travel blog analysis

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15 Travel Blog Statistics and Data (Detailed Breakdown)

by  Ron Stefanski

Updated: September 13, 2023

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Preparing for travel has become more convenient with online websites and blogs. While tourist destinations, providers, and travel agencies are taking advantage of the functionality that the Internet has to offer, travelers are also adopting technologies that make it easier to look for inspiration, virtually explore different countries, book vacations, and read about other travelers’ experiences.

Travel blogs are a rich source of other travelers’ personal experiences, suggestions, and information about tourist and destination spots. Whether you want to start a blog of your own, or are just curious about how big the niche is, this post will dive into the travel blog niche and data on bloggers and their audiences.

Editor’s Picks

• In 2021, the website traffic benchmarks in the travel industry on mobile devices was 56%
• In 2020, 50% of travelers worldwide used the web as their main source of inspiration for vacations
• In 2017, 79% of mobile travelers competed a booking after doing research on their smartphone compared to 70% in 2016
• Travel blogs account for 10% of high income blogs or blogs with more than 50,000 sessions a month

Here’s a rundown of the stats we’re going to cover:

The Industry and Travelers

Travel blogs and bloggers at a glance.

The travel industry is going online and mobile with 50% of travelers, worldwide, using the web as a source of inspiration for vacations and 16% taking advantage of the information that celebrity and influencer social media channels have to offer. In 2017, Google explored how much change occurred from 2016 to 2017 and found that 79% of mobile travelers completed a booking after doing research on their smartphone compared to the previous year (70%).

• Mobile: 56%
• Desktop: 41%

• Talking to Friends and Family: 36%
• Celebrity and Influencer Social Media Channels: 16%
• In 2017, 79% of mobile travelers completed a booking after doing research on their smartphone compared to 70% in 2016

Sources : Statista , Contentsquare , Google

Different types of travel bloggers invest different amounts of time related to their blog with bloggers who write for pleasure spending 2 hours to 7 hours a week and lifestyle bloggers spending 35 hours to 45 hours a week on activities. The time that travel bloggers invest pays off to an extent as the median monthly income for this niche is $5,000 and travel blogs are considered high-traffic. 

• The median monthly income of travel bloggers is $5,000

• Pleasure Bloggers: 2 hours to 7 hours a week
• Part-time Bloggers: 8 hours to 14 hours a week
• Dedicated Bloggers: 16 hours to 30 hours a week
• Lifestyle Bloggers: 35 hours to 45 hours a week
• Travel blogs account for 10% of blogs with over 50,000 sessions a month 
• Travel blogs account for 18% of all new blogs started in the past year

Sources : University of Manitoba , Rank IQ

With the world normalized after the pandemic, now is a perfect time to start a travel blog ( this guide will help you name it), as the thirst for wanderlust and new experiences is higher than ever. As a travel blogger, you’ll have the opportunity to inspire and inform people about different cultures, destinations, and ways of traveling. You can share your personal experiences, tips, and recommendations and be a trusted guide for people who are planning their next adventure.

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Tourism Review

Accueil Numéros 20 Varia Travel blogging between personal ...

Travel blogging between personal staging and commercial alignment – a conceptual framework

Due to recent changes in the blogosphere, and in travel blogging in particular, there is a need to reflect on travel blogs as complex media. In this article, commodification and professionalization processes, as well as the specific situatedness of travel blogs at the interface of on- and offline worlds, are taken into account in order to present a differentiated and adaptable conceptual framework for analyzing travel blogs. Within this framework, blogs are situated between personal staging and commercial alignment. The paper shows, how the use of different blogging practices (such as sharing and recommending travel experiences) allows bloggers to construct and use different web-identities simultaneously. By using close and wide readings, it is demonstrated how playing the role of connoisseur of a tourist city and online friend (personal staging) enables bloggers to establish a profitable travel blog and be effective with their marketing strategies (commercial alignment). A case study of travel blogs relating to Barcelona serves as an illustrative example and confirms the suitability of this conceptual approach.

Entrées d’index

Keywords :, notes de la rédaction.

Peer-reviewed article

Texte intégral

Introduction.

1 Nowadays, more and more tourists search for travel-related information online. Reading travel blogs is an important source of inspiration and brings several advantages from the reader’s point of view: the Web is readily accessible; content is selected and often up-to-date, and blog entries promise personal experiences of other travelers. From the blogger’s point of view, in online environments a variety of blogging practices can be played out which allow for creativity in presenting one’s own travel experiences in a multimedia format, including text and photographs. Moreover, travel blogs can be regarded as interfaces for community members to share travel advice, exchange opinions on tourist activities, and communicate with each other.

2 In scientific discourses and due to digitalization processes travel blogs are an important object of study. Especially in the field of tourism studies, travel blogs are considered as multimedia presentations that describe ‘authentic’ travel experiences. According to this practice-oriented view, analyzing travel blogs allows for valuable insights into tourism. In this paper we question such assumptions, and disagree with an understanding of travel blogs as mere presentations of tourist practices and perceptions. Such an understanding is short-sighted, since it fails to consider commercial uses and specific communication situations. With our conceptual approach, we reflect on travel blogs as complex and dynamic media within digitized worlds. This will help to fill a gap in research by providing a new approach to analyzing travel blogs which take commodification and professionalization processes into account. As we see it, travel blogs are situated in a spectrum between personal staging and commercial alignment. From a social science and cultural science oriented perspective, we show how to grasp travel blogs in their complexity and dynamics, and a conceptual framework that is adaptable for other research activities. The paper shows how travel blogs can be systematically examined in order to reveal the bloggers’ identity constructions in their interrelatedness.

3 Our case study of travel blogs relating to Barcelona is presented as an illustrative example of how to apply our conceptual framework. As one of the most popular European tourist cities, with around 9.5 million visitors in 2019 (Observatori del Turisme a Barcelona, 2020), we assume that travel blogs are important for travel community members and as advertising space for destination management organizations. However, bloggers reporting on their experiences in this Mediterranean metropolis do so in different manners, depending on their relations to the city, the audience, and the way they want to present themselves. Consequently, the sample is ideally suited for illustrating the variety of blogging practices in their overlapping and mutual conditionality.

4 This paper is structured as follows: The next section gives a short overview of research on travel blogs within tourism studies and related disciplines. In this connection, we refer to the main changes that travel blogs have undergone in the last few years, in particular commodification processes, in order to underline the need for new concepts. This is followed by theoretical implications and the presentation of our two-stage conceptual framework as the core of this paper. Finally, we demonstrate the suitability of our approach through an exemplifying study of Barcelona travel blogs.

I. Research on travel blogs

5 Travel blogs are mainly defined as online diaries containing reports of travel experiences (Cardell and Douglas, 2016). The travelogues often involve self-presentations of the travelers and the features of the online platform facilitate the performance of different bloggers’ roles (Azariah, 2017). These web-based multimodal presentations comprise textual and visual elements (Stainton, 2016). Bloggers use texts, images and videos in order to share their travel experiences with both personally known and unknown communities. The reciprocal references build the so-called blogosphere, “being both a network of interconnected texts and a manifestation of social networks” (Schmidt, 2007, p. 1420). As travel blogs represent selections of bloggers’ experiences, they have become a popular object of investigation within tourism studies. As most of the research literature on travel blogs within tourism studies is dated, we are able to meet new research needs by taking current changes such as commercialization strategies in travel blogging into account. Notwithstanding, using previous work as a basis allows us to further develop a conceptual framework.

6 In the years around 2010, several scholars started to engage in research on travel blogs (e.g. Akehurst, 2009; Bosangit et al. , 2012; Pan et al. , 2007). These years correlated with a growing number of travel blogs being created and regularly updated by individuals and being read by an expanding community. Many papers which originated in this period included an analysis of travel blogs for marketing purposes because of the prevailing assumption that “blog entries reveal insights into travelers’ feelings and emotions and provide feedback on how tourists actually interpret a destination” (Banyai and Glover, 2012, p. 268). Blog entries were considered as “a valuable source of information on tourists’ activities, perceptions of destinations, and word-of-mouth communication” (Bosangit et al. , 2012, p. 207). Moreover, netnography has been used for several years in marketing and business studies as a method that provides insight into consumer behavior in online environments (Bartl et al. 2016; Tavakoli and Wijesinghe 2019). The method is also used in tourism studies and applied to travel blogs (Pahlevan-Sharif et al. 2019). The existing research literature regarding travel blogs is mainly application-related and has implications for marketing strategies in tourism (Bosangit et al. , 2012; Chandralal et al. , 2015; Tussyadiah and Fesenmaier, 2008; Volo, 2010). During this time, and with reference to earlier studies, a few conceptual approaches were elaborated.

7 Common classifications of travel blogs differentiate involved communication partners (consumer-to-consumer (C2C), business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), government-to-consumer (G2C)) (Schmallegger and Carson, 2008). Recommending tourist products has become an integral practice of many bloggers nowadays, so that the distinction between consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer is becoming blurred. Service providers in general and destination management organizations in particular aim at cooperating with travel bloggers to advertise destination images in a literary and personally informed manner. Travel blogs extend beyond the notion of sharing experiences, since bloggers see their blog as a profitable source of income by selling their expertise and staged authenticity (Stainton and Iordanova, 2017). Thus, the assumption that travel blogs are authentic descriptions of travel experiences is outdated, and instead we need to take into account commodification processes. The integration of travel blogs in a commercial logic is consistent with the transformation of large parts of the Web (see, for example Uber and Airbnb as web-based tourist services that function as networks of distribution and intermediation between individual and amateur practices and a highly commercialized system).

8 As regards the systematization of media formats, in the early 2010s scholars drew media boundaries by distinguishing between the main activities of their users. Franz and Kalisch (2010), for instance, developed a typology consisting of four online communities: 1. communities of collaborative text production and knowledge accumulation (e.g. Wikipedia), 2. communities of social networking (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn), 3. communities of social sharing (e.g. Youtube), 4. communities of self-communication (e.g. weblogs). The dissemination of media convergence renders obsolete the need to distinguish different media formats, online communities and main activities (Lian and Yu, 2019). Content produced and uploaded is no longer dependent on specific media formats, but circulates across the Web. Different online practices are played out simultaneously and provide another access to travel blogs as research subjects. In this vein, Schmidt (2007, p. 1420) speaks of different “blogging practices” that can be identified in online-based communication: “These [blogging] practices consist of specific routines and expectations regarding the use of blogs to obtain communicative goals; they lead to the formation not only of hypertextual networks, but also of social networks of varying density” .

9 In short, these conceptualizations address important elements of travel blogs as communication systems. Within these systems, the bloggers construct and play out different facets of their web-identities. Professionalization and commodification processes, which have been highlighted briefly, will be picked up again in section 4, as they build central starting points for the develop a conceptual framework for analyzing travel blogs. Moreover, we aim to show that travel blogs are anything but “authentic and true descriptions of tourist experiences” (Chandralal et al. , 2015, p. 11). The bloggers’ positionalities, their different conversational situations depending on the site of the blogs, the target groups addressed, and their attitude to recommending commercial products, characterize blogging as a complex phenomenon and as a dynamic field of research.

II. Qualitative methods for travel blog research

10 How to deal with travel blogs as a dynamic research object from a qualitative social research perspective is the topic of this section. First of all, we draw on the theoretical understanding that recognizes blogging practices as digital communication entangled with other on- and offline practices. Secondly, different qualitative research methods for dealing with travel blogs are presented and discussed in terms of their application fields. Building on our research results, the third part prepares for the presentation of our case study of travel blogs on Barcelona. The exemplary case study is used to illustrate the core of our paper, namely the inductively derived, complementary conceptual frameworks for analyzing travel blogs.

A. Theorizing travel blogs at the intersection of on- and offline spheres

11 “A travel blog is an online travel journal complete with travel stories, photographs and video that document travellers’ experiences and enables them to share those experiences with friends and family members, other travelers and even strangers they meet online” (Molz, 2012, p. 28). Moreover, travel blogs can be regarded as performative actions as bloggers construct meaningful travel narratives that are directly linked to their own journeys (Molz, 2014). Thus, this multimedia format is directly linked to the lifeworlds of its authors and to the lifeworlds of its readers, who are looking for information and inspiration for their forthcoming trips. Jeuring and Peters (2013, p. 211) further describe a travel blog “as having its own dynamic of information flows, enabling writers to express themselves and to influence and inform people from around the globe” . In their short summary, they touch on the central aspect of the intertwining relationship between travel and media practice: as a communication interface, travel blogs are visited by authors and readers who collectively ‘fill’ the media with content, while simultaneously contributing to multilayered processes of community-building and maintaining. The practices performed in travel blogs, such as exchanging travel-related information and recommending tourist services make them a valuable research subject at the intersection of on- and offline worlds. For example, practices become actualized and stabilized when travelers reproduce them during their visit. Another example would be a user reading about remote travel destinations and experiencing a stimulation of his or her imagination. This kind of affective connection within a concrete locality illustrates the blending of on- and offline spheres.

