the thing with social media is that you don’t have to talk about yourself all the time. I suggested that they posted useful  posts relating to travel, news stories of interest to travellers, and to bring in more multimedia to make the most of their Facebook page. You can also encourage users to interact a bit more, asking people for recollections or recommendations for various destinations, trying a poll or a quiz like guess the location.

How do you think Social Media is shaping the world of Travel?

Things have really moved on since the days when you went to the travel agent ad picked your holiday from a small picture and couple of lines of text in a brochure. Social media is enabling travellers to get a taste of a destination before deciding whether to book the holiday – maybe they’ll read a blog post, or do a search on Twitter, or join the VisitX tourism page on Facebook.

Social media also gives people a right of reply which didn’t exist previously. If they have a complaint, they expect a response on Twitter straight away, and if they’re not satisfied they will not hesitate to tweet negative comments about your hotel, airline, restaurant etc. Just look at Ryanair’s social channels for proof of that one! So travel businesses do need to keep a close eye on what’s being said and develop a strategy for coping with negative feedback should it occur.

Any interesting Travel related Social Campaigns that have caught your eye?

I really like what Thomas Cook do with their Facebook page; I often use them as an example when training people in writing for social media. They make it fun by offering a nice mix of images and text, asking questions of their users and running quizzes. They also make sure they get those all-important likes, comments and shares which mean their content shows up in the news feeds of everyone who responds to a post. If you’re in travel and new to social media, follow them to get some ideas of how to do it.

One that catches my eye as an example of how not to do it is the Man In Seat 61. He’s got nearly 7000 fans on Facebook, yet he just auto posts content in from Twitter, which to me comes across as a bit lazy – especially considering he spends so much time on long train journeys, so it’s not like he hasn’t got the time! It wouldn’t take that much more effort and he’d be making much better use of the platform, for example he could create some really interesting photo galleries. He also tends to post flat statements rather than ask people about their experiences of the places he’s visiting, which would really encourage more engagement.

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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The destruction by shell-fire of the old Stari Most bridge across the Neretva River in the historic town of Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina, became a powerful symbol for the tearing apart of communities that had peacefully co-existed prior to the Balkan war in the early 1990s.

This video, which is one of Vimeo’s Staff Picks, focuses on the tradition of jumping (& diving) from the bridge, a practise which was re-established after the war when the bridge was determinedly and quickly rebuilt.

DGA Productions have done a great job with this subject, treating it as not simply as a spectacle in a dramatic setting but focusing on the people of the town.

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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The evening was all about celebrating travel blogging. Considering the phenomenal growth of the industry in the last two years, HostelBookers felt like it was the right time to put the limelight on bloggers working hard to innovate and entertain within their field. The range of different awards given out, they felt, reflected the amount of variety and talent out there.

The Nominations

Categories covered everything from photography to video to family blogging within the travel sphere, with five nominees selected for each. Nominees were chosen based on a panel decision at HostelBookers HQ, where a team of six put forward their ideas for each category and decided final nominations as a group.

It was then put to a public vote to decide the winners. Over 1500 votes were cast in the final count.

The winners in full

Epic Photography Award

Winner: Erica and Shaun from overyonderlust.com

Runner-up: Kirsten from aviatorsandacamera.com

Most Helpful Award

Winner: Dave and Deb from theplanetd.com

Runner-up: Chris from rtwlabs.com

Fun Award

Winner: Alexandra from crazysexyfuntraveler.com

Runner-up: Will from willpeach.com

Nom Nom Award for Food Reporting

Winner: Jodi from legalnomads.com

Runner-up: Ayngelina from baconismagic.ca

Best Mum/Dad Blogger Award

Winner: The Vogel Family from familyonbikes.org

Runner-up: Lainie from raisingmiro.com

Travel Blogger Oscars Award For Video Blogging

Winner: Cailin O’Neill from travelyourself.ca

Runner-up: Jane from runawayjane.com

Community Spirit Award

Winner: Dan and Audrey from uncorneredmarket.com

Runner-up: Brett and Mary from greenglobaltravel.com

Favourite Newcomer

Winner: Kiersten from theblondeabroad.com

Runner-up: Becki from backpackerbecki.com

Special Award for the Late Night Blogger

Winner: Monica from thetravelhack.com

Runner-up: Justin from 48houradventure.com

Services to the Travel Industry

Winner: G Adventures (gadventures.com)

Runner-up: Travel Massive (travelmassive.com)

The response

WTM is a whirlwind of events for the Industry, this year more than ever with meet-ups during WTM as well as the week preceding the awards. Bloggers might have understandably have been running a bit ragged by this point, but there was a good turn out.

Response in the aftermath of the first HostelBookers Travel Blogger Awards was positive. The hashtag #HBloggerlove has also received over 3 million impressions to date.

Industry comment was favourable too. Michael Ball from Travel Massive said:

Bloggers, by the nature of what they do, are on their own a lot of the time. So having an awards ceremony is such a great way for the travel community to show that they do recognise all of the great and hard work that goes into creating these fantastic blogs. Even if sometimes they can feel like they’re slogging away for very little.

HostelBookers hope to do it all again and put on a bigger and better awards during WTM 2013.

Will you be there?

Feature image: Bigstock/Fer Gregory
Other photos: Hostelbookers

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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Traditionally, MMORPGs (like World of Warcraft) have had nothing to do with the travel & tourism industry, or for that matter ‘real life’! Usually based on a digital fantasy world, the closest they ever came to having a practical real life purpose was in the brief moment when some major businesses & brands set up virtual shop in the digital landscape of Second Life.

But all that could be about to change because this is something different – Google’s Ingress is an MMORPG played out in the real world.

The location-based game, already available on Google Play (though only in a ‘by invitation’ beta version), is played using your phone (Android only for now) and matches in-game elements with real world locations. In that respect it has quite a pedigree. It has been developed by a team led by John Hanke, the guy behind Google Earth, Google Maps and StreetView.

The game plot is that a weird form of mind-controlling energy, which can be tracked using the app, has been discovered in locations all over the world – mostly, listen up tourism marketing guys, in and around well-known public places, creative institutions, landmarks and artworks.

Players join one of two warring sides, the Enlightened and the Resistance, and collaborate with their team mates to gather clues & game objects, unlock new features, and claim territories, in order to either embrace the mysterious energy, or resist it… and thus save mankind.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ingress is not the first location-based game. It’s birth was foretold, as a deep and portentous video game voiceover might say, with the launch of previous mobile app games like Shadow Cities and Please Stay Calm. But its signficance lies in one word – GOOGLE.

Gamification has become a buzzword recently, but this is ‘gamification on steroids’ and, through Google’s involvement, on a potentially huge scale.

What does it mean for tourism organisations and destination marketers?

It means you must look around your head office for a young ‘gamer’ and tell them to start playing Ingress as soon as they can (that’s a cool work project!). They they will then be able to tell you how to engage and interact with visiting Ingress players, how to promote your destination as ‘Ingress-friendly’ to both the Enlightened and the Resistance. You want to be ready because they will come, and since this is Google and Android – now the largest mobile platform in the world by sales (64%) – they will come in large numbers.

Also, if they don’t come straight-away because your destination is not yet covered by the game, you should be researching to find how you can make that happen quicker. Maybe fam trips for programmers and mappers at Niantic Lab, the game developer? It might be a good idea to be one of the first tourism organisations to get in touch with them, than join the queue later.

Will you be investigating what Ingress might mean for your destination?

If you are a traveller, will you be tempted to play it?

Image: Bigstock/Lilyana Vynogradova

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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This year’s Internet Week Europe draws leaders from across the continent’s thriving digital landscape, with tech-trailblazers and trend setters organising events in the capital to engage with industry peers and punters alike, representing the full spectrum of the industry like no other festival can…

Organisations holding events during the festival currently include

VitaminT, Internet Explorer from Microsoft, MediaMonks, Uber, Bizzabo, citizenM, Wayra, Conferize, General Assembly, BBC , Google / YouTube, IAB, Razorfish, VICE, Made by Many, Silicon Drinkabout, SoundCloud, The European Commission, V&A, Metaphwoar!, Mother, Protein, Seven, Digital Shoreditch, Hyper Island, Unit 9, Seedcamp, mcgarrybowen, SheSays, Information Is Beautiful, chirp.io, AKQA, The Collaborative Arts Network, The Hospital Club, Ignite, Largetail, Dezeen, Dare, Sidekick Studios, Don’t Panic, Believe.in, Crane.tv, The School for Startups, Splash, The Church of London, Flamingo, Creativeworks London, Sweet Retweets, #KittenCamp and Dropr.

A typical example of the kind of event on offer is being held by Sweet Retweets on 16^th November (now sold out), which will be exploring the ways in which outlets like the BBC, Daily Mail, Reuters, CNN, AOL and Yahoo! write for the web and social platforms.

They’ll look at the way they write their updates to make their content so shareable, and outline the tips and tricks you can steal to make the content on your own website and social media channels utterly irresistible to your audience.

Held at Google Campus, in the heart of Tech City and sponsored by designers Handstand Creative, the session will cover:

• Crafting killer titles for your blog posts, news items and features that encourage people to click through and share on social media.
• Engaging your Facebook audience to get more comments, likes and shares.
• Top tips for writing tweets that travel.
• How to manage your frequency of posting.

Speakers, are Sue Keogh and Christine Cawthorne who met when working as web editors for Yahoo! UK.

Another interesting initiative is, or rather, was, the European Multilingual Blogging Day 2012 on Wednesday, which gave bloggers a chance to highlight the multilingual dimension of the web. The basic idea is to feature one or more languages on your blog that you don’t usually use. It could be that you usually write in a language that is not your native one, or that you do write in your native language but have other language skills. Bloggers could look to invite a guest blogger or bloggers to write in another language. Posts included the hash tag #babel2012 and/or #iwe.

You can follow progress on European Multilingual Blogging Day on Twitter at @euonymblog

The rest of Internet Week Europe

What’s left on the calendar? Well, there are still a few events left if this is your cup of tea, so hurry!

Have you attended any of the Internet Week events, have you found any of them to be useful?

And if not, has your appetite been whetted for next year?

Image: Bigstock/tombaky

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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Thankfully when I was asked to review Skyscanner’s app I was already using the iPhone version to search for flights on the go. It’s also available, free, in Android, Windows 8 and Blackberry flavours.

From its Apple app store page Skyscanner’s flight search app claims to be “the most flexible and powerful flight search app in the world”, I wasn’t holding out much hope as some flight search apps leave a lot to be desired.

Those familiar with Skyscanner will know that they don’t actually sell flights but try to find the cheapest deal via your desired route. Users are redirected to airline or travel agents websites to purchase their flight tickets. It’s a good way to save you from having to trawl around multiple websites trying to find the cheapest flights on offer for a destination.

Let’s face it searching for flights online can often be a painful experience so the thought of using a mobile app isn’t really that appealing. I was looking for an app that would keep it simple whilst retaining enough functionality to get the job done. The first time I used the app I was certainly impressed with the unique way they presented information for the user.

Simplicity

The apps design is pretty slick and you can tell that much thought has been put into the mobile experience; you only have to use the date picker to see that simplicity is key to creating a successful app. You can switch the date picker to a spinner rather than a calendar view within the settings but the default setup is pretty straight forward. The experience is so easy to use, it’s actually preferable to that or most flight search based full-blown websites, which says a lot about the app.

Saved Searches

A welcome feature of  the app is that it automatically saves your recent searches in order so that you don’t have to populate the search criteria all over again.

On top of this handy feature you can also click the star icon to save searches as your favourites. The difference between the two is that ‘recent searches’ won’t save all of your searches just the latest ones. It’s simple functionality like saving your recent searches that add to the over ease of use and leads to an enjoyable experience rather than a frustrating one that is quite common with search focused sites and apps.

The results display much as you’d expect from Skyscanner, prices are clearly highlighted and the usual sorting options by departure/return takeoff and landing, price, airline and duration are all available.

Filtering flights is a pretty straightforward affair consisting of tweaking the number of stops, duration of the flight, departure and return times and airlines.

You can filter by providers with mobile-optimised booking sites, so that you can easily book straight from your phone. It’s another simple yet effective touch.

