‘New media’ is rapidly evolving and the number of opportunities to attend press or blog trips are increasing all the time. These usually involve exciting itineraries, providing excellent opportunities to travel, experience new destinations and to rediscover a few familiar ones.
Once in a lifetime experiences
The trips are usually sponsored by a tourism board or possibly a hotel chain and organised by their public relations agency. The aim is to promote their destination or product. This involves showing those attending the most spectacular sights, offering once in a lifetime experiences, meeting fascinating local characters and enjoying the cuisine of the region in the best restaurants.
They usually provide several stories worth sharing, countless beautiful images, plenty of bucketlist worthy experiences and almost limitless memories. They represent fantastic opportunities but they are not holidays and this is not always appreciated by others.
Beggars aren’t perceived as being a positive tourism attraction
This is an important point, they are a job and whether attending an individual or group trip we are there to promote the destination. This point is not difficult, all these places are very special and it is therefore easy to cultivate a positive perspective. It is however of paramount importance to retain editorial integrity, if there is genuinely an issue it needs to be addressed, similarly if the destination has on-going problems they cannot simply be ignored.
Portraits of culture are possible on press trips
An example would be visiting Greece during the rioting and strikes last year, completely ignoring this would have been foolish. It is an issue that needed to be addressed, put into the context of the difficulties of the country at the time but not becoming the overriding subject of the posts.
Generally portraying a destination in a negative way is not the remit for attendance on a blog trip. Taking photographs of the homeless or beggars on the streets, run-down areas or protests is fine but they are probably only suitable for personal use, maybe to illustrate a unrelated post. Some may disagree but they are not appropriate in an article which is promotional in its context. There is some responsibility to the sponsor of the trip.
There will be some that consider this is selling out, I do not agree, we should be professional, this is our chosen employment. Portraying destinations in a positive way is not betraying ourselves or our readers, these destinations are special, beautiful and interesting. I genuinely enjoy every place experienced, there maybe some minor issues but they are usually quickly forgotten and do not reflect on the overall experience.
Protesting on the streets
A client would be foolish to invite traditional or new media to their destination for the purpose of promoting it unless they had 100% confidence in the quality of their product.
However there are other travel opportunities now becoming available to professional publishers; partnering with tour operators. These are a completely different prospect, they are often about cultural immersion, experiencing the destination in an authentic manner.
This means that all aspects of a culture can be portrayed in posts, those that are sleeping rough, working girls, ghettos and townships, protest or even riots, nothing is beyond the scope of these articles.
Generally this results in richer posts, the average media trip provides between 3 and 5 posts. Personally I have attended more than 25 press or blog trips in the last year but only 1 sponsored by a tour operator. That trip was to Cuba earlier this year and although it is a fascinating and photogenic destination, the reason that it has resulted in well over a dozen posts can undoubtedly be attributed to the freedom to share the full cultural experience.
I enjoy media trips, they are great experiences and often involve some great people, creative writers, talented photographers who have their own perceptions and insights to share. It also seems possible that as cultural immersion becomes even more important to travellers, clients will become more amenable to posts that share the less glamorous side of a destination.
Providing an insight into the culture is important
There are several forward thinking tourism boards that may dispute that they are not already open to this. To date I have not had to deal with any tourism professional attempting to influence or restrict the material which is published. However equally as yet they do not seem ready for images of the homeless or protests within posts published from a trip.
It is probable that as new media becomes accepted and it’s value recognised more tour operators will become open to using it as a means to promote their itineraries or products . Visiting these destinations on an arranged itinerary with a tour operator can offer a more authentic travel experience that allows it to be shared from a slightly different perspective.
The last couple of years have seen a huge growth in social media, personal website publishing and the opportunities available to those in a postion to benefit from them. It is far from exhausted, there are new developments occurring almost weekly, the next few years are likely to provide even more opportunites. We are living in exciting times.
Travellers want to see more than pretty pictures
The Greece riots are an extreme example. I’ve participated in 300+ press trips and typically focus on what’s new, unique and compelling about the destination. Everywhere has homeless people/problems. Not sure including that lends legitimacy to a story. Depends on the outlet.
Hi iain,
This is a great read. I love travel, and it certainly comes with good and bad experiences. Most of my paid travel work has been for photography, so the personal commentary is limited. A photo of Las Ramblas in Barcelona captures the dynamics, nice, but not the pick pocket threat.
For my personal blog, I started a few months ago, I like to balance the commentary. No where is purely perfect, some times it hard to get to, or has an off season. We’ll see how that strategy goes.
Thanks for this blog entry. Keep up the great work!
Liz Claire (http://ClaireFromYvr.com)
I’ve just stumbled upon this post, Iain and it does not surprise me at all how well you address the delicate issues of maintaining journalistic integrity while respecting the generosity of the host. This same balance and authenticity infuses all of your posts and even your banterings on Twitter!
I agree that as a passionate traveler, it is hard for me to find fault with almost any new locale, but it is a disservice to our readers if we gloss over any and all potential negatives to someone considering the same destination for their hard-earned holiday. Thank you for this thoughtful article…and I shall TRY not to be green with envy for the abundance of your trips! Happy and rich travels in the new year my friend. Gina
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This is a great post especially for those of us who are new bloggers. To be honest I haven’t really thought about any of these things as I can’t imagine I’ll be getting any press trips anytime soon since my blogs are so new, but its given me something to think about for the future thanks.
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Thanks for the insight. I too have not done any press trips, although I like to write about experiences in regions, whether they be tours, courses or cultural in nature. I have the flexibility to not write about tours that I did not enjoy, although, at the same time, I wonder if my positive outlook on most everything I do and write about it too much positive. I hope to have a balanced review of the places I have stayed and the experiences I have had and share the best experiences for others who are looking for the same. Guess finding the right balance is something one learns along the way. Looking forward to the exciting times ahead!
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Interesting post Iain! While I have not gone on any press trips personally, I do understand what you are trying to say here. I believe that there will always be debates and dilemmas as to what to include and what not to in a given post. But then that, to a certain, extent is just like any other post that is written.
Having said that, I will get to experience such issues if I ever get to go on such trips. And may then I will be able to understand what you are trying to save even better.
Look forward more such thought provoking posts!
Cheers
Venky
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