12 Travel blogs as parts of global-spanning assemblages link places and people with one another. In line with this understanding, we refer to the plural concept of “socialities” presented by Pink and colleagues: “It is an open concept that enables [researchers] to recognize that social relations between people are multiple, can be fluid, and change at different rates. Hence, it also allows us to conceptualize how the ways in which people become related or ‘connected’ through and with digital technologies might be similarly changing” (Pink et al. , 2016, p. 107). Participating in travel blogging is a practice shared by its users. Moreover, the scope of interaction is not limited to “the virtual”. Accordingly, the concept is broad and open enough to understand digital communication in travel blogs as being entangled with other practices and materialities. In an early study by Wilson and Peterson (2002, p. 450), the authors emphasize anthropological research perspectives on “the ways in which information technology and media are themselves cultural products, the ways that individual and community identities are negotiated on- and offline, and the dynamics of power and access in the context of new communication media” . The ubiquity of the media and their penetration into all spheres of life, travel in particular, has grown steadily over recent years.

13 Therefore, it is of vital importance to define and grasp travel blogs as a constitutive part of both on- and offline travel networks. However, a distinction must be made between our theoretical understanding and the field of application illustrated by our qualitative research as presented below. We focus solely on the media product travel blogs, and are primarily interested in the social and communicative online practices of bloggers. Conclusions concerning actually resulting practices in tourist destinations cannot be drawn. Mechanisms of action and dependencies would go beyond the scope of this study and must be investigated in other ways (for instance participant observation).

B. Analyzing travel blogs using different qualitative methods

14 Before applying qualitative social research methods, selection criteria need to be defined in accordance with the research question and knowledge interest.

15 An important distinction exists between ‘round-the-world travel blogs’ and what we call ‘insider travel blogs’. “Round-the-world travellers tend to be highly mobile” (Molz, 2012, p. 29) and visit different countries which they describe on their blogs. Their itineraries are traceable and encompass different cultural encounters (Molz, 2014). What we refer to as ‘insider blogs’ are created by travelers who stay in one or several destinations for months or even years. The word ‘insider’ reflects the extensive exploration that goes beyond a must-see visit that only scratches the surface of a destination. Living in a city, for example in the context of studying or working abroad for a year, close connections with the mundane occupations of everyday life, as well as with the local inhabitants (Frisch et al. , 2019). Other criteria also help to structure and select a sample of travel blogs, for instance the publishers (such as solo travelers, friends or couples, collective of bloggers), the bloggers’ places of origin, the concrete destinations visited, the actuality and regularity of the blog posts, the themes addressed (such as sightseeing and cultural activities, cuisine, transport and accommodation), or search engine rankings.

16 The following section presents three different qualitative research methods, namely content analysis, discourse analysis and close reading, which have proven their suitability in the context of studies on travel blogs. Especially content and discourse analysis are applied to netnographies as well-established qualitative online methods in tourism studies (Tavakoli and Wijesinghe 2019).

17 As an inductive technique, qualitative content analysis helps researchers to identify themes addressed by bloggers in their posts (Sun, Ryan and Pan, 2015; Zhang and Hitchcock, 2014). Thematic structures, as well as semantic meanings, play a central role in the evaluation process. According to Pan et al. (2007, p. 42), researchers gain access to “every aspect of a visitor’s trip” as different tourist phases are reflected. In the context of city tourism, personally staged reports often encompass descriptions of mundane activities (such as strolls through neighborhoods, visiting restaurants and cafés or shopping in markets). Especially the interests and practices of new urban tourists are shared in travel blogs, promising to give readers insider tips, as well as identifying everyday places ‘off the beaten track’. From a marketing perspective, a categorization of blog content that compiles the features of a destination has valuable marketing implications (Lian and Yu, 2019). Complementary comparisons with other blog entries on other tourist destinations support the construction of a destination profile.

18 According to Bosangit et al. (2016, p. 524), discourse analysis can provide an in-depth understanding of travel blogs “beyond a mere listing of destination attributes” . Considered an appropriate method for investigating the types of communication discernible in texts, in the context of studies on travel blogs, the method is used “to address the question of how tourists blog about their travel experiences” (Bosangit et al. , 2012, p. 210). The ways in which the experiences are transferred into linguistic constructions is the main interest, whereas the semantic meanings—as opposed to content analysis—play a subordinate role. From a post-structuralist point of view, “discourse is the outcome of a series of, often incoherent, structures and utterances which are in conflict with each other” (Hannam and Knox, 2015, p. 16). Applying discourse analysis in this manner manages to display contradictory and omitted messages. An added value is its ability to connect texts with sociocultural phenomena. For instance, travel narratives are always embedded in a broader context of social, cultural and economic structures. Accordingly, this method is interesting for controversial tourism-related issues, like long-distance journeys and ecological footprints.

19 Finally, close reading is another qualitative research method prevalent in literary and cultural studies and a subjective kind of scientific engagement. With an accurate reading, the multidimensional nature of a text, its esthetic structures and variety of meanings are analyzed (Hallet, 2010). This narrative-interpretative procedure can reveal the text-immanent characteristics. Traditionally, in the close reading approach, no text-external information is added; in other words, sociocultural contexts are omitted. As a consequence, and more and more frequently, so-called distant or wide reading approaches are used additionally, in order to grasp text-external information (Hallet, 2010). Greenham (2019, p. 6) emphasizes the relevance of contextualizing text material, as “there is no meaning without context and thus understanding the fullest range of plausible contexts will offer the most rewarding reading experience” . Thus, travel blogs as texts and cultural artefacts are constitutive parts of the aforementioned assemblages. In other words, they acquire their (new) meaning from being situated and having agency within a dynamic social fabric. In order to combine close and wide readings of blog entries, it is necessary to collect a sample of reference texts, on the one hand, and to identify representative cultural discourses on the other (Hallet, 2010). The subjective and interpretative manner of conducting close and wide reading is well-suited for analyzing travel blogs: researchers “enter the blogosphere” (Hookway, 2008), explore the dynamics in travel communities, establish meanings, and critically question these meaning constructions.

20 All the above-mentioned qualitative methods have in common that they are limited to a rather small and unrepresentative sample of travel blogs. In addition, Volo (2010) points out that bloggers represent only a particular group of tourists. Generalizations are hardly possible. Notwithstanding, due to their exploratory character, interpretative studies show how bloggers as travelers and service providers construct meaning from their experience. The qualitative methods mentioned have in common that they offer a specific access to the data as well as a framework for dealing with and interpreting the data. Consequently, the method chosen strongly influences the results achieved. Moreover, qualitative research is a very subjective evaluation practice such as producing and disseminating knowledge (Pahlevan-Sharif et al., 2019; Pink, 2016).

21 The following section is an introduction to insider travel blogs on Barcelona as a tourist destination. A short presentation of Barcelona as one of the leading European tourist cities will show the relevance of blogs on the Catalan capital as sites of inquiry. For this purpose, the criteria for the selection of the sample of travel blogs are introduced first. The methodological approach chosen for the case study is a combination of wide and close readings, as well as a conceptual framework derived inductively from the blog material (see section 3).

C. Barcelona – an example of how to identify travel blogs

22 Barcelona is known as one of the main European tourist cities. In 2019, the capital of Catalonia received approximately 9.5 million visitors (Observatori del Turisme a Barcelona, 2020), not including tourists staying in non-hotel accommodation, as well as day-trippers and cruise passengers. The constant growth of tourism dates back to the Olympic Games hosted by Barcelona in 1992 (Cocola-Gant and Lopez-Gay, 2020; Mansilla and Milano, 2019). The city is known for its geographic position on the coast, its Mediterranean lifestyle, and its architectural design. Many travelers are interested in the cultural attractions—in particular Catalan Modernista architecture. According to Paredes-Rodriquez and Spierings (2020, p. 2118), “[t]he tourist flow towards the city has grown in recent years due to a combination of various factors, such as a wide offer of low-cost flights plus the accommodation opportunities provided by online platforms like Airbnb” . The motto “living like a local” attracts new urban tourists who are interested in neighborhoods and everyday practices away from highly frequented sightseeing spots. Due to image making and urban marketing strategies, “historical peripheral urban neighborhoods […] were introduced into the current imagery of the city” (Mansilla and Milano, 2019, p. 7), so that tourism is spread over extensive parts of the city today. The tourist impact is drastic and affects many locals directly, due to increased housing prices and foreign investments, gentrification processes, and changes in retail structures, to name but a few.

23 We have chosen Barcelona as our case study due to its relevance and popularity in European tourism. First of all, we are interested in the modalities of how bloggers construct and present the travel options to their readers. We chose only bloggers who live, or have lived, in the Catalan capital. In our view, having an insider perspective on the city and being aware of the high tourist demand places the bloggers in a conflictual situation: On the one hand, with their travel blogs they are part of the local tourism sector of Barcelona, while on the other hand they are familiar with the impacts of tourism on a sociocultural level. Operating at this very intriguing intersection—consciously or not—makes travel blogs valuable study material.

24 We conducted a case study based on the empirical material of six ‘insider travel blogs’, and 60 blog posts relating to the destination of Barcelona, in order to illustrate our proposed conceptualization of travel blogs. In order to establish a basis for comparison within the sample, a ‘benchmark of familiarity’ of at least one year’s residence in Barcelona was defined as an exclusive criterion for selection. With language as a further attribute of familiarity with the destination, the first explorative study, conducted through Google search queries, was limited to show blogs written exclusively in Spanish. Only in a second step, the search for keyword combinations such as “blog barcelona turismo” or “barcelona travel blog” was widened to show results in other languages. Out of the six travel blogs that constitute the corpus of our sample, four are written in Spanish. The two remaining blogs are written in Italian and German respectively, with their inclusion being justified by the timeliness of the blog posts, as well as comparable contents.

III. A conceptual framework for analyzing travel blogs

25 The two-step procedure of our conceptual framework encompasses a classification of travel blogs on the basis of three parameters and a detailed look at the blogging practices of the bloggers. This comprehensive framework is adaptable for other research projects dealing with travel blogs. We conclude this section with an empirical study of travel blogs relating to Barcelona.

A. Classifying travel blogs between personal staging and commercial alignment

26 The conceptual framework presented in this section has been developed through an inductive empirical study of six insider travel blogs on Barcelona. Our approach to the material involves a combination of wide and close readings. In accordance with this method, the final data corpus that constitutes the empirical basis for this study, which illustrates the conceptual framework proposed in this section, is composed of contextual information from various blog sites and ten blog posts from each blog. Besides their comparability as insider travel blogs, they exemplify a range of diverse positionalities and communication contexts and patterns. During the course of our evaluation, we observed different orientations: different strategies of commercial alignment and personal staging are pursued in all the blogs, simultaneously but, and this is the crucial point, to different degrees (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1: Classification of travel blogs

27 Personal staging is the basis of each travel blog and goes back to the beginning of blogging as a very individual practice around the turn of the millennium: representing subjective travel experiences in online diaries was an appropriate format for travelers to share their travel stories with friends and families at home. With the growing popularity of travel blogging, the readership also increased. As a consequence of professionalization processes, some travel blogs have undergone organic growth toward commercial success, while others were founded with the intention of functioning as a business model. To this day, personal staging is a characteristic strategy for travel blogging and forms the basis of the chart. Commercial alignment is gaining in significance and dissemination, and functions as the top structure, as shown in Figure 1. Consequently, the two main features are always present and overlap one another. We would even argue that these two orientations are mutually contingent on one another. The fluid distinction between personal staging and commercial alignment can be documented with regard to three dimensions.

28 The first dimension is the travel blog as a networked format consisting of different pages within the website. Only a few years ago, travel reports were listed in reverse chronological order. Nowadays, different categories organize content around thematically related topics (such as arrival, travel tips, eating and drinking). We distinguish four main sites of travel blogs that are relevant for the following analysis, namely the about me page, blog entries including the commentary section, legal information, and an advertising page. Depending on the author’s blogging practices, these sites can be classified between personal and commercial alignment. The about me page, for instance, is dedicated to the blogger’s self-presentation, usually including a self-portrait, information on one’s travel history, and other personal interests. At the other end of the spectrum, advertising pages are placed: these pages are directed at potential cooperation partners, “containing marketing metrics such as site traffic, site rankings, and reader profiles to attain advertising revenues, speaking arrangements, sponsorships, and so on” (van Nuenen, 2016, p. 195). Increasing professionalization strategies allow a certain number of bloggers to use their blogs as successful business models. This also refers to the fact that professional blogging has become a largely institutionalized practice within travel industry.

29 The second dimension is related to the embeddedness of blogs and the engagement of bloggers within relevant online communities. Moreover, the thematic focus of the blog posts addresses different target groups (for example travelers in general, new urban tourists , families, etc.). Presenting everyday places, like restaurants where locals of Barcelona hang out, can be regarded as a textual strategy within blog entries to address new urban tourists . Including personal approaches and describing one’s own favorite spots are strategies that are often used to establish a trusting relationship between bloggers and readers. ‘Authentic’ self-staging by constructing an identity as an online friend is classified as personal alignment. As opposed to travelers, potential cooperation partners are addressed completely differently in order to establish business relationships. Bloggers may construct their web-identities as trustful online friend and competent business partner simultaneously. As the examples show, simple communication models that only distinguish between the bloggers as performers and their readers as the audience are not far-reaching enough. They overlook the significance of blogs as forums for travel communities, on the one hand, and the situatedness of its members, and of the bloggers in particular, on the other.