Chart feature

Skyscanner’s chart feature is extremely useful. It gives the user a view of prices for days either side of the ones currently selected. This makes it very easy to see if there are any cheaper options for departing or returning on slightly different dates. I tested it out on a few flights to South Africa from London and was surprised to find out how much I could actually save if I booked flights a couple of days either side.

Explore the map

The app also lets you browse for flights via a map selecting your departure location and then selecting your destination. This feature gives you an idea of how much it could cost to flight to an alternative destination in case you are flexible with your journey.

Overall the Skyscanner app is pretty impressive. It’s simple, easy to use and delivers exactly what you’d expect and a little bit more. I was impressed that they managed to retain great usability whilst adding some extra settings and functionality such as the charting feature and mobile optimized site settings. The way the app is presented is simple and effective, advanced functionality is available but only when you need it. This allows the user to find the advanced features when necessary and doesn’t overload them with too many options from the outset. It’s a useful app for searching for cheap flights when you’re away from a computer, stuck in the airport or even on the road.

(Declaration: Travelllll.com is currently working with Skyscanner on other unrelated future projects.)

Image: Bigstock/nan728

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Paul Dow.

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This week Expedia are recruiting just for French and German bloggers. Next week they’ll be looking for for English, Spanish and Dutch. So stay tuned!

Expedia.fr vous invite à participer
à son jeu-concours spécial blogueurs pour voyager à votre idée

Parce que chacun a son idée du voyage, Expedia.fr vous propose de partager avec sa communauté de fans la façon idéale dont vous souhaiteriez visiter la capitale anglaise….

Si votre idée remporte l’adhésion parmi toutes celles proposées, Expedia vous donne la possibilité de concrétiser votre idée… Et plus encore !

En quoi consiste ce jeu-concours ?

Chaque jour, des milliers de personnes réservent leurs voyages grâce à Expedia. Chacun crée et imagine son voyage à son idée : en fonction de ses priorités, de ses attentes, de ses motivations… puis revient avec ses propres photos, ses anecdotes et ses souvenirs à partager avec ses proches.

Ces expériences, vécues par tous, nous ont donné envie de travailler en collaboration avec les blogueurs du monde entier pour donner vie à ces histoires, afin d’inspirer les autres, voyageurs d’un jour ou de toujours.

C’est pourquoi nous proposons aux blogueurs du monde entier de nous transmettre leurs idées pour la visite d’une ville du monde. Comment imaginent-ils la découvrir avec Expedia.fr ? Nous partageons ensuite ces idées sur notre page Facebook et demandons à nos fans d’élire leur idée favorite… Le blogueur élu pourra concrétiser son idée et découvrir la ville en question avec Expedia.

L’idée ? Permettre à notre communauté de mieux connaître les différentes possibilités permises par le site Expedia.fr et également découvrir de nouvelles choses sur le centre d’intérêt que nous avons en commun : le voyage.

C’est au tour des blogueurs français de visiter Londres sous un autre angle !

Le prochain voyage que nous organisons pour les blogueurs gagnants aura lieu à Londres, entre le 12 et le 20 décembre.

Les 15 premières propositions que nous recevrons seront partagées sur notre page Facebook puis diffusées à nos fans ainsi qu’à nos abonnés. Nous accepterons vos propositions de participation jusqu’au 11 novembre minuit.

Que comprend le voyage du gagnant ?

• Un voyage à Londres selon votre idée, sponsorisé par Expedia, avec une contribution en bons d’achats d’une valeur de 750€ pour couvrir les coûts inhérents aux vols (au départ des principaux aéroports de France), ainsi que celui de l’hébergement.
• Expedia couvrira également le coût des activités que vous choisissez au sein de la rubrique « A voir, à faire » d’Expedia.fr
• Nous pouvons vous offrir la possibilité de parler à un expert local dans un domaine qui vous intéresse et vous fournir un enregistrement de cette rencontre afin de vous permettre d’alimenter le contenu de votre blog

• Nous organiserons la promotion de votre voyage en partageant le contenu de votre blog en lien avec cette aventure sur nos comptes officiels Facebook & Twitter

• Suite au voyage, nous mettrons en avant votre blog sur l’Espace Expedia et si le contenu correspond, nous pourrons l’intégrer à nos pages spéciales « destination ».

Que souhaitons-nous recevoir du blogueur gagnant suite au voyage ?

Dans le but de mettre en avant votre voyage et votre blog sur les réseaux sociaux, nous aurions besoin :

-          D’au moins 7 photos afin de créer un album sur Facebook

-          D’une vidéo de votre voyage (idéalement nous aimerions y inclure les échanges que vous aurez eu avec les experts locaux rencontrés)

-          De bons conseils sur la destination et vos meilleures découvertes

-          Que vous tweetiez au moins une fois par jour durant le voyage, en utilisant les hashtags #London and #ByExpedia

Bien sûr, plus vous serez présent sur Twitter, Facebook, et les autres réseaux sociaux, plus vous serez visible par nos fans et followers.

Puisque le public a voté pour votre voyage parce que votre idée les a séduits, essayez au maximum de partager les détails qui sont en lien avec votre idée à son origine.

Comment soumettre vos idées de voyage ?

-          Les propositions doivent être écrites en français

-          Les propositions devront être envoyées à bloggers@expedia.com

-          Les propositions doivent être envoyées avant le dimanche 11 novembre à minuit
(à noter : nous ne partagerons que les 15 premières propositions reçues)

-          L’itinéraire devra comprendre :

• Votre propre description de la destination (200 mots maximum) : expliquez bien votre vision de la ville, la façon dont vous imaginez ce voyage, et comment vous pensez explorer la ville
• 1 nuit dans un hôtel au minimum
  • 1 restaurant au minimum
• Une ou des activités Expedia

-          Une astuce voyage (ceci peut être aussi général que vous le désirez)

-          Votre portrait et 3 ou 4 photos de la destination en spécifiant si vous en détenez le copyright ou le nom de la personne en détenant le copyright et son autorisation

-          Contact et informations personnelles:

• Nom et Prénom
• Pays de résidence
• Nom du blog et adresse URL
• Logo du blog
• Nom du compte Twitter associé
• Nom du profil Pinterest associé
• Langue du blog
• Adresse email personnelle
• Numéro de téléphone
• Toutes informations complémentaires jugées utiles

Worum geht es bei den Blog-Trips eigentlich?

Täglich werden auf Expedia Tausende von Reisen gebucht. Dabei hat jeder Reisende unterschiedliche Prioritäten, Erwartungen und Gründe für seine Reise. Jeder kehrt mit unterschiedlichen Bildern, Erfahrungen und Erinnerungen zurück. Wir möchten diese Geschichten gemeinsam mit Bloggern zum Leben erwecken und andere Reisefreunde und Weltenbummler inspirieren. Deshalb laden wir Reiseblogger dazu ein, uns zu erzählen, wie sie eine Stadt mithilfe von Expedia erkunden würden.

Die ersten 15 Einsendungen laden wir dann in unsere Facebook-App und stellen sie Fans und Newsletter-Abonnenten vor. Unsere Fans auf Facebook haben dann die Möglichkeit, darüber abzustimmen, welche der Ideen ihnen am besten gefällt. So könnt Ihr sehen, für welche Trips sich unsere Fangemeinde am meisten interessiert. Außerdem könnt Ihr auf diese Weise viele neue Leser für Euren Blog gewinnen. Und auch wenn Euer Blog dieses Mal nicht ausgewählt wird, werden sich zukünftig noch weitere Gelegenheiten bieten. Eure Blogs werden außerdem auf unserer Facebook-Seite vorgestellt.

Der nächste Trip für deutschsprachige Blogger geht nach London und findet Mitte Dezember statt. Das Abreisedatum liegt zwischen dem 12. und 20. Dezember und Einsendeschluss für die Reiseideen ist Sonntag der 11. November um Mitternacht.

Bei Interesse schickt bitte eine E-Mail an bloggers@expedia.com

Was ist für dich dabei?

• Ein gesponsorter Trip nach London. Expedia vergibt einen Gutschein über 750 Euro für die Unterkunft sowie den Hin- und Rückflug ab einem der großen Flughäfen in Deutschland.
• Expedia kommt auch für die Kosten bestimmter Aktivitäten auf, die Du dir unter Events & Tickets auf unserer Seite selber aussuchen kannst.
• Wir können Dir Kontakt zu Leuten verschaffen, die sich an den Orten, für die Du Dich am meisten interessierst, auskennen. Anschließend erhältst Du eine Aufnahme des Gesprächs, die Du dann in Deinem Blog veröffentlichen kannst.
• Über unsere Social-Media-Kanäle werben wir vor, während und nach dem Trip für Deinen Blog, indem wir ihn verlinken, über ihn tweeten und Inhalte Deines Blogs posten.
• Nach Deinem Trip veröffentlichen wir den Blog auf  http://inside.expedia.de/. Möglicherweise passen Deine Reiserlebnisse sogar so gut zu uns, dass wir sie in die Reisezielbeschreibungen auf unserer Website einbauen können.

Was wir uns von Deinem Trip versprechen

Um über unsere Social-Media-Kanäle für Deinen Trip und den Blog werben können, brauchen wir:

• Mindestens sieben Fotos, damit wir auf Facebook eine Bildergalerie erstellen können.
• Videoclips Deines Trips. Idealerweise interviewst Du darin Einheimische/Ortskenner oder Leute, die sich mit den Aktivitäten auskennen, die Du besuchst.
• Tipps für das Reiseziel und Deine tollsten Entdeckungen.

• Pro Aufenthaltstag am Reiseziel mindestens zwei Tweets mit den Hashtags #London and #ByExpedia.

Je häufiger Du tweetest und Kommentare auf Facebook, G+ usw. hinterlässt, desto stärker werden wir Deine Berichte bei unserer Fangemeinde promoten.

Da unsere Fans für Deine ursprüngliche Trip-Idee gestimmt haben, wäre es super, wenn sich Deine Berichte soweit wie möglich auf diese Idee beziehen.

Wie Du Deine Ideen einsenden kannst

-          Deine Ideen müssen auf Deutsch verfasst sein.

-          Einsendeschluss ist Sonntag der 11. November um Mitternacht. Beachte aber, dass sich nur die ersten 15 Einsendungen für die Teilnahme qualifizieren.

-          Schicke Deine Ideen an bloggers@expedia.com.

Der Text muss:

-          eine Reisezielbeschreibung, (Welche Bereiche interessieren Dich besonders und wie Du planst die Stadt zu entdecken?)

-          ein Hotel,

-          mindestens ein Restaurant,

-          mindestens eine Expedia-Aktivität

-          und einen Top-Reisetipp enthalte (Hier kannst Du so allgemein schreiben, wie Du möchtest).

(Die Wortzahl darf 200 Wörter nicht überschreiten.)

Bitte schicke uns weiterhin ein Portraitfoto von Dir sowie drei bis vier Fotos vom Reiseziel, für die Du die Bildrechte besitzt.

-          Außerdem benötigen für folgende Informationen (soweit vorhanden):

• Vor- und Nachname
• In welchem Land du wohnhaft bist
• Name deines Blogs und die Webadresse
• Logo des Blogs
• Twitter-Name
• Pinterest-Link
• Blogsprache
• E-Mail-Adresse
• Telefonnummer
• Weitere relevante Informationen

Image: Bigstock/alexskopje

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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Some of the Travelllll.com team will be there and we (mostly Alastair) will be ‘live’ blogging interesting snippets of news during the opening days of the show.

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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3. Top Ten Tips for Travel Bloggers Visiting World Travel Market

No sooner have we all mastered blogs, podcasting, video-blogging, e-zines, and the latest social media networks like Pinterest & Instagram, than along comes new stuff to get our heads around like mobile app creation, Hangouts on Air, data journalism and Augmented Reality.

Digital journalist, Benji Lanyado, knows this better than most and has been in the vanguard of many new technologies and techniques.

It was Benji who, three and a half years ago, pioneered the concept of the TwiTrip for the Guardian newspaper when he created live interactive travel features by turning up in a destination and asking his twitter followers for suggestions on what to do and where to stay.

It was Benji, again in 2009, who showed us the potential of augmented reality apps.

It was Benji who last year first highlighted Drone Journalism.

And yesterday he reminded us there are always new ways to tell stories, with the launch of his Interactive Story service.

The concept is not entirely new. Some digital publishers have produced similar content formats, but usually one-off projects or presentations outsourced to digital art houses or large web development agencies. What’s unusual about Benji’s service is that he can produce these interactive stories by himself in just a few days.

You do see these things every now and then in newspapers who have big interactive teams, but I wanted to create a model where you can create an interactive story quickly and cheaply and offer it to more or less anyone.

Benji, who describes himself as a ‘Journalist & Developer’, has created his new format, which is designed to run on mobiles as well as desktops and across all browsers, entirely from scratch.

I left the Guardian a few months ago (although I’m still working freelance with them) because I actually wanted to learn how to code properly. It’s not complicated coding but it’s robust and works on iPads and PCs, Android phones and all browsers. Even on old versions of the Internet Explorer browser, which is wonderful!

Is it a format that other travel writers, content producers and tourism organisations may be using in the future? Benji thinks so:

I think it’s an inevitability that we have got to move beyond plain articles and videos and podcasts and galleries. They’ve been around for a century in digital terms. 99% of articles and blogs are copy-image-copy-image, and if the blogger is a bit more techy, maybe a video. This format draws all that together and makes it more fun. The reader can play around with it, drill down into this part of the story or that part, and move forward & backward within it.

Essentially what it is doing is building a website… for a story, or just a picture.

Do you think we will see more interactive storytelling like this?

Feature Image: Bigstock/NexusPlexus
Interactive Image: “Iwo Jima Chronicles” by Stefano Corso/ some rights reserved

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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At the global launch of The Traveler’s Handbooks, Janice Waugh, the series founder and author of The Solo Traveler’s Handbook, was joined by fellow expert authors Jodi Ettenberg (The Food Traveler’s Handbook) and Shannon O’Donnell (The Volunteer Traveler’s Handbook) for a panel presentation and question-and-answer session about the inspiration behind the new series that claims to “offer a fresh take on travel with inspirational stories, hard-earned knowledge, practical advice, and surprising tips.”

Companion Guides

Although the survival, independence and even legitimacy of mainstream travel guidebooks have increasingly been called into question, The Traveler’s Handbooks series doesn’t set out to supplant them. Rather it is presented as a companion resource filling a gap in travel publishing.

“Traditional travel guides focus on a destination in terms of where to stay, how to get around. In contrast, The Traveler’s Handbooks focus on how you choose to experience the world and the merits of that choice,” commented Waugh, who is the presence behind the Solo Traveler blog as well.

“While traditional guidebooks provide a great overview for a specific destination and its history, as well as where to stay and what to do, the handbooks focus on the ‘how to’ of the experience itself,” agreed Ettenberg, the voice of Legal Nomads. “They are not destination-specific; they can be used the world over. They demystify travel and appease fears in ways that guidebooks cannot.”

Niche Experiences

The Traveler’s Handbooks series therefore banks a bit on the notion that niche now matters. After all, the number of travel niches seems to grow by the day, part of the slice-and-dice approach to tourism marketing that helps penchant-specific travelers find suitable destinations and experiences.

“The trend toward more niche trips such as culinary tours or volunteer trips speaks to a desire for people to connect through a specific travel style,” explained Ettenberg. “The Traveler’s Handbook series provides a framework to do so independently. The handbooks enable us to present our respective travel niches based on our own lessons learned, but also through the many interviews and tips from other experts that are included in each book.”

Thus the five handbooks currently available help travellers pursue specific types of immersive and experiential travel, from tracing a foodie path from plate to plate or exploring the world solo to finding international volunteer opportunities, taking a career breaking or travelling in luxury on a budget.

Expert Authors

Each handbook is written by a traveller who is an expert in his or her niche. Along with Waugh, Ettenberg and O’Donnell, the latter of whom founded A Little Adrift, are Jeffrey Jung (The Career Break Traveler’s Handbook), host of The Career Break Travel Show and the publisher of Career Break Secrets; and Sarah and Terry Lee (The Luxury Traveler’s Handbook), a journalist-editor-marketing team of long experience, including work on Sarah’s LiveShareTravel, a luxury travel blog.

The handbooks really are “written by people who have lived their lives by travelling in a unique way,” commented Ettenberg. “For example, Shannon (O’Donnell) has volunteered extensively in her many years of travel and I’ve eaten my way around the world for the last 4.5 years. As a result, the handbooks enable us to present our respective travel niches based on our own lessons learned, but also through the many interviews and tips from other experts that are included in each book.”

With five handbooks ready to be printed on demand, there’s certainly plenty from which readers can choose, but Waugh and her colleagues don’t plan on stopping there.

“We expect to roll out more Traveler’s Handbooks every year,” promised Waugh. “Think of the title, The ________ Traveler’s Handbook. It’s very adaptable. We are accepting suggestions from interested authors on our website.”

The Sky’s the Limit Traveler’s Handbook?

Published by Full Flight Press, which was was set up by Waugh for The Traveler’s Handbooks series, the current editions are available in paperback (US$16.99) and eBook (US$9.99) versions from online bookstores like Amazon and iTunes.

Bookstore browsers will therefore be stymied in their search, but “We’re working the channels where we will have the greatest opportunity for success first,” said Waugh. “All the authors have online communities and online colleagues. The books are available through many online outlets. A click to buy strategy makes most sense at this point. The bricks and mortar store may be in the future when the brand is more established.”

For determined shoppers, each book’s table of contents is available online, as are sample chapters. Given the pedigree and enthusiasm of the authors, you’re fairly certain to get what you pay for:

“You may want to see it as a volunteer, or through the local food, or solo. You may want to take a career break and need advice on how to negotiate, plan and return from one. Or you may want to plan luxury travel that you can afford. Each Traveler’s Handbooks offers advice and travel stories on unique ways of experiencing the world,” concluded Waugh.

If you will be in London on November 1, stop by the European launch of The Traveler’s Handbooks, in conjunction with London Travel Massive, co-hosted by Travelllll.com.

Featured Image: The Traveler’s Handbooks
The handbook author panelists (left to right): Jodi Ettenberg, Janice Waugh, Shannon O’Donnell: Ethan Gelber

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Ethan Gelber.

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Despite the vast number of personal travel blogs, not many have made the leap to Tumblr. Most still run on WordPress. Brands, like the Standard Hotel and Conde Nast Traveler, however, have been quick to establish themselves on the microblogging platform. Considering how visual travel blogging is, the lack of adoption is surprising. Other image-centric verticals, like fashion, have jumped all over Tumblr.

Let’s see which travel bloggers and brands are doing it right and what you can learn from them. Then you can expand your brand with a tumblog or create a new site specifically designed for the medium.

1. Post Pictures

Tumblr’s initial innovation was its post types: text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio, and video. You should definitely experiment with each type. However, like Facebook and Pinterest, images are everything.

Jetpac is a travel inspiration iPad app built around gorgeous photography. Their Tumblr account reflects the same focus on visuals.

Tumblr users are very creative and visual. Speak their language by prioritizing photo posts.

2. Post Porn

Ahem, I should clarify…

Just posting pictures isn’t enough. They have to be drool-worthy, envy-inducing travel porn. Or food porn, or whatever your niche is. In this case, porn doesn’t mean obscene, it means something worth lusting after.

No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain consistently posts amazing food shots from his travels to the world’s best foodie cities. If you can manage to host a Travel Channel show, that should help your Tumblr as well.

3. Mix up the Media

Yes, I just said that photos are the most important post type. They are. If your tumblog is all text, you’ll have a hard time building an audience through Tumblr if you’re not already established elsewhere.

But what if, among your amazing pictures, you posted a 1,000 word tutorial or rant. Wouldn’t that post grab your followers’ attention? Some of the most reblogged posts are the aberrations, the deviations from the norm.

The author of Pack Lite. Go Fast. does a great job of mixing up his posts. Most are pictures of luggage and gear showcasing minimalist packing. Scattered among the images are posts like Packing light for a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, a text-only piece. Some posts are just links, some are instructional videos, and some are answers to readers’ questions.

Prioritize photo posts, but don’t neglect the other formats.

4. Sell the Lifestyle, Not the Product

Tumblr is not a catalog or even a proxy for one like Pinterest is.

You have to use it to draw your target audience in by selling the lifestyle they want. The hipster hotel chain Ace Hotel does this masterfully.

They don’t just post pictures of their properties. They post cultural events in the cities where they’re located like the Vans Bowl-A-Rama in NYC.

Your readers or customers are interested in more than just your specific product. What else do they buy? What do they aspire to be? Embody that.

If you can represent that lifestyle to them, they’ll believe that buying your product is a no-brainer. For example, design-buffs and techies buy iPhones. But they don’t compare specs first. They buy iPhones because that’s what people like them do.

5. Crowdsource

An often-overlooked Tumblr feature is the ability for readers to submit posts. This feature has led to a glut of meme-style tumblogs like Dads are the Original Hipsters.

But it can also be used to crowdsource content so that you can curate rather than create everything.

Toronto Pictures asks photographers to submit their pictures of Toronto in exchange for visibility, links, and traffic. Unless you have an existing audience, you’ll have create your own content at first until your tumblog has enough followers to warrant outside contributions.

6. Show Another Side of Yourself

Trish Friesen’s primary site, TripStyler is a travel magazine for aspiring jetsetters. Her Tumblr, which she calls the TripStyler Editor’s Ledger, shows a more personal side, including Instagram photos of her travels and her other travel writing across the web.

If your primary site isn’t a personal travel blog, can you use Tumblr to show a more human side? Hotel Tonight uses their Tumblr to highlight their employees, which humanizes their business.

7. Stand for Something

Travel store Flight001 knows to focus their Tumblr on images. That’s easy. However, they’ve really managed to differentiate themselves by having a mission behind their blog.

001 Country Per Year is “a challenge to visit one new country every year.” It began as a challenge within the company. Then they decided to make it public to “inspire travel to new countries and promote cultural connections around the globe.”

Does your blog have a mission? (More page views doesn’t count.)

8. Cultivate a Voice

Iceland Wants to Be Your Friend nails it. The blog is written by an anthropomorphic Iceland that just wants to be your friend. It (he? she?) shares pictures of food and places from the island and typically gets 300+ reblogs per post.

This Tumblr is part of a network, including Every Single Place in Iceland, Every Single Word in Icelandic, and Icelandic Bands that are not Sigur Rós run by Promote Iceland.

Sure, they could’ve gotten by with posting great pictures of Iceland, but Tumblr is filled with amazing pictures that get reblogged ad nauseum. Reposting (some may say stealing) content is easy. Your competitors won’t put in the work to establish a unique personality.

Do it and you’ll stand out. Do it right and you’ll stand above the competition, just like Iceland.

9. Be Weird

Tumblr is a great repository for very specific topics. Like cats that look like Ron Swanson. So go niche, be specific, get weird. Tumblr is like the internet of the internet.

This Belongs in a Museum is a chronicle of the world’s strangest museums, from Budapest’s House of Terror to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum.

Tumblr is the kind of place where even a frustrated museologist can attract 200+ reblogs on a post. If you’re having trouble standing out, get more specific. “Travel” is too unfocused of a topic. What kind of travel? Travel to where? Travel by whom?

10. When in Doubt, Name Your Blog ‘Fuck Yeah + Topic’

It works for Fuck Yeah Rhode Island and thousands of other tumblogs.

Let’s recap. To succeed on Tumblr, you need to post jaw-dropping images, embody a lifestyle, and have a unique personality. The more niche the topic, the better. For more great travel Tumblrs check out this Quora thread.

Do you have a tumblog? What are you doing to stand out?

Photo by jessaax

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Fred Perrotta.

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The effect was immediate and ridiculous.

Nobody should be denied an interview and certainly not by somebody who has nothing to do with US immigration, the whole concept is not fit for purpose. The I-visa is a serious thing and so the US officials take it seriously because it’s a bit like a mini Green Card. It gives you the right to live & work in the USA for a year, which you can then extend. Handy for a BBC political correspondent newly appointed to the Washington bureau, but for 99% of journalists visiting for a few days or weeks it’s complete overkill!

It’s absurd! It’s probably easier for me to enter the USA as an arms trader than as a travel journalist writing about the ski slopes of Aspen!

Alarmed by the numbers of foreign journalists being handcuffed and deported back in 2004 the American Society of Newspaper Editors described the retention of the old I-visa policy as “anathema”, and along with the Society of Professional Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, called for it to be ended.