30 The last dimension takes up the dynamic of commercial alignment and personal staging being effective at the same time. Bloggers recommend tourist activities and tourist products (for instance sightseeing tours or self-published guide books). The degree of visibility and transparency of these marketing strategies differs at the two ends of the continuum. Sightseeing tours that can be booked online and are carried out by the bloggers themselves embody strong commercial interests. A personal recommendation for a restaurant combined with an affiliate link that takes readers to the restaurant’s website is not necessarily connected with commercial interests—but it can be. Apart from this, the variable of recommendation marketing shows that seemingly opposite positions may be mutually constituent: the commercial success of blogs depends, among other factors, on the extent to which the personal web-identities of the bloggers are successfully constructed as “authentic” and appear as such to the community. In our view, playing a role as a connoisseur of the city and a trusted person (personal staging) enables the bloggers to establish a profitable travel blog and to be effective with their marketing strategies (commercial alignment).

31 To sum up, the systematic framework we have presented makes it possible to take a differentiated view of travel blogs and the web-identities constructed by the bloggers in various communication situations. The different facets of a web-identity become apparent within the three dimensions which move between personal staging and commercial alignment.

B. Specifying blogging practices and identity constructions

32 In this section, we redefine and extend our conceptual approach by referring to the aforementioned typology of online communities developed by Franz and Kalisch (2010), which defines communities according to the main activities of their users. Instead of assigning one main activity to one online community, we suggest that in travel blog communities all the practices listed below are relevant and performed by the bloggers. These blogging practices—in our view—serve, amongst others, the purpose of actively constructing web-identities. Accordingly, bloggers make identification offerings to their audience in the way they (i) ‘provide tourism-related information’, (ii) ‘share personal experiences’, (iii) ‘recommend tourist practices’ and (iv) ‘interact socially’. Adapting Schmidt’s (2007, p. 1420) term of “blogging practices” , we understand them as routinized and played out in order to achieve communicative goals within travel communities. Constructing web-identities is visible in all the blogging practices that are presented in analytical separation in this section.

33 Readers of travel blogs seek to obtain tourism-related data. Not surprisingly, travel bloggers meet these expectations by (i) ‘providing travel-related information’ (for example useful facts about a destination, cultural sights), but it should be noted that the degree of editing differs noticeably. Some bloggers simply list this information, while others process it intensively for their readership. Most of the content is presented spatiotemporally: the spatial dimension, for instance, may refer to the city as a whole, individual districts, or specific localities with address data. Temporal orientation is information concerning high and low seasons, or opening hours of tourist attractions. The information provided here have in common that they are presented in a stylistically neutral manner. Moreover, providing structured tourism-related data allows bloggers to present themselves to their readers as being competent in tourist planning matters. Especially for insider travel blogs, being an expert on a destination is a matter of importance.

34 Information going beyond the factual level and descriptions of places and activities can be assigned to the next blogging practice, namely (ii) ‘sharing personal experiences’. Bloggers invite their readers to participate in what has happened to them on their journeys, by describing sensual impressions, spatial perceptions, or chance encounters with locals. These personal impressions are related in a personal style of writing that emphasizes the individual nature of travel experiences. A sense of privacy and immediacy is (strategically) created by the narrative styles used. Readers who perceive the shared experiences as authentic often trust the bloggers on the basis of the personal content of their websites. This means that travelers who reproduce the tourist practices presented in the weblogs have high expectations when it comes to their own visit. Presenting oneself as a friend and constructing a personal level of communication can be regarded as a strategy implemented by professional bloggers to create credibility.

35 As pointed out above, recommending tourist products is an integral component of travel blogging. Recommending, advertising and selling tourist experiences run fluidly into each other and cannot be distinguished clearly. The presentation of a personal experience (e.g. having a nice evening in a restaurant with a fantastic meal) can be perceived as an implicit recommendation, whereas an invitation to purchase a specific tourist product (such as booking a sightseeing tour online) is definitely more direct. Consequently, (iii) ‘recommending tourist practices’ varies significantly in its transparency and explicitness, on the one hand, and is subject to the readers’ estimations on the other. Recommending practices may encompass cooperation with business partners (for example destination management organizations or tour operators), or may be a way of promoting the author’s own products and activities. The latter is the case when travel bloggers create their own brands and realize business models that emerge from their blogging activities. Connecting their travel blogs with other social media channels, such as their Instagram accounts, is another strategy to increase their impact, and may be used as an indicator of success by potential cooperation partners. Here again, it is of vital importance to consider how readers interpret the travel blogs: the content may appear authentic to one reader and not to another, and in any case leaves room for interpretation. (iv) ‘Interacting socially’ is a further blogging practice observable in online travel communities. Their members maintain close or loose ties with one another and use travel blogs and linked social media channels as forums of communication and exchange. The marked differences in constructing a relationship between bloggers and readers, or between the community members, are due to the linguistic factors, ranging from different forms of address and greetings, invitations to the readers to share their own experiences or ask questions, the use of colloquial speech, etc. Interacting and networking, as well as being interested in similar travel-related topics, strengthens the link between the actors involved, whether known to each other in person or not. Besides the social dimension (or personal staging), economic aspects (or commercial alignment) also come into play: having a large number of followers is an important issue for professional bloggers who aim to present their blogs as successful interfaces. High levels of interaction are particularly attractive to cooperation partners. Different audiences participate actively within the blogosphere, so that bloggers are faced with the challenge of communicating simultaneously and in different styles with interested travelers and readers, with other bloggers, and with potential business partners.

36 Our approach reveals that different web-identities are produced and coexist with each other (e.g. insider, expert, (online) friend, member of networks, business partner), and that, depending on the communication situation, some facets of the identity are more highlighted than others. The way bloggers provide content and use individual narrative styles within each dimension supports their self-presentation. Making use of different identities can be regarded as a functional instrument for achieving communicative goals (Schmidt, 2007), which—as we argue—comprise personal staging and commercial alignment likewise. A differentiated view of blogging practices shifts the focus to the way identity construction processes are associated with travel blogging practices. Moreover, conceptualization of these blogging practices enhances awareness of the on- and offline agency of community members. This will be explored in detail through an analysis of our empirical material.

C. An analysis of Barcelona travel blog posts

37 Two blog posts out of the total sample of insider travel blog posts on Barcelona have been selected to illustrate the range of blogging practices discussed above. While the posts are taken from two different blogs, the analysis is structured along one main thematic axis, namely the urban tourist practice of city exploration. This urban tourist practice—which represents the common starting point in terms of content—serves as a structuring foundation for comparing the diverse overlapping blogging practices within these blog posts.

38 Empirical example: Exploring Barcelona between must-sees and insider perspectives

• 1 All extracts of the blog posts quoted in the following have been translated by the authors. Instead (...)

39 The blog posts that compose the first empirical example are extracted from the insider travel blogs The Travellette and Mochileando por el mundo , written in German and Spanish respectively. The title of The Travellette ’s post, “Barcelona Sights and Must-Do's - Exploration tour with a Vespa” (The Travellette, 2018) 1 already alludes to the character of the touristic experience and practices which are described and suggested to the readers. The post combines answering readers’ questions on top Barcelona sights with a recommendation to undertake an explorative city tour with a rented Vespa. The bloggers of the second blog post present “[t]he 5 best Free Tours of Barcelona” (Mochileando por el mundo, 2020) to their readers. A general description of free tours as an opportunity to get to know Barcelona with a local—visiting the most important points of interest, while also getting insights into urban legends and curiosities—is followed by short outlines of five specific tour offers, ranging from general to thematic city tours. In the first case motorized, and in the second case on foot, the main urban tourist practice that can be identified in the textual representations of these two blog posts is what we call ‘city exploration’. It can be defined as a combination of the classic tourist practice of ‘sightseeing’ and practices associated with new urban tourism .

40 Supported by the chart shown in Figure 2, the core of the analysis is a detailed close reading of The Travellette ’s blog post, revealing the main features of the post and their embeddedness within our conceptual framework. This provides a referential frame for the subsequent contrasting juxtaposition of the second blog post. In our conceptualization, the application of blogging practices is located at the communication level. Contextualized by the blogger's general fluid movement between personal staging and commercial alignment, their implementation as communicative tools for content mediation is embedded in the negotiation of diverse identity constructions. The simultaneity of the different positionings can be seen in the introductory section of the blog post, in which various blogging practices overlap (see box M1 in Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Analysis of extracts from a blog post in The Travellette titled “Barcelona Sights and Must-Do’s – Exploration tour with a Vespa”

The full blog post in German is accessible online: https://thetravellette.com/​barcelonas-wichtigste-sehenswuerdigkeiten/​ ). The chart includes translations by the authors and paraphrases of the post’s content. P1-2 = personally staged; C1-3 = commercially aligned; M1-3 = mixed staging.

41 Statements such as the prospect of providing “an article on the Must-See’s of the City” (The Travellette, 2018) represent blogging practice (i): ‘providing tourism-related information’. Clearly discernible throughout the whole blog post in the passing on of useful information, such as recommendations on how to avoid queue time (see box M2 in fig. 2), this superficially very prominent blogging practice correlates with the blogger’s effort to construct and highlight her identity as a city connoisseur (id1) who wants to share her expertise. Parallel to this first identity construction which is aligned with classic city and sightseeing tourism, the mediation of a second, more personally framed identity in line with new urban tourism can be observed. Staging a personal identity as a virtual friend (id2), The Travellette invites her community to “[i]magine you are driving through the streets of Barcelona with a super chic, red Vespa [, and] the feeling it gives you” (The Travellette, 2018). Here, the audience is directly drawn into the scene. The addressees are placed in the role of the experiencing I, the sensual impressions of the blogger being directly transferred to the readers. As the citation shows, the (ii) ‘sharing [of] personal experiences’ as a blogging practice underpins the blogger’s identity as a virtual friend, using linguistic tools to make offers to her readers that are related to new urban tourism (e.g. notions of freedom, authenticity, feeling like a local). What is promised with the recommended city tour on a Vespa is more than the classic sightseeing experience; it is an exclusive experience of exploring Barcelona with lots of—both physical and mental—‘free spaces’ and unknown city views.

42 At the same time, the channelling of the readers’ attention toward the exclusive experience of exploring the city ‘on a super chic, red Vespa’ can be identified as a subtle crossover to the blogging practice of (iii) ‘recommending tourist practices’. Corresponding to a further pervasive identity construction as a professional blogger (id3) and an overall commercial alignment of the blog, the application of this blogging practice becomes explicitly evident in the subsequent paragraph, where a specific scooter rental company is recommended. The warm recommendation is followed by a booking reference for the Via Vespa company—embedded in various external links (see box C1 in fig. 2): “If I have now raised your interest and you always wanted to drive through Barcelona with a Vespa, I can warmly recommend the scooter rental Via Vespa […] If you book via the links in this post, I get a small commission and you support my work. Of course there are no extra costs for you. Thank you very much in advance. :)” (The Travellette, 2018). In a way, this kind of commercially aligned statement—often strategically embedded within elements of personal staging (see boxes P2 and C3 in fig. 2)—illustrates a development that goes hand in hand with the process of commercialization: readers want to know what bloggers are being paid for, so that transparency and disclosure of commercial aims is gaining in importance, and is even demanded. The tendencies observed are further reinforced by the embedding of commercial elements on a superordinate level. In the case of The Travellette , the promotion of her own published travel guide can be identified as a further goal in line with the blogger's commercial aspirations, which is implemented in various sections of the blog (see box C2 in fig. 2). The integration of a direct cross-reference to the about me page in the blog’s sidebar (see box P1 in fig. 2) further accentuates The Travellette ’s identity as a businesswoman and professional blogger (id3).

43 Apart from the relations between blogging practices and corresponding processes of identity negotiation, the post uncovers diverse aspects of space appropriation. The experience of discovering Barcelona on a Vespa primarily represents a motorized—as well as a visual—appropriation of space. The staging of the blogger’s own—sponsored—experience (see box M3 in Fig. 2) is used to highlight the advantages and amenities of exploring Barcelona on a Vespa as against other forms of exploration, such as walking tours. Aspects such as the high degree of freedom and flexibility in designing a personal tour around the proposed route, including classic sights, as well as insider tips (see overlapping identities (id1) and (id2)) are highlighted to distinguish the experience. There is no pre-established plan to follow, and, moreover, the Vespa as a compact means of transport creates feelings of freedom and lightness, as well as comfort and ease. Along with its motorized character, seeing and exploring the city literally and metaphorically at eye level (e.g. in opposition to sightseeing bus tours) as a visual appropriation of space is an important aspect of this particular urban tourist experience.