Wait. Let me highlight part of that sentence again: Back in 2004.

In a few months it will be 2013. If the USA is serious about promoting itself and its tourism offering to the outside world, then the moment, not just to ease but to end this I-visa farce is long overdue. Don’t you think?’

Image by Katie@!

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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If you’re working on a big vision, rather than a side project, you’ll probably need some help. Incubators are like bootcamps for startups. They’re designed to help new businesses survive and thrive through access to an experienced network of entrepreneurs and investors.

The cost to launch a startup has decreased dramatically while the availability of early-stage financing has risen. As part of the latter, a crop of incubators, led by Silicon Valley’s Y-Combinator (YC), have opened to provide structure and help during a startup’s crucial early stages.

The format and benefits differ by incubator. YC is the hacker’s incubator. They offer a huge network of alumni and connections, an initial investment (less than $20,000 for 2-10% of your company), an automatic offer of $150,000 from Start Fund upon graduation, and the opportunity to present in Silicon Valley’s most famous Demo Day. Another incubator, 500 Startups, focuses on design, data, and distribution. They provide anything from a small investment with little involvement to an entire accelerator program.

Most incubators offer a combination of:

• Advice on product, marketing, financing, and hiring.
• Connections to mentors, fellow entrepreneurs, business development opportunities, and investors.
• Back-end support (legal, accounting) to let entrepreneurs focus on their core business.
• Money! Through their own small investments and a Demo Day for potential investors at the end of the program.
• Networking opportunities. Think of an incubator’s network as a highly-targeted version of your university’s alumni program.

Which Incubator Should You Apply To?

Just because YC has become synonymous with incubators, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you. If you need hands-on help, YC isn’t the place to find it.

Flightfox, a flight search marketplace from Australia, launched in a local accelerator called Startmate before joining YC. Co-Founder Todd Sullivan found that both helped his startup.

Startmate offered lots of attention and hands-on help with “25 mentors/partners and 8 companies, so the ratio was about 3 partners per company.” Sullivan believes that joining Startmate was “one of the best decisions we ever made because it helped us build a materially better business.”

With “6 mentors/partners to 85 companies,” YC didn’t offer as much individual attention. “YC is very hands off… The value of YC,” says Sullivan, “is its contacts.”

As Sullivan found out, not all incubators are in Northern California. TechStars has created a great network of incubators in other tech-focused cities including Boston, Boulder, New York, Seattle, and San Antonio. Smaller local markets often have their own incubators, like Austin’s Capital Factory and Pittsburgh’s Alpha Lab. Internationally, incubators like Starup Chile, are attracting talent from around the world to create the next Silicon Valley.

How Do You Apply? What Do You Need to Know?

If you want to join a “program” (think of it as grad school for entrepreneurs), you’ll need to time your application with a class. Check out TechStars’ schedule for an example.

Next, you’ll need to apply and prepare for an interview (if you get one). You’ll find links to general advice on this process at the end of this post. Travel startups will need to be ready to address the challenges of their specific market.

Everyone knows that online travel is still broken, despite the best efforts of new startups. Just having a better or more user-friendly product isn’t enough.

Tom Howard, co-founder of Adioso, says that the real challenges for travel startups are “the difficulty/cost in obtaining inventory and the old-fashioned infrastructure and business practices.” He advises travel startups to “be able to demonstrate that they understand these challenges very well and have ingenious ways of overcoming them.”

Additional reading:

How to Apply to Y-Combinator by Paul Graham, Founder of Y-Combinator

Super last minute advice for startups applying for Y Combinator by Gary Tan

How do I apply to 500 Startups? Quora thread

How to Get Into Startup Chile by Jennifer Turliuk

Do you have a travel startup? Gone through an incubator or just thinking about it? Please share your thoughts and advice in the comments.

Photo by Paul Miller

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Fred Perrotta.

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It’s so easy to take part in this competition. All you have to do is…

1. Tweet the URL of your favourite city photographs that you have taken.
2. Include #CityView and @MillenniumEU so that they can be found

That’s it!

Competition ends 31th October 2012

Prizes…(and just in time for WTM)

Entries will be judged across five categories and winners will each receive these great prizes:

• Most Shared - Friday and Saturday night dinner, bed and breakfast for 2 people, at any Millennium & Copthorne hotel in the UK

Winner chosen by – Millennium & Copthorne Hotels

• Most Dramatic - Friday and Saturday night bed and breakfast for 2 people and a bottle of wine on arrival, at any Millennium & Copthorne hotel in the UK

Winner chosen by – David Nightingale (chromasia.com)

• Most Creative - Friday and Saturday night bed and breakfast for 2 people, at any Millennium & Copthorne hotel in the UK

Winner chosen by – Ingrid Owens (beginnersphotographyblog.com)

• Honourable Mentions - £75 restaurant voucher, to be redeemed at any Millennium & Copthorne hotel in the UK

Winner chosen by – Jeff Titelius (eurotravelogue.com)

• Honourable Mentions - £50 restaurant voucher, to be redeemed at any Millennium & Copthorne hotel in the UK

Winner chosen by – Victoria Brewood (pommietravels.com)

But wait, there’s more…

All accepted entries will be featured on the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels blog and your work will be credited. The most highly revered images will be used (whilst credited) to create an article entitled “The World’s Greatest City Views”.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels look forward to receiving your entries and wish you the best of luck!

Terms and conditions apply

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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The event takes place at the cool Bar Kick on Shoreditch High Street (handy for ExCeL) from 6.30pm until 11pm and there will be drink and food on the night as well as fierce but friendly competition. Further details and (free) registration here – open only to bloggers and writers.

WTM Social Travel Market is curated by Travel Perspective, the digital editorial consultancy founded by former online travel editor of the Sunday Times, Steve Keenan, and travel journalist and author, Mark Frary.

WTM Social Travel Market was launched by World Travel Market in November 2011. The conference was a resounding success:

• The #stm2011 hashtag reached 482,477 people via more than 1,500 tweets
• 1,027 individuals watched the events remotely via YouTube
• 777 delegates attended across the two days

In case you’ve missed it last year, here are ten takeaways from STM 2011 

This year’s conference runs on 7 and 8 November at London ExCeL and includes 13 informative sessions with 40 top speakers from the likes of Foursquare, Facebook and Gogobot as well as some of the world’s leading travel bloggers, such as Gary Arndt, Matt Kepnes, Kash Bhattacharya and more. Sessions are free to those attending WTM (register at www.wtmlondon.com) and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Spaces are limited so don’t forget to register today.

*Disclosure: This post is sponsored by our friends over at the WTM Social Travel Market.

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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Last week another iteration of TBEX took place, as anyone remotely connected to the travel blogging world would already be aware – having had their Twitter streams flooded with the #tbex hashtag for the better part of two weeks pre and post conference. Travelllll.com was in attendance again as the event’s media partner, and we got the inside scoop on what happened.

The conference this time around was hosted in Girona, Spain in association with Costa Brava Tourism. A stunning location, without doubt – but could it possibly live up to the unparalleled success and wonder of TBEX in Colorado? The answer was a decided… not-quite.

The city of Girona is a stunning destination to play host to the conference, and nothing can be taken away from the chosen location – but while its bigger American brother felt like professional industry gathering and networking event, Europe seemed to lean more toward the side of  drinking and fun. There’s nothing technically wrong with this, and perhaps European culture played a part, but it was an altogether different atmosphere.

Speakers and Subjects

JD Andrews rocking the stage – photo by @WritingTravel

The value of any conference, aside from networking, is steadfast in the quality of the speakers and the content which they choose to present. There were some impressive performances here from professionals who were really able to offer an insight into their skills and experience which were undoubtedly valuable to anyone who took the time to listen. JD Andrews on Video, and Kash Bhattacharya on his Luxury Hostels project were two notable instances of speakers who had something interesting and innovative to say. There was some repetition of topics which have been covered several times previously, at TBU… WTM… and previous instances of TBEX. Not just the same topics… but the same speakers presenting the same topics.

There has been a sense recently that TBEX chooses speakers based on how famous they are, rather than what they have to say – and this is a disservice to attendees. People should speak when they have something important to say, and they should listen when they don’t. Hashing together some shit about the value of Pinterest and Google Plus is not good enough.

I would love to see the next TBEX focus more on subjects rather names. What is TBEX about? What does it stand for? The biggest value of a conference isn’t an individual take-away from a single talk. It’s 5 different talks which all fit together as large parts of an even bigger picture and inspire you with new understanding. You don’t need 5 tracks and 34 speakers for a good event. A one day event with 6 speakers with amazing content and the entire audience in one room. This is where the audience will really place value on what’s being said and take something away from it.

Organisation and Infrastructure

Photo by @JordiCasinos

While the content lacked clear focus for me, the organisation of the event cannot be faulted. If there’s one thing that’s clear (again), it’s that TBEX and BlogWorld (now known as NMX – New Media Exchange) know how to organise an event. There were no major glitches, everything ran on time, and the communication of what was happening next was very clear. TBEX deserve to be praised for this because it’s very easy to take for granted, even more so following the high bar set in Colorado, and these things do not just magically occur.

The parties hosted by Costa Brava, TBEX, and Expedia were all a lot of fun and provided the opportunity for attendees to chat and get to know each other in a relaxed setting. The food was exactly as you would expect from Costa Brava: incredible. It was obvious that the tourist board went over and above to try to please and impress attendees as much as possible. Occasionally this can be slightly overwhelming, but it’s hard to critiscise a group of people who work so hard here and, clearly, take digital travel journalism and its emerging genuine value incredibly seriously.

The Mystery of Will Peach

Will Peach – photo by @WritingTravel

The community has been confused, offended, fascinated and occasionally aroused for the better part of a year by a gentleman named William Peach. He came out of nowhere and stamped his name firmly on the world of travel blogging with posts discussing how he’s going to have the biggest travel blog in the world, and 5 things he’d rather be doing than attending a travel blogging conference. I would love to tell you that Peach is a useless troll of the internet as we all suspected, but having had the chance to speak with him – he’s actually a very intelligent guy with a genuine interest in challenging perceptions, stereotypes and social norms. Read a little deeper into his posts and you might, might, just catch a sniff of real sentiment buried beneath swear words, innuendos and dreadfully graphic metaphors.

So What Next?

Overall TBEX Europe was a very good event, but we expected it to be great. The European market seems to be at this point a much less established industry than its North American counterpart. It is crying out for innovation, for forward thinking, for a few individuals who have motivation to do more than just write another list of Top [x] Things to do in [x] That No One Actually Cares About. As soon as there are more fresh ideas floating around and people acting on those ideas, collaborating on those ideas, finding new ways to make online travel journalism interesting… that’s when I think the conferences will in turn, step up a level.

The North American instance of TBEX moves to Toronto, Canada in 2013 – it will be interesting to see how much TBEX now steer the industry or, perhaps, how much the industry now steer TBEX. There is a lot of room at the moment for new travel bloggers to emerge who have very focused target demographics and talk about how to market to this audience. Travel blogs which are in effect a “travel diary” are becoming long in the tooth. Projects like The Traveler’s Handbook Series are very, very interesting to watch.

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by John O'Nolan.

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As Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) were busy putting the finishing touches on glossy brochures, preparing press trips and setting up pavilions at yet another travel show, along came a bunch of bespectacled tech troublemakers disrupting the entire market. That may be a bit of an exaggeration – not all sport glasses – but they certainly cast the first stones in the battle for mobile travelers.

This summer, social travel and destination guide apps have arrived in droves, and they pose a perilous challenge to the traditional destination-marketing model. The influence of a shared Instagram photo, Facebook like, Foursquare check-in, Groupon daily deal purchase, tweet, TripAdvisor review, Pinterest pin or blog post is spreading to the far reaches of the world. When that quaint little gem of a neighbourhood cafe down the block is overrun with busloads of rowdy tourists because some schmuck tweeted about their amazing cupcakes, well it’s suddenly hard to ignore the effect of user-generated content.

The Times They Are a Changin’

Over the past decades, enormous effort has gone into ensuring official DMO-branded websites ranked prominently in search results and provided a rich user experience. Stunning visual ads and feature write-ups on the pages of magazines and web sites helped to keep the allure of destinations alive. As long as DMOs controlled the content production and distribution, they were able to control their branding.

Over time, however, budgets swelled as competition from new destinations rose and as consumers began to demand increasingly unique experiences. Year-over-year growth in tourism revenue at the destination meant that most never had to account for these tremendous expenditures, especially while global tourism on the whole was on the rise.

A Challenge to the Status Quo

The first challenge to this stale DMO marketing model arrived with the introduction of user-generated review sites, TripAdvisor being the 500-pound gorilla. The power of mass social commentary (user reviews) raised the stature of some destinations, while others sank with far less fanfare than the Titanic. Control over destination marketing had begun to shift into the hands of the public. With the rise of mobile, that shift has become even more dramatic.

There are already more than 1 billion smart mobile devices in use worldwide, yet most DMOs are just now beginning to explore mobile strategies. Granted, each organisation wrestles with its own budgetary and resource constraints, cautious optimism in a sluggish economy and a lot of trepidation about introducing innovations. But at the same time, how do you remain viable in a mobile economy without a mobile solution? Borders Books, Tower Records, Blockbuster and Virgin Megastore answered that question long ago.

Regardless of what statistics you wish to believe, at least half of U.S. travellers are using their mobile devices at destinations for finding activities, events and points of interest. The other half are more obvious: they’re the ones juggling laminated maps, brochures, guidebooks and printed web pages. The irony of it all is that in the absence of offering their own branded mobile solutions, DMOs are increasingly detached from their consumers when these very consumers arrive at the destination.

Travel is inherently mobile and travelers today are increasingly tapped into the entire digital ecosystem of data and services for a given destination. The motivation for developing an appropriate digital-marketing strategy should therefore be rooted in acquiring an understanding of how to engage with tech-savvy travelers at every stage of their travel experience.

In this mobile economy, a DMO’s success is measured by how effectively it engages and delivers value to visitors before, during and after their travel experience. And unlike in the past, this can now be measured with certainty. With an effective mobile strategy, a DMO can determine when a consumer has actually arrived at the destination and what they do. The DMO can maintain ongoing communication with that consumer, offering value-added services and delivering critical information directly to the user’s device. With a bit of effort and investment, the DMO can again reestablish its prominent role in helping define the entire consumer travel experience.

The App Craze – Is Just That

“We need an app!” is what many DMOs often conclude before ever asking why or evaluating other alternatives for establishing a mobile presence. Just look at how many applications already reside on our mobile devices and how many we actually use with regularity. Visitors to the official New York City tourism website will find 57 different mobile applications being promoted. Thailand is promoting 18, while Hong Kong and London each promote another 10 apps. Perhaps the hope is consumers will spend more time at the destination in search of useful information from amongst the massive number of digital offerings? One can only assume.

Information Being Outcome Driven

If dating sites worked like many DMO sites do, you would see stunning pictures and read short bios that stimulated intense attraction and desire, but offered no means of arranging an actual date. It no longer suffices for content to be solely informational; it must also be actionable.

When consumers read about a restaurant, they should be able to make reservations; when they read about a museum, they should be able to purchase tickets; and when they read about a historic site, they should be able to book a guided tour. What is too often missed is that actionable information can easily be converted into transactional revenue. Considering that these types of transactions are increasingly taking pace on mobile devices, you can just imagine how much of this revenue potential is lost by DMOs.

Social Sharing

Aside from wearing brightly ornamented “I [Heart] NY” t-shirts, consumers are empowered to share their travel experiences in other highly visual, descriptive and influential ways. Those ways are digital, mobile and real-time. By inserting themselves into this social dialogue, DMOs can assert their brand while being far more influential in how their destinations are presented on these social platforms. Offering an integrated social forum through which consumers can share their advice, sentiment and experiences, hand in hand with rich media (photos and videos) at every stage of the travel experience, could give rise to a potent new legion of global brand ambassadors.

Print As a Mobile Solution?

Amongst top ranking official DMO destination web sites, the more forward thinking offer tools that allow consumers to plan their travel itinerary online before departing. And just in case you did not have enough to remember to do before embarking on your travels, DMOs advocate a more reliable, easy to remember and fun format than digital – print!

“Print details and directions for your trip…oh yeah, and have fun!“ (http://www.tourismvancouver.com/)

“…select the print option so you don’t forget a thing when you get to town.” (http://www.visitlasvegas.com)

“…email or print your favorites and plan your visit today.” (http://www.nycgo.com)

“And don’t forget to email your list, or print out a PDF copy to bring with you!” (http://www.visitcalifornia.com)

One shining exception, with an apparent sensitivity to the environmental impact of deforestation, is Puerto Rico that allows you to take your itinerary on your handheld device in their branded mobile application (http://www.seepuertorico.com/).

The Bottom Line

It is difficult to say which is worse, not doing anything or not doing anything right. In either case, the end result is that travellers are frustrated and they are turning to other resources to fill the voids left by DMOs. By acquiring an understanding of what drives today’s sophisticated consumer behaviour in the digital mobile economy – what expectations have arisen with the proliferation of location-based mobile technologies and what utility can be delivered to this market throughout the entire travel experience, DMOs have an opportunity to create a defensible long-term competitive advantage.

What does this look like? Imagine a traveller conducts all their destination research and planning from the DMO web site, able to create an informed (travel advisories, social commentary, ratings and reviews) cohesive itinerary and transact for the local services (ground transportation, event ticketing, dining reservations, venue access, tour guides) they desire. The travel itinerary and scheduling all appears on their mobile devices as well, so the user can hit the ground running with fully navigational offline maps, an integrated calendar, local weather and real-time critical alerts. At the destination the user can discover new experiences that are relevant to their distinct tastes and can continue to transact for the services that are essential to the journey. Throughout, experiences can all be captured and shared from the very same mobile solution, integrated with the user’s social media platforms. And finally when the use returns back home, they can continue to share their photos, videos and impressions, as well provide valued advice to the DMO’s community to help inspire and assist new prospective visitors.

On web and mobile, DMOS must be engaging with their consumers and delivering value every step of the way through a single integrated solution. After all, if DMOs are no longer the primary source for trusted, engaging, targeted and actionable information about unique destination experiences, what are they?

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by davidharrisfriedman@gmail.com.

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In September we temporarily relocated Travelllll.com HQ to the paradise resort of El Gouna - a  tourist resort town dating from the early nineties and located on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, close to Hurghada International Airport.

It is a prime example of a destination that specialises in watersports and also the reason for our visit. Some of the activities that can be enjoyed are scuba diving, windsurfing, kitesurfing, waterskiing, parasailing and snorkelling.

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We wanted to experience the resort through one of its most popular activities, kitesurfing. Activity based holidays have become increasingly popular among tourists and a great way to explore a destination in more depth. In this instance, it gave us the chance to kite with (and get to know) both the local residents as well as fellow students.

But we weren’t the only ones in El Gouna…

A group of bloggers also arrived there in September to enjoy the sea, sunshine and shopping: Jayne Gorman 40before30 (@jayneytravels), Rhonda Carrier Takethefamily (@Takethefamily) and Abisola Omole I Am AbiMarvel (@abimarvel).

Sherine Sennara, El Gouna Public Relations Manager, Destinations Marketing Department explains that:

For our first UK blogger trip we wanted a real blend of bloggers so selected a family-focused blog, fashion and lifestyle blog and an outright travel blog. The three UK bloggers regularly tweeted whilst in El Gouna for five days and have produced some excellent blog posts on their return to the UK.

Here’s a photo snap shot of 12 days in El Gouna. I used this opportunity to do complete a beginner’s kitesurfing course at  RedSeaZone Watersports Academy, whilst also enjoying everything else that the town has to offer.

Thanks to the lovely folks over at the Fandir Hotel for putting me up whilst completing my kitesurfing course. I had a great time (and birthday!) there, enjoying the Abut Tig Marina North Basin on the Red Sea (where it is situated).

*Disclosure: Most of the trip to El Gouna was self-funded. However, my Kiteboarding course and accommodation was sponsored.

All photos taken by Lezaan Roos from Travelllll.com via GoPro and Nikon D5100

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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We will be holding this event, only a few days before World Travel Market starts, to make sure that as many of you as possible are able attend.  We have teamed up with London Travel Massive, who is celebrating their second birthday whilst we here at Travelllll.com, are celebrating our first. This promises to be one of the biggest meetups of the year with a swanky venue to help mark the occasion.

But that’s not all…

Janice Waugh (Solo Traveller) Sarah, Terry Lee (LiveShareTravel) and Jodi Ettenberg (Legal Nomads), will be there to launch their new range of books,  The Traveler’s Handbook series, along with titles by Shannon O’Donnell (A Little Adrift) and Jeff Jung. The book launch will take place at Travel Massive, so come early to be part of their launch. The plan is to hold the book launch between 6 – 7pm with a panel discussion featuring three of the authors. Then the Travel Massive event continues into the night after that.

As usual with Travel Massive events, the night will be for casual networking with people from all sectors of the Travel Industry.

Event and venue details

Thursday 1st November 2012, 1800.

The Kensington Hotel
109-113 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5LP

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RSVP here

We look forward to seeing you there, hip hip, hooray!

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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With the increase of social sharing platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook’s Timeline and more, it can feel like the world is all ears for whatever we want to tell it. Many people still think of blogging and their social media outlets as just this: a kind of public diary. In the travel blogging industry it is particularly prevalent, since many bloggers set out on their adventures to ‘find themselves’, and see their trip as an intensely personal experience.

No problem there, but what if you want to grow your blog, and even make money from it?

Many bloggers are stuck in this conundrum. The hours of effort put in to maintaining a blog and getting little to show for it in return is a frustrating thing, so how can you keep your blog and maintain your audience? One way is to become more professional, and to take some lessons from good journalism.

To be clear, blogging isn’t journalism. Journalism principles dictate that the author should remain neutral, concise and always keep the reader in mind. Blogging, on the other hand, is ostensibly infused with the author’s personal opinions. This is part of the joy of blogging; the freedom to write in as much detail about whatever you fancy.

But this can often be a curse for the blogger, as they long to share all their experiences, conversations and even meals, regardles of their audience and what they might be drawn in and captivated by. And the number one lesson to learn from journalism is this:

Always have your reader in mind.

This, for many bloggers, is a complete switch of mindset. Many bloggers have themselves in mind as the reader, or at a stretch their friends and family back home. They happily write about what they had for breakfast before they set out on an adventure, completely ignoring the fact that, for the reader, this is completely unnecessary information. Indeed, to go mainstream, it’s always better to write for an audience, even if in the beginning they’re imaginary.

So what does it mean to write for an audience?

It means being informative.

If you enjoyed your dinner at Burgers & Fries in L.A., make sure the reader not only knows that, but knows where to find the restaurant and how much the meal costs. Many blog readers only really want to find out information, so if you’re writing about what you did, always try to include how you did it, too.

It means being relevant.

If there’s an event going on where you are, try to go. If you’re staying near a newly opened restaurant, try to go. If you’re in Colombia and the mayor of Bogotá is put in jail (happened a couple of years ago), speak to locals, find out what they think.

It means less personal details.

While you may have enjoyed a funny conversation with your dorm-room buddy Aaron, unless there’s some kind of insight on the place you are, the hostel you’re in, the concept of travelling or anything similar, chances are it’s not relevant to your reader. You should exclude it.

It means keeping it simple.

Style is one thing, and writing well is an important part of blogging. Keeping it simple does not mean losing your style, it means trying to avoid flourishes of fancy phrasing and making sure you express things in the simplest way possible.

If you maintain these principles, you should find yourself free to embellish upon personal details from time to time, to recapture that narrative feel that first made you feel like a travel writer, without losing your audience. They’re already captured by your blog, because it’s informative, useful, relatable and easy to read.

You should also find your traffic steadily rising. With the increased amount of information you deliver, your writing will automatically become more SEO-Friendly. Restaurant names, information about how to get places, typical cuisines of certain regions and other small details are very often searched for, and should boost your long-term traffic noticeably.

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by PaulBFowler.

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The aim, said Lea Hajner on behalf of the Vienna Tourist Board, was “to draw attention to Vienna as a young and modern city. Vienna is often associated with tradition and things such as the Wiener Schnitzel and the Viennese Walz. That’s all part of the city but there is so much more beyond. For the first blog trip they wanted to focus on fashion, music and lifestyle and wanted to show places that locals and tourists like to hang out at”.