44 A short look at the types of space appropriation offers an entry point for a brief analytical juxtaposition of The Travellette’s blog post and the second, thematically aligned blog post by Mochileando por el mundo . On foot, and thus slower, the type of spatial appropriation described in this latter blog post along the touristic format of free walking tours might at first glance appear to provide a deeper experience of the city compared to the Vespa tour. Nevertheless, the higher degree of guidance, and the idea of free walking tours as a way to get a first impression of the city during a short visit, locate the content of the second blog post closer to classic city tourism. Although framed as an authentic opportunity “to get to know Barcelona with a local” (Mochileando por el mundo, 2020) who is responsive to different tastes and interests, the blog post is centered on the presentation of a selection of pre-designed tours. The visual character of this space appropriation is complemented by an auditive element. Especially the auditive, but also the visual experience is guided, and to a certain extent predetermined, by the tour design and the specific input of the tour guide.

45 On a first and very prominent level, similarly to The Travellette , the blogging couple behind Mochileando por el mundo also appear as city experts (id1). Drawing on their insider knowledge from four years of experience of living in Barcelona, they (i) ‘provide tourism-related information’ oriented mainly toward classic sightseeing. Staging themselves, more specifically, as experts for the sightseeing format of free walking tours, they take on the role of a direct mediator between tour providers and interested tourists. Although less personally staged, a second identity construction as world travelers (id2), in line with a thematic orientation toward new urban tourism , can be identified. However, throughout the post, this second personal identity remains in the background, being used by the bloggers mainly to reinforce their credibility as city experts. Whereas The Travellette , in her identity as a professional blogger, uses primarily the (ii) ‘sharing of personal experiences’ in order to frame and reinforce the ‘recommendation of tourist practices’, in the case of Mochileando por el mundo , it is blogging practice (iv)—‘interacting socially’—that is exploited in order to justify the (iii) ‘recommendation of tourist practices’: “These are, for us, the best free tours in Barcelona. Have you done any of them? Which one would you sign up for? You can see that these free tours are one of the best options to get to know the cities!” (Mochileando por el mundo, 2020). Similarly to The Travellette , a third pervasive identity as professional bloggers (id3) can be made out, although it appears less conflicting, which can be explained by the more informative and less personally staged character of the post as a whole. An apparent contradiction between the different identity constructions can be observed in the staging of the recommended tours around the notion of ‘freedom’. As a central motif of the blog post, it functions, on the one hand, as an offer made to the readers: “[…] you can decide which one or which ones are better suited to your tastes” (Mochileando por el mundo, 2020). As in the case of The Travellette , it is used to highlight aspects that are in line with new urban tourism , such as the freedom to determine the economic value of the tours. On the other hand, freedom is used as a linguistic tool in order to disguise the implicit commercial alignment of the post (see embedded links: “Reserve your spot here” (Mochileando por el mundo, 2020). While the bloggers remain transparent and explicit on the fact that free walking tours are not equivalent to tours that are actually free of charge, the continuous accentuation of the word ‘free’ can be interpreted as a linguistic strategy to deflect the attention of the readers away from the ultimately commercial alignment of the blog post.

46 To sum up, blogging practices are communicational representations of bloggers’ overlapping and mutually dependent identity constructions, and expressions of the fluidity of the bloggers’ positioning between personal staging and commercial alignment. Although some of the practices can often be assigned clearly to one or the other pole (e.g. (iii) ‘recommending of tourist practices’ to the commercial pole, or (ii) ‘sharing of personal experiences’ which is exclusively personal), there is a considerable degree of fluidity here (for example (ii) ‘sharing of personal experiences’ or (iv) ‘interacting socially’ when in the service of (iii) ‘recommending tourist practices’).

Conclusions

47 Travel blogs are indicative of fundamental changes involving ongoing commodification in social media and travel communities. In the past few years, these significant dynamics—visible and traceable in travel blogs—have been widely neglected in tourism studies. As a contribution to filling this research gap, and in order to show that travel blogs are a meaningful field of research, a conceptual framework has been presented in this paper. We argue that analyses of travel blogs have to take the multiple identity constructions of bloggers into account. With such a relational approach, travel blogs and bloggers’ identity constructions can be understood in their complexity. This amounts to a critique of the widespread assumption that blog posts only reflect the bloggers’ travel practices and experiences, as well as their emotions and feelings toward a destination. In our view, such assertions overlook the staged character of travel blogs and their commercial alignment.

48 Our case study of travel blogs relating to Barcelona demonstrates the suitability of the proposed conceptual framework by looking at the content and the style of blogging. By using close and wide readings, we have shown that the manner in which the bloggers appropriate identities often corresponds to the tourist practices described in the blog posts: on the one hand, there is an appropriation of identities, and on the other of urban spaces. Here, it becomes apparent that travel blogging as a complex practice is located at the intersection of on- and offline spheres.

49 For further research it would be desirable to use discourse or content analysis to critically reflect how the choice of methods significantly influences the results. Discourse analysis could offer in-depth findings on how bloggers as travelers claim their powerful positions and how they center the visual and textual content around their constructed self. Rising questions of power, privilege, and intercultural encounters is another important concern. Moreover, there is a need for critically assessing the researchers’ relations to the addressed topic. The researchers’ positionality in on- and offline worlds substantially affects the whole research process. Therefore, epistemological and ethical dimensions as well as own subjectivities should be addressed in a critical light.

50 A next step could also be to further develop and establish our suggested conceptual framework and its implications in different areas of application—within tourism studies and beyond. In this paper, we have concentrated on travel blogging in the context of city tourism; it would be equally interesting to focus on travel blogs relating to rural areas, for instance hiking experiences in mountain regions. The construction of web-identities as adventurous hikers and approachable bloggers promises to be an interesting and substantial research field.

51 Disclosure statement

52 No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Pour citer cet article, référence électronique.

Nora Winsky et Julia Dickow , « Travel blogging between personal staging and commercial alignment – a conceptual framework  », Via [En ligne], 20 | 2021, mis en ligne le 15 décembre 2021, consulté le 10 mai 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/7415 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/viatourism.7415

Nora Winsky

University of Freiburg, Institute of Environmental Social Sciences and Geography, Human Geography, [email protected]

Julia Dickow

University of Freiburg, Institute of Environmental Social Sciences and Geography, Human Geography, [email protected]

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• Amadeus Agency Insight, Sabre Data & Analytics, TravelPerk, and Traxo are vital platforms for travel agencies and corporate travel management, providing professionals with a holistic understanding of performance and enabling informed, data-driven decisions beyond traditional metrics.

In the dynamic world of travel, where every journey weaves a distinctive tale, and each itinerary unfolds as an unwritten chapter, the pivotal role of data-driven decision-making emerges as a guiding beacon for businesses venturing into new horizons. Welcome to our thorough exploration of travel analytics—a sphere where insights derived from data act as catalysts for well-informed choices, operational excellence, and unmatched customer experiences.

Beyond a mere tool, travel analytics is a visionary force reshaping how the travel industry navigates challenges and capitalizes on opportunities. It involves deciphering meaningful patterns from expansive data sets, providing a roadmap for agencies and managers to base decisions on tangible data rather than intuition.

Embark on an insightful journey as we delve into the foundational aspects of travel analytics. From understanding the types of analytics shaping the industry to exploring key metrics, data sources, and premier software solutions, our guide is intricately crafted for travel agencies and corporate travel managers seeking insights and a comprehensive understanding of the data landscape.

The purpose is clear: to equip you with the knowledge and tools essential for thriving in an era where data goes beyond being a mere asset to become a strategic ally. Whether you are a seasoned professional navigating the intricacies of the travel industry or a newcomer eager to grasp the reins of data-driven decision-making, this guide serves as your comprehensive companion.

So, fasten your seatbelts as we navigate through the realms of travel analytics, illuminating the path to success in an industry where every data point holds significance.

• Why Businesses Need Travel Analytics

Businesses need travel analytics for many reasons, each contributing to optimizing corporate travel operations and overall business efficiency.

Travel analytics is vital for ensuring adherence to travel policies, enabling businesses to identify and rectify policy violations. Offering insights into booking data facilitates cost control, streamlining travel processes, and optimizing compliance with established policies.

Expense management is significantly enhanced through travel analytics. The cost-inflating factors like last-minute bookings, cancellations, and reschedules. Businesses with data analysis can make informed decisions to mitigate these expenses, leading to improved cost management.

Accurate and practical budgeting is essential for effective expense management. Travel analytics is a central repository for historical booking data, industry benchmarks, and real-time information. This allows finance teams to create realistic budgets that adapt to dynamic circumstances.

Travel analytics contributes to employee satisfaction by striking a harmonious balance between policy compliance and individual preferences. By tracking preference patterns and utilizing predictive analytics, businesses can provide travel options that align with employee preferences while adhering to company policies.

Knowing when and where to book accommodations at favorable rates is crucial for cost savings. Travel analytics provides insights into price fluctuations, enabling businesses to make informed decisions about selecting cost-effective vendors and optimizing their travel budgets.

Ensuring the safety of business travelers is a top priority. Travel analytics gathers real-time information on safety protocols, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and establish safety scorecards for different areas. This proactive approach reduces risks for travelers.

Sustainable travel is gaining prominence, and travel analytics equips companies with tools to monitor and reduce their carbon footprint. By generating real-time reports on environmental impact, businesses can make environmentally responsible choices regarding airlines, transportation, and accommodations.

Travel analytics is indispensable for businesses seeking to optimize corporate travel operations, control costs, improve policy compliance, enhance employee satisfaction, and prioritize safety and sustainability. The insights and data-driven decisions facilitated by travel analytics profoundly impact the bottom line, contributing to more efficient and responsible business travel practices.

• Types of Travel Analytics

Descriptive Analytics

Descriptive analytics constitutes the practice of scrutinizing historical data to attain a profound comprehension of the evolutionary trajectory of a business or industry. This analytical methodology entails an extensive retrospective examination of past data, facilitating substantive comparisons with preceding reporting periods, competitors within the same sector, and other pertinent benchmarks. Descriptive analytics yields pivotal financial metrics, including year-over-year (YOY) price oscillations, month-over-month sales growth, user metrics, and total revenue per subscriber, thereby affording valuable insights into a company's past performance during specific timeframes.

In the context of the travel industry, descriptive analytics holds notable relevance in its capacity to elucidate past travel trends. By dissecting historical data of variables such as booking patterns, travel destinations, pricing fluctuations, customer preferences, and seasonality, travel agencies, and corporate travel managers glean invaluable insights into the evolution of travel behaviors and trends.

This analytical process enables a comprehensive understanding of historical customer demand patterns, identification of peak travel seasons, and assessing how diverse factors, including economic shifts and global events, have influenced travel trends.

Concrete real-world illustrations of the advantages of descriptive analytics in the travel sector abound. For instance, a travel agency can harness years of booking data to identify perennially popular destinations during specific periods of the year.

This knowledge empowers them to proactively prepare for heightened demand, ensuring the availability of requisite resources, accommodations, and travel packages.

Descriptive analytics also plays an instrumental role in enabling travel managers to comprehend traveler preferences. By analyzing historical data regarding the categories of accommodations, amenities, and activities that customers consistently favor, travel agencies can fine-tune their offerings to align more closely with customer expectations.

Furthermore, examining customer reviews and feedback over time enables the identification of trends in customer satisfaction and areas requiring enhancement, thereby ensuring a more gratifying and personalized travel experience.

Descriptive analytics emerges as an indispensable instrument within the travel industry. It empowers businesses to gain insights into the historical evolution of travel trends, make informed decisions, and furnish customers with tailored and enhanced travel experiences.

Diagnostic Analytics

Diagnostic analytics is a pivotal component for organizations, offering profound insights into the causes of past performance trends. It surpasses superficial data analysis, delving deeply into historical data to answer the fundamental question: "Why did this happen?" This in-depth understanding empowers companies to make well-informed decisions and take precise actions, whether to replicate successes or effectively address and resolve issues. Diagnostic analytics also fosters a data-driven analytical culture, enhancing performance and improving decision-making.

Within the travel industry, practical applications of diagnostic analytics are evident:

When travel businesses experience sudden drops in online bookings, they can harness the power of diagnostic analytics to uncover the underlying causes. This analytical approach can unveil issues such as alterations in website design, performance bottlenecks, or external factors like travel advisories that impact booking numbers. With this knowledge, companies can take targeted actions to address these issues and boost their booking rates.

In the realm of travel, many destinations witness shifts in demand over a year. Diagnostic analytics plays a key role in helping travel businesses understand the factors driving these fluctuations. For example, suppose data analysis shows that a particular destination gains popularity in winter due to its excellent ski resorts, and in summer, it attracts beach enthusiasts. In that case, travel businesses can use this valuable insight to refine their strategies and cater to the unique preferences of travelers during each season.

Diagnostic analytics proves invaluable in uncovering why customers stop using a specific travel booking platform or airline. It may reveal issues linked to customer service quality, pricing strategies, or the availability of particular routes as influential factors driving customer churn. With this valuable insight, travel companies can formulate and implement strategies to improve customer retention and overall performance.

In practical scenarios, diagnostic analytics is an invaluable tool for the travel industry to make data-driven decisions and improve future outcomes.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics, an advanced field within analytics, utilizes historical data analysis, statistical modeling, data mining, and machine learning to make informed predictions about future outcomes.

Closely associated with big data and data science, it leverages diverse data types from log files to images, dispersed across various repositories. The primary objective is to identify patterns, risks, and opportunities, allowing for the anticipation of future events.

In the realm of travel agencies and corporate travel, predictive analytics plays a crucial role. Travel agencies and CTMs employ it to enhance customer experience by offering personalized recommendations tailored to individual preferences. Predictive analytics assists in evaluating the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, facilitating strategic decision-making for budget allocation and maximizing impact.

CTMs utilize it to optimize travel plans, ensuring seamless experiences for business travelers and improving operational efficiency. Furthermore, predictive analytics supports travel agencies in responding to dynamic market conditions, enabling adaptive strategies based on real-time insights to stay competitive in an ever-changing landscape.

These applications underscore the effectiveness of predictive analytics in providing insights for personalized experiences, strategic marketing, efficient planning, and adaptive responses to market dynamics.

Prescriptive Analytics

Prescriptive analytics is an advanced branch of data analysis that goes beyond understanding the past or predicting the future. It provides actionable recommendations for improving operations and decision-making. In the travel industry, this powerful tool offers numerous advantages.

Travel companies can use prescriptive analytics to fine-tune accommodations, flights, and package pricing. The system recommends adjustments based on real-time demand, competitor pricing, and customer preferences, maximizing revenue.

Travel agencies can provide personalized travel packages by using prescriptive analytics. It analyzes individual preferences, booking history, and current market trends to recommend tailored packages that cater to each traveler's unique interests.

Travel agencies and CTMs can receive real-time recommendations during adverse conditions in regions prone to weather disruptions. These suggestions may include alternative travel options, rescheduling, and proactive communication to minimize disruptions and enhance customer satisfaction.

Prescriptive analytics supports sustainable decisions in the travel industry. Travel agencies and CTMs can benefit from receiving recommendations to bolster their sustainability initiatives. These suggestions involve optimizing travel plans, choosing eco-friendly accommodations, and encouraging travelers to make environmentally conscious choices, fostering a more sustainable travel industry.

Prescriptive analytics empowers the travel industry by combining historical and real-time data with predictive models to offer actionable recommendations. This results in improved efficiency, increased customer satisfaction, and a more sustainable approach to achieving business goals.

• Key Metrics for Travel Analytics

In travel analytics, several essential metrics are pivotal for making well-informed decisions, benefiting both travel agencies and corporate travel managers.

For Travel Agencies

In travel analytics, several pivotal metrics play a crucial role in guiding well-informed decisions, greatly benefiting travel agencies. These key metrics encompass:

• Customer Satisfaction Scores serve as significant indicators of customer feedback. Elevated satisfaction scores indicate positive customer experiences, while lower scores pinpoint areas that require improvement.
• Booking and Cancellation Rates are paramount for travel agencies, as elevated cancellation rates may signal issues related to offerings or pricing. Monitoring these rates is essential for informed decision-making.
• Revenue Growth and Profit Margins are critical financial metrics essential in assessing travel agencies' economic health and long-term sustainability. Continuous monitoring of these indicators enables agencies to make informed financial decisions and ensure ongoing success.
• The Cost per Traveler is closely monitored by travel agencies to efficiently optimize travel expenses, which is crucial in managing and controlling travel budgets effectively.
• Ensuring Travel Policy Compliance is essential for travel agencies, emphasizing the significance of customers adhering to established travel policies. It is a practice of paramount importance in the travel industry.

These key metrics collectively contribute to the foundation of successful travel analytics, empowering travel agencies to navigate their operational landscapes with precision and strategic foresight.

For Corporate Travel

• The Travel Policy Compliance Rate is determined by calculating the percentage of trips that align with the organization's travel policies. This metric is of great significance as it quantifies the extent of adherence to established travel guidelines, ensuring efficient cost management and conformity to organizational policies.
• The Real-Time Adjustment Response Time is measured as the average duration taken to promptly modify travel plans in response to disruptions, such as flight delays or cancellations. This metric is essential as it reflects travel management's agility and responsiveness in addressing unforeseen events.
• Insights from Travel Booking Platforms involve the analysis of data to derive insights into travel patterns, preferred accommodations, and booking trends. This metric is crucial as it supports the optimization of travel arrangements and facilitates negotiations with suppliers based on historical travel data.
• The Travel Advisory Adherence metric quantifies the percentage of trips where employees comply with travel advisories and security alerts. This is vital for ensuring the safety of employees during corporate travels by monitoring adherence to travel advisories.
• The Negotiated Rate and Terms Improvement metric measures the percentage improvement in rates and terms negotiated with travel suppliers. This quantifies the effectiveness of negotiations with airlines and hotels, directly impacting overall travel costs.
• The Data Accuracy and Real-Time Updates metric assesses the accuracy rate of travel data and the frequency of real-time updates. This is crucial for ensuring data reliability in travel analytics, facilitating well-informed decisions, and enhancing customer experiences.
• Data Sources for Travel Analytics

Effective travel analytics relies on robust data sources that provide valuable insights for decision-making, whether for travel agencies or corporate travel managers. These data sources are essential in the travel analytics process.

Internal Data Sources

The company's booking website and mobile app capture valuable data, including web traffic, user behavior metrics, geolocation, user profiles, and feedback. This data aims to gain deeper insights into customer interactions, preferences, and feedback. Furthermore, it plays a pivotal role in enhancing the overall performance of the website and app, ultimately enabling the provision of highly personalized services to customers.

Internal systems, such as Property Management Systems (PMS), Passenger Service Systems (PSS), and Online Travel Agency (OTA) back offices, capture essential data comprising transaction details, booking histories, and inventory data. This data aims to facilitate the efficient management of bookings, the optimization of inventory, and the streamlining of overall operations within the travel agency.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems collect a wide array of data, encompassing customer profiles, demographic information, communication history, and loyalty program data. This valuable data is harnessed to customize services, nurture robust customer relationships, and deploy precise marketing strategies effectively.

External Data Sources

Competitor booking platforms provide access to data about competitors' offerings, including popular services and destinations. This data is invaluable for refining inventory management and pricing strategies, ensuring that a travel business remains competitive and maintains relevance in the market.

Social media and travel blogs are rich data sources, offering insights into travelers' experiences, recommendations, preferences, customer reviews, and destination-specific information. This data is instrumental in assessing customer sentiment, monitoring travel trends, and gaining valuable destination-specific insights for travel businesses.

Economic indicators include inflation, exchange rates, unemployment, and consumer spending. These data sources are crucial for understanding the economic conditions that impact travel patterns and consumer behavior within the travel industry.

Travel data providers offer specialized data across various facets of the travel industry, including historical flight and vacation rental data. This data is a valuable resource for obtaining ready-to-use information that greatly facilitates informed decision-making and the development of effective strategies within the travel business.

Employee expense reports capture information about travel expenses, including receipts and approvals. This data serves the critical purpose of efficiently managing and optimizing corporate travel expenses, ensuring compliance with policies, and exercising cost control within the organization.

Travel policy compliance data records information that indicates the extent to which employees adhere to travel policies. This data is instrumental in enforcing travel policies, strengthening cost control measures, and prioritizing the safety and well-being of travelers within the corporate travel framework.

Employee feedback encompasses input provided by employees regarding their business travel experiences. This data plays a pivotal role in enhancing the overall corporate travel experience, addressing concerns effectively, and making well-informed decisions about future travel arrangements within the organization.

Competitor travel data comprises insights into competitor travel management practices, trends, and offerings. This data is vital for businesses to remain competitive and make agile adjustments to their corporate travel strategies, ensuring they stay practical and relevant in the market.

Social media and travel blogs provide access to travelers' experiences, recommendations, and customer reviews from various online platforms. This data is valuable for gathering insights into traveler preferences, monitoring travel trends, and accessing destination-specific information, which helps businesses better cater to their customers' needs and preferences.

Economic indicators encompass statistics like inflation, exchange rates, and consumer spending. These data sources are crucial for comprehending the economic conditions that impact business travel and corporate travel patterns, enabling businesses to make informed decisions in response to economic fluctuations.

Travel data providers offer specialized corporate travel data, including flight and hotel information. This data is essential for accessing tailored information that significantly aids corporate travel management and facilitates well-informed decision-making within the organization.

Incorporating data from these varied sources equips travel agencies and corporate travel managers to make data-driven decisions, enhance customer or employee experiences, and adapt to evolving market conditions.

• The Best Travel Analytics Software

Effective travel analytics is crucial for both travel agencies and corporate travel managers. Reliable software is pivotal in streamlining operations, facilitating data-driven decisions, and enhancing overall travel management. Let's explore the top options for travel analytics software in both sectors.

Amadeus Agency Insight

Amadeus Agency Insight provides a comprehensive suite of tools, encompassing performance analytics, competitor benchmarking, customizable reporting, identifying market expansion opportunities, and acquiring in-depth customer insights.

These features give travel agencies a robust platform for gaining profound insights into their business and the broader market. This, in turn, enables data-driven decision-making and the refinement of services to cater to specific requirements.

Amadeus Agency Insight plays a pivotal role in preserving the competitiveness of travel agencies. It achieves this by facilitating direct comparisons with industry rivals and adapting to the ever-changing landscape of market trends.

Consequently, the software empowers travel agencies to offer finely tuned services to their customers' preferences. The result is elevated customer satisfaction, increased revenue, and the capacity to make well-informed decisions that propel business success.

Sabre Agency Data & Analytics

Sabre Agency Data & Analytics offers comprehensive functions, including data visualization, forecasting, predictive analysis, market intelligence, efficiency enhancement, and pricing strategy refinement. Its data visualization tools simplify interpreting data, while the forecasting and predictive analysis capabilities enable proactive decision-making.

Market intelligence ensures that agencies stay updated with industry trends, and efficiency improvements streamline operational processes. The pricing strategy enhancement feature guarantees competitiveness in the market.

Leveraging Sabre Agency Data & Analytics empowers travel agencies to expedite decision-making, enhance service quality, and optimize resource allocation. The software assists in adapting to dynamic market conditions while preserving a solid market presence.

Two robust solutions for travel agencies, Amadeus Agency Insight and Sabre Agency Data & Analytics, provide comprehensive analytics, competitor benchmarking, and customized reporting. Amadeus Agency Insight gathers customer insights and identifies opportunities for expanding into new markets.

Meanwhile, Sabre Agency Data & Analytics offers predictive analysis capabilities and features for refining pricing strategies. Travel agencies can use both tools to improve service and stay ahead of competitors.

TravelPerk serves as a comprehensive, all-in-one platform dedicated to corporate travel management. It facilitates the entire process, encompassing tasks from booking to expense management, policy adherence, and providing real-time travel information.

This integrated solution significantly enhances corporate travel efficiency, guaranteeing employees a seamless and optimal travel experience.

TravelPerk excels in simplifying the intricacies associated with corporate travel, resulting in time and resource savings for both corporate travel managers and employees.

The platform ensures stringent cost control through effective policy compliance and streamlined expense management. Additionally, it furnishes real-time travel data, empowering organizations to optimize their travel plans effectively.

Traxo serves as an advanced solution, streamlining corporate travel management through its capabilities in data aggregation, expense reporting, ensuring travel policy compliance, issuing real-time travel alerts, and facilitating seamless supplier integration.

Corporate travel managers can utilize the platform to derive valuable insights from aggregated data, enforce policy adherence, and efficiently overseas travel expenses.

The integration of real-time travel alerts ensures that travelers are promptly informed, while supplier integration supports negotiations for improved rates and terms.

Traxo substantially benefits corporate entities by centralizing and providing accessible travel data for in-depth analysis and informed decision-making.

The platform significantly enhances cost control, ensures compliance with travel policies, and promotes operational efficiency within corporate travel management.

Real-world Examples of Traxo's Usage in Corporate Travel:

• Many companies use Traxo to centralize their travel data, allowing for better visibility and control over corporate travel expenses.
• Traxo's analytics tools enable managers to detect potential policy violations, negotiate better rates with preferred vendors, and optimize travel budgets.
• The platform has been instrumental in helping organizations enhance their corporate travel programs by providing actionable insights derived from data analytics.

In the realm of corporate travel management, both TravelPerk and Traxo present tailored solutions. While TravelPerk distinguishes itself with an encompassing, all-in-one approach that streamlines the entire travel management process—from booking to real-time travel information provision—Traxo prioritizes data aggregation and expense reporting, fostering centralized data access, policy compliance, and seamless supplier integration.

TravelPerk places a pivotal emphasis on delivering a seamless travel experience for employees by simplifying complexities across the entire travel journey. In contrast, Traxo excels in its dedication to centralizing data, ensuring rigorous policy adherence, and facilitating efficient negotiation with suppliers. These attributes collectively contribute to establishing a robust and well-controlled corporate travel management system.

Dependable travel analytics software facilitates well-informed decision-making, streamlining operations, and enhances the overall travel experience for both travel agencies and corporate travel managers.