The Vienna Tourist Board picked 12 bloggers from 6 different markets and Lea goes on to say:

Part of my job was to help the tourism board to figure out who they’d like to invite. They had already decided they wanted to work with bloggers when I joined early in Spring. Thanks to several blog trips and conferences such as TBEX and TBU in the last few years I had the chance to meet a lot of travel bloggers and I already knew people who had an interest in coming to Vienna.

Like any other Tourist Board Vienna has its main target countries so we went for a mixture of countries but also languages. Besides stats, numbers and engagement with the readers it was also important for us to find participants, who we thought would not only enjoy seeing a young side of Vienna but would also fit well into the group.

The Team

• (Me!), Lezaan Roos, (UK) www.travelllll.com
• John O’Nolan, (UK) www.travelllll.com
• Sarah & Terry Lee, (UK) www.livesharetravel.com
• Keith Jenkins, (NL) www.velvetescape.com
• Chris Richardson (UK/AUS) www.theaussienomad.com
• Isabelle Kenis, (BELGIUM) www.isabellestravelguide.com
• Yvonne Zagermann, (GER) www.justtravelous.com
• Maéva Coron, (FRANCE) Hejorama, www.hejorama.com
• Johannes Klaus, (GER) www.reisedepesche.de
• Jeremy Kunz, (CH) www.tkkg.ch/www.reisewerk.ch - but he now has a new site: reisewerk.ch
• Nina Hüpen-Bestendonk (GER), www.travelettes.net

In charge for the whole trip was Isabella Rauter from Wien.info with Lea Hajner @vanilleah (also from @tripwolf) looking after us on behalf of the Vienna Tourist Board.

The Trip Highlights

We kicked off the trip at 25hours Hotel. I mention this Hotel in particular because of the way in which it supported the objective of the trip, which was to showcase Vienna as a ‘young and modern city’. It is a place where surreal, surprising and sexy plays with fantasy and exotic. You can feel the temporary character and the flair with real craft and art. The design is orientated to the heyday of the circus at the beginning of the 20 century.

A second highlight for me, which showcased the ‘younger, lively side’, was a stroll along the Danube canal to explore the urban restaurant, bar and club scene of Vienna.

The Danube Canal is a special feature of the Austrian capital’s urban landscape. This centrally located offshoot of the Danube proper is home to a lively gastro and party scene that really comes into its own once the mercury starts to rise.

Although there are quite a few interesting bars and restaurants open for business on the Danube Canal year round, it’s not until the weather gets warmer that this part of town truly comes to life. When the sun is shining and the outdoor bars and restaurants have created their artificial sandy beaches and the deck chairs are all lined up, it’s finally time for a holiday in the heart of the city. Located in the center of Vienna, the Danube Canal has steadily grown into one of the capital’s most exciting gastro and party hotspots over the past few years. The strictly car-free quayside sets the perfect scene for bar-hopping and the views of the water add a hint of Caribbean charm.

Summer in the City of Vienna would not be complete without taking the paddle boat to enjoy an afternoon in the sun. The Old Danube is a centrally located recreational paradise and a calm body of water that has something to offer for every taste and is also frequently visited by the Viennese. About 1,600 row boats, electric and paddle boats are awaiting vacationers from around the world.

Numerous outdoor pools, such as the famous “Gänsehäufel”, have excellent water quality and tempt visitors to enjoy many pleasant hours at the beach.

Other activities included…

A visit to the museumsquartier (MQ) and The exhibition Art and Fashion at the mumok (Museum of Modern Art). Also, a shopping tour through the 7th District with expert Sebastian Bauer – the lively Fashion and Design scene of the 7th district and the neighboring districts are the focal point of the 7tm shop tours. The 7th District in particular is Vienna’s mecca for the latest fashion trends.

Ongoing Blogger Engagement

While there, the participants were active both ‘on the ground’ and online too, as born out by the 2,085,299 impressions (via tweetreach) we generated on the #inVienna hashtag. As Lea Hajner explains, this ‘live’ element was important:

The Vienna Tourist Board is constantly working with traditional journalists from around the world, but the #inVienna blog trip marked a first step towards working more closely with travel bloggers. For the blog trip it was also important for us to invite bloggers with a high affinity towards Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to create an online buzz as the blog trip was taking place.

So, does that mean more blog trips in future?

The Vienna Tourist Board would like to continue working with bloggers and is happy to receive requests. The more detail you send the easier it is for them to help you out. Also make sure to include your media kit, what you’d like to see during your stay and where you’ll be needing their help. In general Vienna is looking to promote the young city – or the mixture between old traditions and young developments such as the Design Week that is on now.

Will you be taking Vienna up on their offer?

*I was supplied with luggage by Karrimor to try out on this 4-day trip to Vienna. The wheeled travel case was an excellent option for the short trip and all my equipment as well as personal belongings fitted comfortably.

Image: Flickr/skittledog

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Lezaan Roos.

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The annual Travel Photographer of the Year competition, affectionately known as TPOTY (pron: tea-potty), is holding a festival of photography with workshops, masterclasses & equipment clinics.

Travel Photography Live! takes place on October 5-7 at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London.

The Festival kicks off at 6pm on the evening of Friday 5th October, with keynote lectures in the Ondaatjee Theatre at the RGS presented by Nick Danziger and Steve Bloom, and is followed by with two action-packed days of lectures, equipment and photography advice, lighting and digital imaging workshops and even individual image critique sessions.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Nick Danziger – travel photographer, film maker & one of the world’s most renowned photojournalists
• Steve Bloom – award-winning travel and wildlife photographer and famed documenter of the apartheid years in South Africa
• Eamonn McCabe – four times winner of Sports Photographer of the Year, winner of News Photographer of the year & Guardian Picture Editor
• Tom Mackie – one of the world’s leading landscape photographers
• Mark Edward Harris – leading stock & fine art travel photographer from the USA
• Chris Weston – renowned wildlife photographer, now also shooting HD video
• Craig Easton – travel photographer who shot many of the promotional images for the London Olympics
• Timothy Allen – photographer for BBC Human Planet, talking about photography & social media
• Jason Hawkes – award-winning aerial photographer (‘Britain from the Air’ etc.)
• Nick Meers – travel, landscape & panoramic photographer
• Martin Hartley – expedition photographer
• Jeremy Hoare – travel photographer & former TV cameraman
• Guy Caplin – formerly a senior producer and director at ITV
• Colin Finlay – stock photography expert
• Caroline Metcalfe – Director of Photography, Conde Nast Traveller
• Philip Lee Harvey – travel & advertising photographer
• Mary Robert – lecturer in photography
• Chris Coe – founder of the Travel Photographer of the Year awards

In addition, Fujifilm is running a photography equipment clinic, and people such as Caroline Metcalfe of Conde Nast Traveller will be performing image critiques for visitors.

Tickets cost £25 for the keynote lecture evening, with Saturday or Sunday tickets costing £65 each and a Festival Pass (covering all three days) £130. These prices are reduced to £20, £50 and £105 respectively for members of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), registered students, and Travel Photographer of the Year entrants.

Image: TPOTY/Craig Easton

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

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Speculation about Google’s ambitions in travel first spiked in July 2010 when, for $700 million, it purchased ITA Software, a leading provider of air search technology.

It was piqued again when, in September 2011, Google bought Zagat, the well-known restaurant review company, which it then made a cornerstone of its Google+ Local service.

And then most recently when last month it took over the trademark of Frommer’s travel guides.

Where is This Leading?

Until Google’s plans are revealed, it’s safe to assume that Google’s ultimate goals in the travel space are a well-kept secret.

Then again, perhaps Google was kind enough to lay it all out clearly for us. Google just might be working (successfully) toward one-stop-shop dominance at every one of the five stages of travel it put forward:

• At the dreaming stage, Google already owns YouTube and Picasa.
• At the planning stage, in addition to its search engine, Google now has the likes of Zagat and Frommer’s to help people make informed travel decisions.
• At the booking stage, Google’s Flight Search and Hotel Finder tools make securing some of one’s travel needs easy.
• Google apparently thinks of the experiencing stage as synonymous with mobile-readiness, something for which the company is amply prepared. Android™ anyone?
• Finally, at the sharing level, Google is still gambling on Google Plus, not to mention travellers’ penchant for posting videos and pictures on the same platforms that feed into the dreaming stage.

Seen through those goggles, Google’s got everything just about wrapped up, right?

You Mean There’s More?

You bet there is! Over at Travopia, I found a great graphic that lays clear just how busy Google has been at building a whole infrastructure (often referred to as the company’s online travel ecosystem) that satisfies online users’ needs at every stage of a travel experience.

Talk about comprehensive.

So What Does That Mean for us?

By us, I mean the people who aren’t attached to major multinationals – the independent travel content creators and curators, travel editors and publishers? Is a Google-squeezed travel market resilient enough to leave space for us?

I believe it is.

As pointed out by others, Google’s recent attention to content suggests that, like Yahoo, AOL, Amazon.com, Apple and Netflix before it, Google may be edging into the brambly thickets of media creation. Google may no longer be satisfied pointing users to the best content on the Web; now Google, as a media company, wants to have a hand at producing it.

On the one hand, this may seem like it will be harder to compete in search engine results pages. With its new Frommer’s-fed (and Zagat-enriched) data trove of destination-based information, Google can suddenly legitimately outrank a long list of arguably more popular competitors, like Lonely Planet and its media parents at BBC Worldwide. But this will take time and energy, as the Frommer’s content is in need of more timely and proficient updates.

On the other (and in my opinion, more important) hand, Google may have found a way to less destructively advance the process begun by some of its punishing algorithm shakedowns of the last couple of years: it’s working to elevate the importance of quality original content, or at least throw no weight behind content-production and -dissemination platforms that diminish the efforts and value of independent professionals with limited resources but a commitment to research, in-depth reports and thoughtful analysis. After all, Google bought Frommer’s, not Demand Media. Rather than shutting the door on quality, Google just may be finding new ways to frame it, which might begin to work to the advantage of all people who create it.

What do you think? Are Google’s intentions in the travel space honourable… to anyone?

Featured Image: Flickr/Marcin Wichary
Chart: Travopia

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Ethan Gelber.

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The live coverage for TBEX Europe 2012, hosted in Girona – Spain. The latest updates will automatically appear at the top of this page, you don’t even need to refresh. Handy!

John O'Nolan — Monday, 20:06 UTC

We’re finally on our way out of Spain, after a fun-filled few days at TBEX. Thanks everyone!

John O'Nolan — Sunday, 13:09 UTC

Pam Mandel and Will Peach’s slides are here

John O'Nolan — Sunday, 13:04 UTC

The passing of the tiara ritual #TBEX 2012 #incostabravatwitpic.com/axm0wp

— James Craven (@CravenTravels) September 23, 2012

John O'Nolan — Sunday, 12:59 UTC

Phew. That was a long evening. TBEX concluded last night with Chris Guillibeau’s closing keynote, followed by a lively evening of festivities to end this year’s biggest European travel blogging conference. The final attendee count came in at 362, we’ve heard, which is nothing to be sneezed at!

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 13:50 UTC

@wildjunket @lozula brands care about Twitter if you’re outrageous as fuck on it

— Will Peach (@willpeach) September 22, 2012

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 13:48 UTC

Beg to differ! “@lozula: Brands don’t care about twitter. Controversial curmudgeon from the back corner, or truth? #tbex”

— Nellie Huang (@WildJunket) September 22, 2012

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 13:46 UTC

After excellent sessions on video and SEO downstairs, controversy ensues upstairs as bloggers debate whether or not brands care about Twitter.

Has anyone seen my beer?

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 13:16 UTC

Over in the other room, Keith and Melvin are presenting their concept for measuring ROI. Spoiler alert: it’s (Klout + Facebook) / Twitter * Instagram + 0.482.

You’re welcome.

Photo by BudgetTraveller

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 12:48 UTC

Lunch finished. We’re checking out JD Andrews’ session on travel video – which is off to a flying start!

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:50 UTC

Confirmed.

I’m hungry. #tbex

— LezaanRoos (@LezaanRoos) September 22, 2012

@lezaanroos me too!

— Nina Derham (@ninaderham) September 22, 2012

@lezaanroos @ninaderham feeeeeeeeed me…..