The software solutions, encompassing Amadeus Agency Insight, Sabre Agency Data & Analytics, TravelPerk, and Traxo, have been carefully designed to address the distinctive requirements of these sectors, ultimately contributing to more efficient and cost-effective travel management.

• Tools for Travel Analytics

Data Integration Tools

Data integration tools are fundamental components of a robust travel analytics stack, serving as the cornerstone for consolidating diverse data sources within the travel industry. Their pivotal role lies in streamlining the collection, transformation, and unification of data from various systems, ensuring the creation of a cohesive dataset for comprehensive analysis. In building a custom analytics stack, these tools act as catalysts for establishing a seamless flow of information, enabling companies to leverage their data resources fully.

Here are the Data Integration Tools suitable for Travel Agencies and Corporate Travel:

Apache Nifi

• Role in Travel Analytics: Apache NiFi plays a crucial role in data ingestion and integration in travel analytics, collecting diverse data from sources like booking platforms and social media. With low-latency and high-throughput capabilities, NiFi enables real-time data processing for timely insights into travel patterns and customer behavior.

Its extensible design supports data transformation and enrichment, ensuring data quality. NiFi's data provenance tracking provides a thorough information lineage, crucial for tracking data history and ensuring compliance. Its commitment to secure communication aligns with the paramount need for data security in travel analytics, ensuring encrypted communication and adherence to access policies.

• Suitability: Apache NiFi is an optimal solution for travel analytics, featuring a scalable and extensible architecture adept at efficiently managing dynamic travel-related data. Its low-latency capabilities enable real-time analytics, ensuring prompt processing for swift decision-making in the dynamic travel sector.

NiFi's inherent features for data provenance and lineage guarantee data quality and transparency throughout the analytics pipeline. Its extensible design allows the customization of workflows, offering flexibility for organizations to tailor processes to specific requirements in travel analytics. Furthermore, NiFi's robust security support addresses the sensitive nature of travel data, ensuring privacy and compliance with security standards.

• Role in Travel Analytics: Talend assumes a crucial role in travel analytics by effectively integrating and processing diverse data sources, facilitating real-time decision-making. Its adaptability in custom attribute creation addresses evolving requirements, enhancing analytics customization.

Talend excels in managing resources and inventory, optimizing usage, and mitigating shortages. In targeted marketing, it discerns pertinent promotions for specific demographics, refining precision. Talend expedites decision-making in the dynamic travel sector by providing current information nurturing a culture of continuous improvement.

• Suitability: Talend is an optimal solution for travel analytics, presenting a cloud-based, scalable, and user-friendly platform with robust support for custom attributes. Aligned with industry demands for flexibility, it facilitates seamless cloud hosting, eliminating the necessity for supplementary infrastructure.

Talend's scalability empowers organizations to respond to evolving data needs and efficiently manage expanding volumes. Its user-friendly interface ensures accessibility across diverse user profiles.

The platform's adept support for custom attributes enhances its appropriateness for addressing varied data requirements within the dynamic realm of travel analytics, establishing Talend as a preferred choice for tailored solutions in this domain.

Informatica

• Role in Travel Analytics: Informatica is pivotal in travel analytics, seamlessly integrating diverse tourism data sources and strategically addressing operational efficiency through automated tools. Beyond data processing, it provides a unified and scalable cloud-native platform, automating critical data processes to manage tourism data efficiently.

The Informatica Cloud Application Programming Interface (API) Manager facilitates seamless data exchange, fostering collaboration among stakeholders in the travel analytics ecosystem, with notable data quality and anomaly detection strengths. Offering a 360-degree view of visitors, Informatica informs strategic decisions in the dynamic travel industry. Empowering organizations with self-service data discovery, it expeditiously defines key performance indicators (KPIs) and transforms data, enhancing productivity.

The platform's zero-code interface accelerates time-to-market, facilitating swift adaptation to changing data needs in the competitive landscape of travel analytics. As a pioneer in advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, Informatica's Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) leverages machine learning to forecast essential metrics, adding sophistication to predictive analytics.

Moreover, by improving data trust, Informatica positions organizations as reliable data providers for government and private entities focused on culture and tourism. In essence, Informatica is a comprehensive solution, redefining the landscape of travel analytics with its multifaceted capabilities.

• Suitability: Informatica stands out as an excellent solution for travel analytics, boasting a comprehensive set of features tailored to address the dynamic challenges of the industry. Its proficiency in data integration, operational efficiency, unified data management, API management, data quality, and advanced analytics align seamlessly with the intricate demands of tourism data analytics.

The platform's adoption of a cloud-native architecture, scalability, and user-friendly interfaces positions it as the optimal choice for organizations seeking efficient, reliable, and innovative solutions in the travel analytics domain.

Informatica's ability to effectively address challenges in data maturity and deliver prompt results, ensuring a substantial return on investment, further underscores its suitability for driving transformative processes in tourism data analytics.

BI Software

Business Intelligence (BI) software is essential in travel analytics as it empowers organizations to convert raw data into actionable insights. In the travel industry, dealing with substantial data volumes, BI software facilitates the analysis of key metrics, trends, and performance indicators. It provides real-time reporting and visualization capabilities, enabling prompt, data-driven decisions for travel agencies and corporate travel managers.

The ability to aggregate and interpret data from various sources enhances strategic planning, optimizes operations, and improves customer experiences within the travel sector.

Here are the BI Software options for Agencies and Corporate Travel Managers:

• Role in Travel Analytics: Tableau plays a pivotal role in travel analytics by seamlessly integrating diverse data supporting informed decision-making with a comprehensive view. It enhances operational efficiency through quick data blending and linking, optimizing routes, and improving visibility for efficient inventory and capacity management.

Notably, Tableau promotes a data-driven culture, as evidenced by Southwest Airlines, empowering users in self-service analytics. In transportation and logistics, exemplified by Werner Enterprises, Tableau's visualization capabilities revolutionize the industry by unifying data for actionable insights. Tableau is a versatile solution, reshaping travel analytics with its integral roles.

• Suitability: Tableau is an optimal solution for travel analytics, distinguished by its rapid blending and linking of similar data, offering organizations comprehensive insights into customer behaviors and experiences.

Its efficacy in enhancing operational efficiency, providing real-time inventory visibility, and supporting revenue management and yield optimization aligns seamlessly with the dynamic challenges of the travel and transportation sectors.

Tableau's role in fostering a data-driven culture and promoting self-service analytics enhances its suitability for organizations seeking to empower users and derive valuable insights. The platform's versatility in creating custom views and decision-ready visualizations further reinforces its appropriateness for transforming analytics processes within the travel industry.

• Role in Travel Analytics: Looker is vital in travel analytics, serving as a potent tool for organizational business intelligence. It provides access, analysis, and actionable insights based on current and reliable data. Additionally, Looker contributes to developing tailored embedded analytics applications, offering benefits to travel agencies by seamlessly integrating analytics into customer-facing applications.

The platform's expertise in data modeling plays a crucial role in unifying business metrics across diverse teams, ensuring consistency in essential metrics related to booking trends, customer satisfaction, and operational performance. Looker Studio further empowers users in the travel analytics domain with robust self-service business intelligence, facilitating data visualization and sharing actionable insights.

As we look to the future, Looker positions itself at the forefront of AI-powered business intelligence, aligning with the evolving needs of the travel industry for automated insights, predictive analytics, and enhanced decision support. This strategic alignment resonates with the industry's emphasis on optimizing operations and improving customer experiences through intelligent analytics solutions.

• Suitability: Looker proves highly suitable for travel analytics, offering versatile capabilities that address the diverse needs of the industry. The platform's organizational business intelligence functionalities provide real-time insights crucial for adapting to dynamic market conditions.

Looker's support for embedded analytics is particularly beneficial for travel agencies and platforms, facilitating the creation of tailored user experiences. The data modeling features ensure a unified source of truth for business metrics, contributing to enhanced data consistency.

The self-service business intelligence and AI-powered capabilities play a pivotal role in making insights actionable, enabling organizations to stay ahead in the competitive landscape of travel analytics. Overall, Looker's adaptability and emphasis on real-time, trusted data experiences position it as a valuable asset for organizations in the travel sector.

Microsoft Power BI

Role in Travel Analytics: Microsoft Power BI offers a comprehensive suite of BI tools, enabling practical analysis and visualization of travel data. Its seamless integration with various data sources enhances its utility in the travel industry.

Suitability: Power BI's versatility makes it suitable for companies focusing on customization. It offers robust integration features, facilitating its incorporation into tailored analytics stacks.

For companies that build custom analytics stacks, the key is to select BI software options that provide flexibility, scalability, and seamless integration into a customized analytics environment tailored to travel agencies and corporate travel managers' unique needs.

AI Technologies

In the travel industry, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become essential for automating data analysis, identifying patterns, and providing predictive insights. Companies that build their custom analytics stack can benefit from AI technologies, significantly enhancing their decision-making processes and operational efficiency.

AI Assistants for Travel Booking

Example Tool: Skyscanner Chatbot

The Skyscanner Chatbot, seamlessly integrated into platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp, offers users a personalized booking experience by suggesting destinations and providing real-time pricing information.

Robots for Face-to-Face Customer Services:

Example Tool: Connie (Deployed at Hilton McLean in Virginia)

Connie, driven by IBM Watson AI and Wayblazer, operates as a robotic concierge, delivering information on hotel features, local attractions, and personalized recommendations. It enhances customer interaction through natural language processing.

AI-Driven Applications for Flight Forecasting:

Example Tool: Hopper

Hopper, utilizing machine learning algorithms, predicts optimal hotel prices and flight options while offering personalized recommendations on the ideal booking time. It leverages a vast database of historical flight prices and real-time price feeds.

Data Analytics to Identify Valuable Insights:

Example Tool: Metis (Utilized at Dorchester Collection Hotel)

The Dorchester Collection hotel employs the AI platform Metis for processing and analyzing customer feedback surveys, reviews, and online polls. This application extracts valuable insights into customer preferences and emerging trends.

Sentiment Analysis Through Social Media:

Example Tool: PaxPulse by Mindtree

Mindtree's PaxPulse serves as a social intelligence and recommendation platform in the airline industry. Through sentiment analysis on social media, it comprehends passenger concerns, providing actionable recommendations for enhanced customer experiences.

Room Mapping + Dynamic Price Tracking:

Example Tool: HotelMize

HotelMize harnesses AI for room mapping, effectively tracking dynamic prices for identical rooms across various suppliers. Additionally, it predicts dynamic prices for specific rooms, furnishing valuable insights into optimal pricing periods.

These highlighted tools exemplify the versatile applications of AI within the travel industry, encompassing areas such as customer service, predictive analytics, and data-driven decision-making.

For companies committed to constructing a custom analytics stack, the key lies in integrating AI technologies that offer flexibility and scalability. Open-source AI frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch provide customizable options, enabling businesses to incorporate AI capabilities tailored to their specific requirements within the travel sector.

As you embark on the path to building a tailored analytics stack and leveraging the transformative capabilities of travel analytics, Voyage Labs proudly serves as your reliable partner. Through our cutting-edge solutions and expert counsel, we guarantee that your travel agency or corporate travel management forays into a future driven by data.

We facilitate informed decision-making, operational optimization, and the delivery of exceptional experiences. Join us on this data-enriched journey with Voyage Labs, where your distinctive narrative converges with the precision of analytics.

Samuel Corso

Samuel Corso is a software engineer and entrepeneur with deep expertise in systems integrations and reverse-engineering APIs, dating back to his time building commercial ecommerce bots. He's the author of the number one open source project of this kind on GitHub. He also bears unique knowledge of the software infrastructure behind the travel industry. He founded Voyage Labs to help companies unlock cutting-edge software solutions to meet the needs of their customers.

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What is Told in Travel Blogs? Exploring Travel Blogs for Consumer Narrative Analysis

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• Cite this conference paper

• Carmela Bosangit 4 ,
• Scott McCabe 4 &
• Sally Hibbert 5  

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Blogging activity among tourists is increasing and represents an important new aspect of marketing communication in tourism. Millions of individuals have joined travel blog websites, to share their travel experiences online, and blogging has become an aspect of the tourist production and consumption process. The limited extant research on travel blogs focuses on tourists’ behaviour patterns and descriptions of destinations. In contrast, this paper examines travel blogs as textual artefacts to gain insights into how tourists construct order and make meaning from their experiences as part of the process of identity management. A narrative analysis of blogs from the three most visited travel blog websites was conducted. Tourists’ identity and sense-making were revealed by the stories that were told, the way in which they were recounted and how they were link to aspects of self-concept including values, preferences, skills, social roles and relationships.

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Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, UK

Carmela Bosangit & Scott McCabe

Marketing Division Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, UK

Sally Hibbert

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University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, Weingarten, Germany

Wolfram Höpken

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Ulrike Gretzel

School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

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Bosangit, C., McCabe, S., Hibbert, S. (2009). What is Told in Travel Blogs? Exploring Travel Blogs for Consumer Narrative Analysis. In: Höpken, W., Gretzel, U., Law, R. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2009. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-93971-0_6

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✈️ 15 Inspiring Travel Blog Examples in 2024

Looking for travel blog examples to inspire your own blog strategy and design?

We’ve collected 15 of the most interesting, beautiful, and successful travel blogs to showcase how each is finding success — and how you can emulate their best strategies on your own website.

15 Travel Blog Examples

Let’s take a look at some of the most intriguing and accomplished travel blogs out there.

• Indie Traveller : DIY travel
• The Hawaii Vacation Guide : Hawaii travel blog
• Travel Hacking Mom : Traveling using points
• Anywhere We Roam : Travel adventures
• Bucketlistly : Travel guides and backpacking itineraries
• The Blonde Abroad : Solo female travel
• Salt In Our Hair : Travel photography
• The Planet D : General travel
• Expert Vagabond: Nomadic travel and photography
• The Poor Traveler : Cheap travel tips
• The Broke Backpacker : Budget backpacking
• View From the Wing : Travel industry analysis
• Charlotte Plans a Trip : Personal travel blog
• The Barefoot Nomad : Family travel
• Nomadic Matt : Digital nomading

We list certain metrics for each travel blog example. Here are the tools we used to find these:

• Estimated monthly visits and Domain Rating (DR) :   Ahrefs
• Content Management System (CMS): Wappalyzer
• WordPress theme: WhatWPThemeIsThat.com

1 Indie Traveller

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎75k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎52

⚙️ CMS: ‏‏‎ ‎WordPress

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‎Custom

Indie Traveller , launched by Marek Bron in 2012 after leaving his video game development job, is a user-friendly travel blog.

It provides practical destination guides, travel advice, and gear reviews, all inspired by Marek’s own two-year adventure, which started with a life-changing trip to Thailand.

What Indie Traveller Does Well

Marek reviews travel bags exceptionally well (it’s not an easy task 😥).

Here are two things you can take away from his approach to implement on your site:

He buys the backpacks.  Readers and Google know when you don’t have experience with a product. They won’t trust your reviews, and you’ll get lower rankings and earnings.

He uses product feature boxes. A product feature box shares pros and cons. It also has a button with an affiliate link users can click to buy the product.

Here’s an example of a product feature box on Indie Traveller:

You can create similar boxes with the free GenerateBlocks plugin .

Published book: Travel The World Without Worries

Mediavine display ads

Amazon affiliate program

Travel booking affiliate programs: Kiwi , Agoda , 12Go , HostelWorld

Travel insurance affiliate programs: Heymondo , SafetyWing

Travel gear affiliate programs: Camelbak , Patagonia , GoPro

Blogging affiliate programs: Bluehost , Hover

Beyond the Blog

Marek sends out a monthly newsletter  where he shares updates on his adventures, inspirational messages, and travel advice.

👉 See also: How To Write A Product Review (Templates & Examples)

2 The Hawaii Vacation Guide

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎160k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎38

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎ Kadence

The Hawaii Vacation Guide  is a travel blog about visiting Hawaii.

Created by Jordan and Erica Fromholz in 2019 after moving to Maui from London, this blog is a unique and authentic guide to exploring Hawaii’s beauty and culture.

What The Hawaii Vacation Guide Does Well

The Hawaii Vacation Guide is a terrific example of a travel blog focusing on a specific destination.

Here are a couple of ways they’ve used this to their advantage:

Created Hawaii-focused itineraries. Travel itineraries are a hot commodity, and they convert best when your entire audience is going to the same location.

Became the  go-to authority on Hawaii. When someone wants to learn about traveling to Hawaii, they visit The Hawaii Vacation Guide. For example, there are over 1.5k monthly searches for their website.

Jordan and Erica have a YouTube channel  with over 100,000 subscribers. They post frequent videos on all things Hawaii travel, including trip planning, itineraries, reviews, and much more.

Sponsored content

Raptive display ads

Activity affiliate programs: FareHarbor , GetYourGuide , Viator

Accommodation affiliate programs: Marriot , VRBO

Car rental affiliate programs: Discount Hawaii Car Rental  

3 Travel Hacking Mom

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎8k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎50

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‎ Showit

Travel Hacking Mom  is a small travel blog by Alex, Pam, and Jess — a trio of moms who travel the world cheaply using credit card points and miles.

What Travel Hacking Mom Does Well

Despite only receiving 8,000 monthly visits, Travel Hacking Mom uses smart monetization strategies to maximize their earnings per visitor.

Narrow focus on high-value market. The site only covers using credit card points for travel, allowing them to capitalize on high-paying credit card affiliate products.

Travel hacking courses. They offer a pair of expensive courses that teach you how to travel hack.

Consultations. They offer two types of consultations – a free one where they will try to sell you on a credit card, and a paid $99 strategy session for more general questions.

Between credit card affiliate commissions, course sales, and consultations, a single visitor could earn more than $1,000.

Alex, Pam, and Jess host The Travel Hacking Mom Show  – a podcast that covers the group’s latest adventures and travel hacking tips. This helps them connect with their audience and boosts sales potential.

👉 See also: Best Credit Card Affiliate Programs of 2024

4 Anywhere We Roam

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎125k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎57

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‏Uncode

Anywhere We Roam  is a travel blog that follows the journey of Paul Healy and Mark Barnes, who started this site in 2018 to escape their day jobs, find an outlet for their photography passions, and fund their love of travel.

What Anywhere We Roam Does Well

The minimalist design on Anywhere We Roam is award-winning, snagging the best Web Design / User Experience award at the 2021 Traverse Creator Awards  and other coveted awards.

The color scheme and layout are minimal, with black, white, and blue accents coupling nicely with the spaced-out elements and palette-matching imagery.

The minimalist approach spotlights Paul and Mark’s incredible photography and keep readers scrolling. Images are spaced just enough so the next comes into view as the previous one fades away.

The full-screen image headers at the top of each page are also a nice touch, ensuring readers are met with a captivating photo every time they open a new page.

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs: Booking.com , Hotels.com , VRBO , Expedia , Flight Centre

Transport affiliate programs: Rentalcars.com , Trainline.com

Activity affiliate programs: GetYourGuide , TripAdvisor

Paul and Mark share gorgeous reels and photographs on Instagram – many of which are related to recent blog posts.

👉 See also: Best Travel Affiliate Programs

5 BucketListly

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎60k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎62

⚙️ CMS: ‏‏‎ ‎ LocomotiveCMS

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‎N/A

BucketListly  is a travel blog specializing in travel guides, backpacking itineraries, and photography resources. It was created in 2012 by Pete Rojwongsuriya, a web developer in Thailand who got fed up with his demanding corporate job. Pete has been traveling for 10+ years and has visited over 85 countries.  

What Bucketlistly Does Well

Bucketlistly displays affiliate links in a sophisticated, conversion-boosting manner.

These links are interpolated into the destination guides – extremely detailed itineraries based on Pete’s travels. Each guide features extensive original photos and detailed commentary on each location.

Each destination’s category page has an array of affiliate links to relevant travel services for the destination, including flights, hotels, buses, trains, car rentals, and travel insurance.

Many of the travel guides also have embedded hotel recommendations from Booking.com, who Pete is partnered with.

Selling Lightroom Presets

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs: Skyscanner , Booking.com

Transport affiliate programs: DiscoverCars.com , Omio , Busbud

Activity affiliate programs: GetYourGuide , Viator

Travel insurance affiliate programs: Heymondo

Pete also shares incredible cinematic videos  on YouTube and travel and photography pins  on Pinterest.

👉 See also: How To Start Affiliate Marketing

6 The Blonde Abroad

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎73

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‎ Genesis

The Blonde Abroad  is a solo female travel blog. Launched in 2012 by Kiki Rich, a former corporate finance professional who quit her job to see the world, the site helps female travelers prepare for their own travel adventures.

What The Blonde Abroad Does Well

Kiki has mastered the art of creating highly engaging and scannable content on her blog.

Check out her Mykonos Beach and Party Guide , which includes many readability-boosting elements:

• A “party craziness scale” graphic
• 1 image per list item
• Bolded sentences to highlight key points
• Aesthetic subheadings

And when Kiki includes normal text, she uses short paragraphs that are easy to read.

The bottom line? Make your content scannable and easy to read.

Images, graphics, headings, and other elements can make your posts easier to read, increasing time on page and improving your rankings.

Tour company: TBAEscapes

Selling Lightroom presets

Brand collaborations

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs: Going , Booking.com , HostelWorld , HotelsCombined

Transport affiliate programs: Rentalcars.com

Travel insurance affiliate programs: World Nomads

Credit card affiliate programs: Card Ratings

Travel internet affiliate programs: Skyroam , ExpressVPN

Kiki has a successful Instagram account with over 500,000 followers, which helps her earn additional revenue through paid partnerships and promoting her tour company.

👉 See also: Best Luxury Travel Affiliate Programs in 2024

7 Salt In Our Hair

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎350k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎63

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‎‎Custom

Salt In Our Hair , run by Nick and Hannah, is a general travel blog that started as an Instagram account. The duo left their corporate careers to pursue their passion for travel blogging.

What Salt In Our Hair Does Well

Nick and Hannah use custom graphics in their content to present data more effectively.

For instance, instead of an unwieldy bulleted list or table, they crafted an easily understandable, appealing graphic to display weather information.

Another example is this graphic in their Java guide, which highlights essential spots for an 8-day visit.

You can use Canva  to add engaging, helpful graphics to your blog, even without graphic design experience.

It’s a great tool for creating custom graphics, as it offers a wide array of templates you can fine-tune to match your site’s branding.

Selling Lightroom presets , mobile video filters , and customized Google Maps files

Trip consults

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs: Booking.com , HostelWorld , VRBO , Trusted House Sitters , Skyscanner

Transport affiliate programs: SunnyCars , 12Go

Activity affiliate programs: Viator

Travel insurance affiliate programs: Heymondo ,  SafetyWing

Visa affiliate programs: iVisa

Salt In Our Hair started on Instagram, and the account  continues to thrive. Nick and Hannah have over 330,000 followers and get high engagement by posting video reels of their travel adventures.

👉 See also: Amazon Affiliate Program Review 2024

8 The Planet D

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎800k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎77

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‎Custom

Founded by ex-movie industry professionals Dave Bouskill and Deb Corbeil, The Planet D  is a comprehensive travel blog offering tips and covering over 110 countries. Recognized as top travel influencers by Forbes, the duo has journeyed to more than 120 countries across all seven continents.

What The Planet D Does Well

Dave and Deb demonstrate authority in the travel blog space with a few replicable strategies:

Prominently displaying the publications and TV channels they’ve been featured on, which includes National Geographic, Forbes, and BBC.

Here are a few other ways they showcase authority:

They build social proof by sharing the impressive size of their audience.

They highlight their expertise by listing the travel awards they’ve won.

They also share the many minor brands they’ve collaborated with on their Work With Us page.

These authority-boosting strategies help legitimize them in the eyes of readers and search engines.

While it might be tough for a newer travel blogger to get featured on TV or huge websites like Dave and Deb, you can establish authority in other ways:

• If you get a backlink from a prominent website, ask if you can use their logo in the “Featured On” section of your homepage.
• Apply for travel blog awards. If your content is good and your blog is well-designed, you might win something!

Dave and Deb have a YouTube channel where they post their travel vlogs and share trip guides.

👉 See also: Best VPN Affiliate Programs in 2024

9 Expert Vagabond

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎110k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎71

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‎ Mediavine Trellis

The Expert Vagabond  was started by Matt Karsten, a seasoned digital nomad who traded normal life for a one-way ticket to Guatemala in 2010.

This blog teaches you how to travel cheap, make money on the road, and take pictures while you’re at it.

What Expert Vagabond Does Well

Matt and his team include many relevant internal links in their blog posts. For example, their Best Travel Tips  post includes 47 relevant internal links.

These internal links use appropriate anchor text that explains what the other page is about, which helps Google understand your site better and improve your rankings.

Adding internal links to relevant pages in your blog posts helps boost your SEO and improves the user experience.

Here’s how:

They improve your site architecture . Google uses internal links to crawl your website. Adding relevant internal links makes it easier for the crawler to operate, which helps your SEO.

They help Google better understand your pages. Google uses the anchor text – AKA the text that a link is embedded in – to help it understand the topic of the page the link is pointing to. You can get higher search rankings by using descriptive anchor text in your internal links.

They increase the time visitors spend on your site. If a visitor finds one of your posts on Google, reads it, and clicks an internal link to another post, this sends a positive signal to Google.

It helps the reader. If there’s a topic that you think readers on a certain post should know about, linking to a post on that topic will improve their understanding.

Matt’s Instagram account  – which has over 135,000 followers – showcases his family’s latest travel adventures.

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs: Skyscanner , Going , Booking.com , Trusted House Sitters

Transport affiliate programs: DiscoverCars.com

Travel insurance affiliate programs: SafetyWing , World Nomads

Travel internet affiliate programs: Private Internet Access

10 The Poor Traveler

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎550k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎61

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎ Bailey

The Poor Traveler  was started in 2009 by Yosh Dimens and Vins Carlos after a series of mishaps on their early travels. It’s a budget travel blog offering in-depth guides to help novices avoid similar mistakes and travel more efficiently.