— Ruth Haffenden(@Ruth_Elizabeth) September 22, 2012

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:45 UTC

It’s been a good 10 minutes since anyone has mentioned hummus or Will Peach. Something is wrong. I think hunger-coma has set in.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:40 UTC

Love the idea of travel shaped by the community presented by Jill Lloyd of @expedia #TBEX

— Laurel Robbins (@Laurel_Robbins) September 22, 2012

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:38 UTC

Got a trip idea that you think Expedia would be interested in or get on any of their upcoming trips? They’re running it through the Travelllll.com Jobs board. Booyah.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:35 UTC

Michael Turtle hasn’t even finished speaking yet, but we’ve got his slides! Get on it.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:33 UTC

Expedia are inviting bloggers to submit their own ideas for an experience-centred sponsored trip. If they like it, they’ll set it up. Simple. Effective.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:31 UTC

Jill Lloyd from Expedia is discussing how they work with travel bloggers as a brand, and where they fit into the picture (somewhere between bloggers and DMOs). We’ve been working Expedia to organise sponsored trips for bloggers for the last year. They know their shit.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:26 UTC

Expedia. People Shaped Travel.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:18 UTC

Now I want hummus @landlopers #tbex

— Jessica Parker (@TripWhisperer) September 22, 2012

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 10:13 UTC

Now in the panel on Forming Creative Tourism-Blogger Partnerships. Talking about how Matt Long works with Hummus. Seriously.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 09:41 UTC

Nearly forgot to mention – Michael Turtle wins the prize for best photo of Will Peach last night. Michael wins one exclusive travel date with… wait for it… Will Peach! Congratulations, you cheeky lovebirds.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 09:18 UTC

iKeith Jenkins now talking about iAmbassador, which is about iCampaigns in Social iMedia.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 09:08 UTC

Kash, the budget traveller, talking about his Budget Hostel book and how he went about putting it together – describes his audience as “no one in this room”. He gets it. Very good presentation.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 09:01 UTC

It makes me sad when speakers talk about “hits”. Very sad.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 08:52 UTC

Now sitting in “Collaborating for Branding, Profit, and the Greater Good” – Janice Waugh is talking about her new traveller book series.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 08:19 UTC

Summary of the argument (from this instance and the 300 other times where it’s been discussed before):

I’m a publisher! – I write content, take photos, sell advertising, promote myself, network with people, do admin, manage my accounts. I’m not a blogger, I’m a digital publisher – and I focus on working with businesses and selling my full-service package.

I’m a traveller who writes! – Quality of writing doesn’t matter that much, it’s not what people on the internet are looking for. Statistics prove this, repeatedly, it’s about creating a brand which people aspire to. I focus on travelling, and my blog is simply a diary of that.

I’m a writer! – Everything else is irrelevant if you don’t write great content. Story telling is [insert 5-10 adjectives], and no one really appreciates what a large impact it has on your business as a blogger. I focus on writing, and everything else is built around that.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 08:15 UTC

Bloggers on the panel now arguing… I mean… discussing… the difference between writers, travellers, and publishers.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 08:11 UTC

First video from the last few days of TBEX is now up, shows some nice snippets of the action (mostly the parties to be honest) that’s been goin’ down.

Click here to view the embedded video.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 08:09 UTC

Not everyone  is happy that Chris Guillebeau’s session has been replaced with a panel.

Anyway, there is a live travel bloggers podcast instead of Chris Gillebeau’s talk, people seem to be OK with it. #tbex twitter.com/cornellius/sta…

— Manuel Aguilar (@cornellius) September 22, 2012

I’m not OK with it, so I leave the room :-) #tbex

— Manuel Aguilar (@cornellius) September 22, 2012

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 08:05 UTC

Nellie’s slides from yesterday have arrived. These ones are in Powerpoint format, so this link will give you a file to download rather than being viewable in your browser.

Oh, and yes – TBEX really did make all speakers use the same slides with different text…

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 07:47 UTC

Guests are being called up from the audience to participate in the panel. Now on stage: William Bakker from Think! Social Media – who we’ve written about before after organising the #unmapped blogtrip this year.

John O'Nolan — Saturday, 07:43 UTC

Schedule change this morning. Day starting off with a live episode of This Week in Travel.

Photo by Heather Cowper

John O'Nolan — Friday, 13:00 UTC

Now I’m going to get really fucking drunk and fornicate like it’s going out of style. First in my sights? @80worldjobs#TBEX

— Will Peach (@willpeach) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 12:55 UTC

Slides from Amy Moore and Jessica Parker are here!

John O'Nolan — Friday, 12:52 UTC

Photo by TBEXevents

John O'Nolan — Friday, 12:46 UTC

Lunch over, bloggers fed, last session of the day is with Amy Porterfield – getting underway shortly.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 11:08 UTC

Phew, back at #T5Villa for lunch. Can’t argue with this view:

Book it for yourself: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/429279

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:57 UTC

They’re called “other travel bloggers”.

There are certain kind of travelers that only find an answer on blogs when planning a trip @jaumemarin @incostabrava #TBEX

— MartaLopezDCervantes (@Martaldcv) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:54 UTC

Good lord we’re hungry. Taking a break to shovel some ham down ourselves. I know that’s not the most eloquent way to imply the consumption of Spanish cuisine, but there you go.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:50 UTC

@willpeach and @nerdseyeview getting controversial about how often to post. Bloggers gonna riot. #tbex

— Cole and Adela (@FourJandals) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:43 UTC

Travel bloggers retweet us way more when we say something about alcohol than when we say something about travel. We know our audience. And they’re drunk.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:36 UTC

Summary of the latest: C.C. Chapman is converting everyone to Google+, Jaume (from Costa Brava Tourism) is trying to explain that it’s the people and what they have to say the matter when selecting people to participate in tourism campaigns – not titles of “blogger” or “social media expert” or “influencer”.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:31 UTC

We think he’s lying

Tips about @pinterest now from @goseewrite. He says it IS evolving beyond women-centric topics/photos. #TBEX #incostabrava

— Kirsten Alana  (@KirstenAlana) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:29 UTC

Want to catch Kirsten Alana’s TBEX presentation online? She just finished delivering it, and we’ve got the slides. Booyah.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:26 UTC

@willpeach on creative writing. “If you are boring you should…” fill in the blank. Mine involves a revolver. #tbex

— turner (@80worldjobs) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:25 UTC

Great tips from @kirstenalana “Use #Webstagram, #Carousel and #Statigram to enhance your #Instagram experience.” #TBEX

— Laurel Robbins (@Laurel_Robbins) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:25 UTC

Fine balance between brave, personal writing and coming over like a psychopath says @willpeach. (via @rosierobbins) – we can’t get enough of these Will Peach quotes.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:21 UTC

Nice shot of Peter Shankman with the opening keynote this morning, by C.C. Chapman

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:17 UTC

Listening to pasty dream boat @willpeach teach creative writing at #tbex is like watching Michael Jordan (play baseball)

— turner (@80worldjobs) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 10:08 UTC

Now trending: instagram photos of Will Peach on Twitter. I think most people, like us, are surprised that he’s a real live human person.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:58 UTC

Apparently someone really did let Will Peach on stage at TBEX, that wasn’t just a funny pre-conference joke.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:54 UTC

Opinion: Every panel should have an extra person who fields the audience’s questions to an online poll with live results. Would make for some interesting debates/discussion.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:47 UTC

Great advice.

Be savvy and get out there and find your story during a press trip. And don’t be afraid to ask for down time! @tripwhisperer #tbex

— Monica Stott (@TheTravelHack) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:43 UTC

We have a question for all your travel bloggers out there – attending TBEX or not – who is your audience? Tweet us @Travelllll and let us know. Anything except: backpackers, travel lovers, armchair-adventurers, or “people like me”

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:34 UTC

Lots of discussion coming out of the publishing revenue panel. Many think that physical publishing is the way forward for bloggers. An interesting turn of events, given that the decline of physical publishing is the only reason that bloggers exist.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:27 UTC

Note to everyone following the #TBEX hashtag on Twitter – most tweets which have the hashtag at the very start of the tweet are spam. Avoid those links!

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:25 UTC

Wild Junket (aka Nellie) is rocking the stage. Photo by piccavey.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:22 UTC

Printed books bring credibility and legitimisation? Discuss #tbex @solotraveler

— Julie Giraud (@JulieGCL) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:17 UTC

JD Andrews, snapping Girona like a pro.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:14 UTC

Gary doesn’t like Instagram filters. Controversial.

Using Instagram? Cool it on the filters! Using many does not make you an artist all of a sudden ;) via @everywheretrip #tbex #photography

— Chantal Sukel (@chantalsukel) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:11 UTC

Photography tips with Gary Arndt and Abigail King, pitching tips with Amy Moore and Jessica Parker, revenue streams from publishing with Beth Whitman, Janice Waugh and Nellie Huang - it’s all happening.

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:07 UTC

#TBEX travel bloggers making impressions worldwide, 18.1 Million so far on Twitter per @hashtracking & that’s pre-event! :)

— dave_blogworld (@dave_blogworld) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 09:06 UTC

I should mention that Travelllll.com HQ this week is located in a stunning villa provided to us by a very kind local gentleman. This is possibly the best place anyone could stay in Girona, so next time you’re here – you should probably check it out. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/429279

 

John O'Nolan — Friday, 08:59 UTC

Of course there is still one question which everyone still wants to the know the answer to…

In a war with @willpeach. Who will break first? #TBEX

— Erica&Shaun Kuschel (@OverYonderlust) September 21, 2012

John O'Nolan — Friday, 08:57 UTC

By the way, congratulations to Matt (@landlopers) for landing a new job heading up TBEX Business Development – we look forward to seeing your work! http://t.co/blOURpDM

John O'Nolan — Friday, 08:52 UTC

And we’re off! Despite some painful technical issues for the last hour (who likes WordPress anyway?) we’re up and running. Everyone had a fairly amazing evening last night at the TBEX welcome party, some of the evidence is still on the faces of the more delicate bloggers this morning. Peter Shankman has completed his opening keynote, which went down very well, and that about brings us up to speed with what’s been happening so far!

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by John O'Nolan.

Related posts:

1. TBEX Europe 2012 in Review
2. TBEX Europe Gets Underway in Girona This Week
3. TBEX Europe – What’s Next?

To them, I just simply started a website, wrote a few diary entries on my trips and started getting paid to travel the world. Of course, if you’ve read Gary Arndt and Matthew Kepnes’ open letters to travel bloggers, you’ll know this is really never the case.

Anybody can start a travel blog; however, if you’re looking to be able to quit your desk job and live full-time off your writing, you’ll need to be strategic. To help you, here are 10 tips for making travel writing your career.

1. Create a Strategy

Before starting your site, you’re going to need to make some decisions. As you’ve probably heard countless times, sticking to your brand is vital. Spend time perusing other travel blogs, and make a list of what you do and don’t like. For the ones that aren’t memorable, what are they lacking? For example, I hate when articles tell me a vague account of a trip without giving any details as to how I can reenact their experience.

You’ll also want to think about what you’re good at and what interests you, and use that to set yourself apart. For example, The Points Guy has set himself apart by focusing on something not everyone writes about, branding himself as an expert in his niche. Vague posts saying “I went to Thailand and it was fun” aren’t going to cut it anymore. Before starting your site ask yourself this question: “Why should I read this site over another travel writer’s?”

Once you’ve pinpointed all this, you’ll need to decide what direction you’d like to take and come up with a name. Are you looking to create an online magazine, or would you rather be an expert in your niche? Do you want to write the content, or are you interested in hiring writers to help with that? These things will dictate your branding and how you word communications with readers. Your title should also reflect this. For instance, if you’re looking to start an online magazine, a travel-related word without your name may be best, like Vagabondish or Downtown Traveler. However, if you’re looking to give readers insight into your own experiences as a travel expert, a name like Nomadic Matt or Johnny Jet could be a better option. There are other options, like choosing something peculiar such as Bacon is Magic, niche-focused like Solo Traveler, location-based like NYCxplorer or a spin on where you’re from like Traveling Canucks. Just make sure to think hard about how these names will affect the content you plan to product and your brand.

2. Build an Online Presence

An extension of your brand will be your social media outlets, which will help build your online presence. These platforms also allow for collaborative opportunities between you and other travel writers. Additionally, if you’re looking to go on press trips, many PR companies and tourism boards will require you be influential on social media.

Choose which platforms you’re going to use, and make sure your brand is aligned on each. Use the same logo, tagline and bio, and share the same or similar information. However, because each social network focuses on a separate medium, you’re going to share in different ways. For example, while you may share a video of a Parisian making a crepe from scratch on YouTube, Twitter is text-based, so you can utilize this with blog posts, crepe-making tips or information on a Paris-focused contest. With Instagram you have the ability to share fun teasers of your trip with followers through photography, although your high-resolution shots will be better suited for Pinterest. Facebook works best with media, however, make sure you’re aware of Edgerank and how it affects your reach.

Throughout all platforms, ensure you’re engaging with followers and sharing pertinent content from both you and other travel writers. Don’t be shy about outwardly asking others to share your content, and then reciprocating in some way. Later on, you can also use Google Analytics to learn where your traffic is coming from, and which social media channels you should focus on most.

3. Be Aggressive About Pitching

You shouldn’t expect editors to come knocking on your door if you’re being lazy. You need to set a schedule for yourself to be constantly pitching. Never be intimidated to pitch a big publication, because you never know what can happen. I pitched Gadling when I was first starting out, during a rare time when they were looking for writers. Now I’ve been on the team for a year. Moreover, while you should be aggressive, you shouldn’t rush. Take the time to carefully research each publication and craft a well-thought out pitch. Develop a publication mindset, and begin to think like the editor. What would he/she want to see?

4. Make Investments to Enhance Your Skills

When it comes to advancing in your field, especially in a sector as competitive as travel writing, spend some money. When I started out, I signed up for the MatadorU travel writing course. It was a few hundred dollars, and well worth every penny for the knowledge and skills I got out of it. Take writing classes, learn photography and video and invest in quality programs and equipment to help you get ahead.

5. Over-Analyze When Editing

You can spend hours creating a worthwhile post or crafting a great pitch, but if your writing contains spelling and grammar errors, you’re going to kill your credibility. It doesn’t matter how much you know, these types of errors lead readers and editors to question your authority. Don’t think it’s a waste of time to edit posts and emails three or more times to ensure there are no mistakes.

6. Learn How to Make Your Writing Style More Interesting

The way you go about this will depend on what type of writing you’ll be doing, but remember that you want to stand out. Play with transitions and introductions. Try starting from the end of the story and then filling in the rest. Test out how a piece sounds from different perspectives. Add flashbacks, dialogue, foreshadowing, conflicts, mysteries and anything else that could make the story more interesting, and edit until you figure out what works. And remember, one thing many blogs lack is the details that allow readers to imitate the author’s experience. Phone numbers, directions, addresses, prices and travel tips in each post will help give readers valuable information. Even if you’re writing a narrative, consider putting this information in a sidebar or box on the bottom of the post.

7. Be Picky With Ads

While it may be tempting when a luxury hotel offers to pay you a few hundred dollars to post an ad on your backpacking site, don’t do it. You’ll confuse your readers, potentially turn them away and hurt your reputation. Stick to reputable companies that fit your niche. Moreover, keep in mind what you’re worth. Don’t fall for emails from companies offering “quality posts, FREE OF CHARGE, for just one little link placement.” Choose a set of rates and only lower them if you feel it’s advantageous. When I first started, I was charging an embarrassingly low amount for ads, until I talked to other bloggers and found out what most people actually charged. You don’t want to clog your site with ads anyway, so make sure if you’re putting one up it’s worthwhile.

8. Attend as Many Networking Events as Possible

Networking, both online and off, is extremely important for getting ahead. Always have business cards on hand, and mingle with as many people as possible. That being said, don’t be rude and only chat with each person for two minutes. Get to know the people you meet, understand their business and think about whether there is a way you can work together. I’ve gotten writing assignments for various travel blogs just by talking to them at networking events. Even better, host a networking event yourself to help get your name out there.

9. Be Diligent About Time Management

While most people think travel writing is lying on the beach all day with a laptop or banging out a quick post every morning before exploring a new city, this isn’t the reality. One, there isn’t Wi-Fi on the beach, and two, you should never be banging out a quick anything. You won’t have a boss telling you what to do, so you’ll need to be on top of yourself. Additionally, if you know you’re going to be busy during a certain week, work extra the week before, setup a mobile hotspot on your smartphone and use tools like Hootsuite to help you stay active online while away.

10. Learn How to Handle Rejection

Not every pitch you send out will be accepted, and not every post you publish on your site is going to go viral. Don’t take it personally. With each rejection or setback, analyze why the situation may have played out like it did, and learn from it. The more you pitch, whether successfully or unsuccessfully, the more you’ll learn and grow.

Further Reading:

• How To Choose a Name For Your Travel Blog
• How To Create Insanely Engaging Facebook Posts
• 7 Simple Improvements That You Can Make to Your Travel Blog Right Now
• A Guide to Better Travel Writing (Part 2): 20 Time-Tested Techniques and Essential Exercises
• How to Develop a Personal Brand as a Writer

Photos by Pacson Woelber, leocub, fwdthought

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Jessica Festa.

Related posts:

1. Travel Blogger Encourages Corporate Americans To Take A Career Break & Go Travelling
2. Career Break Travel Site Takes On Travel Insurance Partner
3. Why Your Travel Blog Isn’t Making Any Money, and How To Change That

Every month seems to bring a new site that you must be on according, to the fad-following social media gurus. You’ll remember them pushing the now-forgotten Google+ not long ago. Even if you’ve culled the list of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, Foursquare, Google+, and their ilk down to the few that really impact your business, updating and engaging on all of them means that you won’t have any time left to do the actual work.

This article will introduce you to your new secret weapon and best friend: IFTTT. It’s pronounced like “lift” but without the “l” and stands for “if this, then that.”

What is IFTTT? Why Should I Use It?

IFTTT is a service that lets you create connections between online services like social networks, RSS feeds, Dropbox, and email.

Using IFTTT, you can automate your most monotonous social media tasks. You’ll be able to maintain a presence on multiple social sites without having to update each one manually.

Multiply your results without multiplying your effort.

How Does IFTTT Work?

IFTTT is made up of “recipes” composed of a trigger (IF This) and an action (Then That).

Here’s a simple example: IF you post a new photo to Instagram THEN create a photo post on your Tumblr blog.

What Can IFTTT Do?

Imagine the time savings if your Instagram picture was automatically uploaded to Twitter and Tumblr then backed up in Dropbox. Or if a new Tumblr link post was automatically tweeted to your followers.

If the internet really was a series of tubes, IFTTT would be the joints connecting them and routing your content where you want it to go.

Some social networks, like Instagram, can easily post their content elsewhere, but not all networks play nicely together. IFTTT fixes this problem and lets services with APIs interact with each other. That list includes most popular social networks but not Google+ or Pinterest (yet).

By connecting the services you use every day, IFTTT can:

1. Syndicate content from one social network to another
2. Share your blog posts automatically
3. Share content directly from where you read it
4. Back up any content you share or favorite
5. Automate your Twitter engagement

Now we’ll look at each of these tricks in more depth.

1. Update All of Your Networks

The biggest benefit for busy bloggers, marketers, and community managers will be the ability to update multiple social networks at once.

Choose your most important network then use it to drive the rest. If Twitter is your best-performing network but some of your customers prefer Tumblr, you can keep them both happy and engaged without doubling your workload.

Best of all, unlike similar services, IFTTT allows you to customize your posts to each network. Every social site has its own quirks, so you’ll want to customize your content as much as possible.

For example, you don’t want to share an Instagram picture to Tumblr as a link. You want to share it as an image. IFTTT lets you do that.

This feature isn’t perfect, which is why you should be manually posting from the most important network for your business. If Twitter works best, post from there so you can optimize your use of mentions and hashtags. If Tumblr works best, post from there so that you can tag your posts and set click-through URLs. Then you can syndicate these posts out to other networks based on a template you create (example below).

2. Share Your Blog Posts Automatically

You’ve just put in the hard work of writing a great post. You brainstormed, you outlined, you drafted, you edited, you formatted. Now you can promote the post and respond to commenters, right? Not yet.

First you’ll have to go to every social network you use and share your new article. With the real work done, the drudgery begins.

No more. With IFTTT, you can set a new blog post to trigger actions like a tweet about that post.

IFTTT is a great way to implement a be everywhere strategy without spending all day updating your social profiles.

3. Share Content from Where You Read It

Hopefully you’re using an RSS reader or a “read later” service to make your media consumption as quick and efficient as possible.

Now you can share all the awesome posts you’re reading with your followers directly from your reader of choice.

Create IFTTT recipes to tweet posts you’ve favorited in Google Reader, on Twitter, or through a read later service like Instapaper, Readability, or Pocket. No more opening the post in a new window, copying the link, and pasting it into every social network you use.

Just click the star and IFTTT will take care of the rest.

4. Auto-Engage on Twitter

IFTTT has eleven triggers just for Twitter. One of the most powerful is “New follower.”

With this trigger you can:

• Thank new followers publicly: “@travelllll Thanks for the follow!”
• Direct message new followers with private messages or discounts: “D @travelllll Thanks for following. Save 10% off your next order with promo code COUPON.”
• Direct them to a page introducing them to your site: “@travelllll Thanks for following. You can learn more about MyBlog here: URL.”
• Ask them to sign up for your blog or newsletter: “@travelllll Thanks for following. Make sure you don’t miss anything important by signing up for the MyBlog newsletter here: URL.”

You can also trigger actions whenever someone mentions you. In this case you could:

• Add him/her to a list of “engagers.” These are the people you’ll want to reach out to when you need to do a survey or ask for help spreading the word about a new product launch. Obviously, you should vet this list and remove anyone who posted negative tweets.
• Reply with a message, especially if you aren’t active on Twitter or won’t respond: “@travelllll Thanks for reaching out, but we’re not very active on Twitter. The best way to contact us is…”

5. Back Up Your Content

Aside from your blog, all of the networks we’ve discussed so far control the content you post there. In most cases, you can’t export anything, even if you created it. Instead of meticulously saving and organizing everything, let IFTTT do the work for you.

You can use IFTTT to back up any content you share or favorite to Dropbox or Evernote.

Just set up IFTTT recipes to send any new posts from your networks of choice directly to a specific Dropbox folder or Evernote notebook. Then anything you share is saved without any more work on your part.

I find this particularly helpful for backing up Instagram photos.

Now you understand the full power of IFTTT to supercharge your social networking by managing your sharing and backing up your content.

How will you use IFTTT to make your life easier and your social networking better?

Photo by isado

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Fred Perrotta.

Related posts:

1. Denmark By Design – A Blogger Networking Event with Style!
2. Ignoring Your Customers: Are Companies Forgetting The “Social” in Social Media?
3. Good Travel Blogging: Seven Ways To Ruin Your Writing

With TBEX pre-conference events starting this Thursday – only three days away – there’s not much time left to register ($107 for travel bloggers, $517 for industry and PR representatives), and there are still rooms available.

As hosts, Costa Brava, illustrate in their excellent infographic, while the conference itself is held over just two days, there’s plenty going on both before and after the event.

If your decision to go is all a bit ‘last minute’ and you’d like to take some time to stay on and explore the Costa Brava region, amazingly there are still some FREE, post-conference accommodations.

If you are already signed up and on your way to Girona – many are – have you sorted out your speed dating schedule?

TBEX are using the Presdo Match system again to match bloggers with industry and sponsor attendees for some brief networking appointments, and if you are unsure how it works, TBEX Conference Director, Mary Jo Manzanares, has posted some tips on how to get the most from it.

The latest news from TBEX is that El Celler de Can Roca, the second best restaurant in the world, will be providing the food for the opening night party at St. Gregory’s Castle, and that on Friday night, after the first busy day of conferencing, there is a beach party (sponsored by Expedia) with tapas and drinks at the Hostal Empuries, the first hotel in Europe to receive LEED Gold certification.

So, last minute preparations are in place, the countdown is on, and with a stellar cast of speakers – including our own John O’Nolan – lined up and ready to go, there’s bound to be something for everyone to look forward to in Girona this week!

Image: Flickr/Stephen Downes

This post was authored exclusively for Travelllll.com by Alastair McKenzie.

Related posts:

1. TBEX Europe – What’s Next?
2. TBEX Comes To Spain In September
3. Barkworld Social Media Conference Gets Underway