What The Poor Traveler Does Well

Vins and Yosh use content templates to structure their blog posts, providing consistency and a time-saving blueprint across similar posts. These templates eliminate the need to create a new outline for each post, streamlining the blogging process.

For example, if you compare their Tokyo Travel Guide  and Seoul Travel Guide , you’ll see that the outline structure is very similar.

The same goes for their visa application guides.

To speed up your blog growth, create content templates whenever you’re writing a series of similar posts.

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs: Skyscanner , Agoda

Activity affiliate programs: Klook

Tip requests

Vins and Josh run a popular YouTube channel  with over 150,000 subscribers, where they share weekly videos about their latest travels.

11 The Broke Backpacker

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎500k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎69

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎‏‏‎ Custom

The Broke Backpacker , created by adventurer Will Hatton, started as a collection of handwritten budget travel tips circulated among a small group of travelers. It eventually evolved into a major travel blog, offering detailed guides on how to travel the world for a mere $10 per day.

What The Broke Backpacker Does Well

The Broke Backpacker has extensive profiles for their team members.

For example, the  Meet the Team page  provides details about the founder, writers, and other contributors behind The Broke Backpacker, including:

• Their name and title
• Links to their author pages, Instagram profiles, and personal websites
• Their background and what they do at the company

But it doesn’t stop there. Each team member also has a personal about page, which provides a more in-depth bio, links to other social media profiles, and a list of all the posts they’ve contributed to.

These pages are important for two reasons:

They let you showcase your team’s expertise and build trust with readers and Google.

They humanize your website and help build an emotional connection with readers.

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs: Booking.com , HostelWorld , Skyscanner

Travel insurance affiliate programs: World Nomads , SafetyWing , Heymondo , Faye , RentalCover , Columbus Direct , Gadget Cover

Travel gear affiliate programs: REI , Nomatic , Kodiak Leather , TropicFeel , Mahi Leather , WANDRD

The Broke Backpacker has a Pinterest account that sends traffic to individual blog posts.  

👉 See also:   19 Killer About Me Page Examples

12 View From the Wing

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎72k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎70

View From the Wing  is a travel blog created in 2002 by Gary Leff, known as “the godfather of the frequent flyer hobby.” He offers expert travel advice, credit card tips, analysis of the current state of the travel industry, and deep-dive trip reports.

What View From The Wing Does Well

Gary drives traffic to his blog by sharing new posts with his email list and social media followers.

He posts 4-5 news stories or opinion pieces daily. The mixture includes travel thought pieces, news about the industry, or interesting travel experiences submitted to Gary.

This focus on time-sensitive news content means Gary needs to pump out more content than the typical blogger to drive significant traffic.

However, there’s an upside: driving traffic through email and social media means Gary’s revenue is less affected by volatile Google algorithm updates.

👉 See also:   How To Build An Email List For Affiliate Marketing

Google AdSense display ads

Credit card affiliate programs

Gary is very active on X (formerly Twitter) , where he shares new blog posts with his 39,000+ followers.

13 Charlotte Plans a Trip

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎16k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎33

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎Tempest

Charlotte Plans a Trip  is a small travel blog run by a Dutch travel blogger named Charlotte, who was inspired to start blogging when her fiancee Ries convinced her to travel journey beyond Amsterdam. Their first big trip was to Canada, and she and Ries have been travel blogging ever since.

What Charlotte Plans A Trip Does Well

Charlotte’s blog is multi-lingual – she offers Dutch and English versions. You can toggle between them on the home page.

She’s essentially created two versions of her website. Her Dutch pages have different URLs than their English counterparts, and Google indexes them as separate pages.

The main benefit of this is a substantial traffic increase. Ahrefs shows that 40% of her traffic comes from Netherlands-based visitors.

This isn’t an easy trick to multiplying your traffic. Multi-lingual blogs have some downsides you should be aware of.

Native speakers can spot weak translations. Computer translations are getting pretty good, but native speakers will often be able to tell when a translation has been computer-generated. Don’t do this unless you are fluent in the language you’re translating to.

Non-English websites don’t make as much money. The highest-earning market for most blogs is the United States, where most people speak English.

It’s harder to build and maintain an audience. If you have audiences in 2-3 languages, you’ll have a harder time creating content for all of them.

Keywords don’t often translate between languages. Just because English speakers search for something on Google doesn’t mean Spanish speakers are also searching for it.

There’s definitely potential here – just know the limitations you’ll be up against.

If you want to create a multi-lingual blog, I recommend the WordPress Multilingual plugin .

👉 See also:   Best Blogging Platforms To Make Money in 2024

Charlotte has a  small following on Instagram , where she shares her life, travels, and latest blog posts.

Brand collaboration

Travel consults

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs:   Skyscanner , Booking.com

14 The Barefoot Nomad

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎24k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎51

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‎ Valenti

Launched in 2009 by Charles and Micki Kosman, The Barefoot Nomad  is a comprehensive family travel blog. Initially documenting the couple’s travels in Southeast Asia, the blog evolved to cover global destinations and kid-friendly travel upon their children’s arrival.

What The Barefoot Nomad Does Well

The Barefoot Nomad allows comments on their posts, which has spawned many rich discussions and added beyond the original post content.

The responses from Micki and Charles aren’t brief “Thanks for reading!” messages either. Their replies are detailed and thoughtful, ensuring the commenter and anyone else who visits the comments gets a helpful answer.

Allowing comments on your blog posts has a few benefits:

Improves search rankings. Google favors user-generated content (UGC) in blog posts, like comments, as it offers diverse viewpoints. This is why UGC-heavy sites like Reddit and Quora perform well in search results.

Fills gaps in your content. If you forget to address an important point in your post, readers may comment about it. You can fill the gap with a thoughtful reply and an update to your post.

Lets you appear involved in your community. Responding to comments shows you’re engaged and willing to take the time to speak directly to audience members.

However, there are some downsides. Most of the comments you get will be spam, and you’ll have to moderate every comment. You’ll also have to spend time replying to comments.

If you want to add comments to your travel blog, consider the wpDiscuz  plugin. You should also use the Akismet Anti-spam plugin .

Micki and Charles have an Instagram account, which they use to review and promote travel, tech, and food products.

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs:   Skyscanner , Booking.com , Expedia

Travel insurance affiliate programs:   SafetyWing

15 Nomadic Matt

📈 Traffic: ‏‏‎ ‎590k monthly visits

💪 DR: ‏‏‎ ‎78

🎨 Theme: ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‎Custom

Nomadic Matt  is a travel blog that helps people travel on a budget. It was founded in 2008 by Matt Kepnes after a trip to Thailand inspired him to leave his dull cubicle job and explore the world.

He and his team share money-saving travel tips, low-cost destinations, and other practical advice that enables everyone to travel to amazing places.

What Nomadic Matt Does Well

Nomadic Matt has extensive schema markup , which is structured data you can add to a site’s HTML to help search engines better understand the content on the page.

Here’s what the schema on NomadicMatt looks like:

Adding schema to your blog is helpful because it ensures web crawlers – programs that Google and other search engines use to analyze websites – don’t misinterpret your content.

Most blogs contain some basic schema due to their themes or SEO plugins. However, the schema in Matt’s posts goes far beyond what a typical blog includes. 

For example, some of the schema types in his blog posts include:

• Author: Shares information about the author of the post
• Organization: Explains who owns the website
• Logo: Shares the website’s logo image
• mainEntityOfPage: Indicates the primary topic of a page

He also ensures that all of the sub-schema markup included in these major schema types are filled out. Some sub-schema types include:

• sameAs: Provides URLs of related or identical entities across the web
• Description: Offers a summary or explanation of the content or entity
• inLanguage: Specifies the language in which the content is written
• primaryImageOfPage: Indicates the main image featured on the page
• wordCount: Specifies the total number of words present in the content of the page

You can use an SEO plugin like RankMath  to fill out as many schemas as possible. The easier you make it for Google to understand your page, the better your content will rank.

👉 See also: 10 Types of Blogs That Make Money in 2024  

Matt converts readers to email list subscribers with a newsletter signup box and engages them with frequent emails containing beginner-friendly travel tips.

His welcome email sequence sends out 12 emails in less than a month!

Published book: Ten Years A Nomad

Travel guidebooks

Blogging course

Travel writing course

Flights & accommodation affiliate programs:   Skyscanner , Booking.com , Going , HostelWorld , Agoda , Trusted House Sitters , Hostel Pass

Travel insurance affiliate programs:   SafetyWing , Medjet , InsureMyTrip

Credit card affiliate programs:   Card Ratings , Bilt

Activity affiliate programs:   Walks , Devour Tours , GetYourGuide , Eatwith

Travel gear affiliate programs: REI , LifeStraw , Patagonia

Transport affiliate programs:   RVshare , DiscoverCars.com , Japan Rail Pass

Travel job affiliate programs:   Worldpackers , myTEFL

Blogging affiliate programs:   HostGator , ConvertKit

What Does A Successful Travel Blog Include?

While there are many ways to build a successful travel blog, our analysis has revealed a few key components that nearly every great blog has.

Leverage personal experience.  You need to have personal experience with the destination or topic being covered. It’s obvious when the person writing about a location has never been there, and both readers and search engines will take notice.

Run display ads. Nearly every blog discussed was running display ads, and most were running Mediavine or Raptive . It’s a simple way to add revenue that will have little effect on your other blog monetization methods .

Have a coherent theme. Successful travel blogs typically focus on the travels of 1-2 people or a specific destination. More general sites without a connection to a person or a destination will struggle with branding and SEO.

Make social media accounts. Building an Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest account in the visual-heavy travel niche adds authenticity and provides a new traffic channel.

Take great pictures.  The more impressive your images, the better the impression visitors will have on your site. If they’re really good, you can even sell photography gear and lightroom presets!

Recommend booking services. Every blog on this list recommends at least one booking service. Anyone interested in traveling will need these, and you’re missing out on revenue if you’re not pushing them to your preferred provider. To view the best options, read our list of hotel affiliate programs and airline affiliate programs .

If you do these 5 things, you’re well on your way to building a booming travel blog!

Making a successful travel blog is incredibly lucrative. In fact, our affiliate marketing statistics  show that travel is one of the three most profitable niches, with the average person earning $13,847 per month.

However, with great reward comes high competition – especially in the world of blogging.

Here at Authority Hacker, we’ve spent 10+ years helping more than 14,000 students – build their own successful blogs – including many travel blogs.

To help you get an edge on the competition, we’ve distilled our most essential blog-building knowledge into a free training.

In this training, you’ll learn the seven insider secrets that make new blogs 83% more successful.

Join the free training now.

Related Posts

✈️ How To Start a Travel Blog That Makes Money In 2024

💵 How To Monetize a Blog In 2024 (12 Practical Ways)

9 Best Medium Alternatives for Making Money With Your Writing in 2024

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Smart business decisions rely on good insights. Keep your finger on the pulse of ever-changing global travel demand trends with actionable data, updated daily. Check out some top insights for your country below, or use the filters to find the data most relevant to you.

1}" > Fastest-growing destination globally

1}" > country with the most inbound interest, top insights for your selected country.

• Inbound destination demand
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1}" > Top 3 sources of inbound demand

1}" > top city in demand (internationally), 1}" > top city in demand (domestically), 1}" > inbound demand growth, 1}" > top 3 destinations for outbound demand, 1}" > top city in demand internationally, 1}" > demand growth for top international city, 1}" > demand growth for outbound travel, 1}" > top 3 countries for worldwide demand, 1}" > top 3 cities for worldwide demand, 1}" > country with fastest growing inbound demand, 1}" > city with fastest growing inbound demand, click into the details of travel demand.

Switch between understanding country-specific demand trends, and comparing flight and accommodation demand across countries. Use the filters to refine your search.

Country-specific travel demand

Use the tabs below to discover inbound and outbound demand trends for your selected origin and destination countries., trends in country demand, city and regional demand, growth of demand, sources of demand.

View the demand trend for travel from a selected origin to a selected destination.

• Tap on the chart for more details
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Understand the relative popularity of cities in your selected destination country. For a broader view of popular destinations for travellers in your origin country, set your destination filter to ‘Worldwide’.

Top demand by destination area

• {{$index+1}} {{item.code}} {{item.queries}}

Top demand by destination country

• {{$index+1}} {{item.country.name}} {{item.queries}}

Top demand by destination location

Top demand by destination city

Understand how demand has shifted over time for your destination country, the area it belongs to, and the cities within it.

Top growth by destination area

• {{$index+1}} {{item.code}} {{item.growthScale}}

Top growth by destination country

• {{$index+1}} {{item.country.name}} {{item.growthScale}}

Top growth by destination location

Top growth by destination city

• -10% to 10%
• -10% to -25%
• -25% to -50%
• -50% to -75%

Find out where inbound demand for your selected destination is coming from.

TOP DEMAND BY ORIGIN LOCATION

TOP DEMAND BY ORIGIN COUNTRY

• {{$index+1}} {{item.location}} {{item.queries}}

Visit Google Trends to learn more.

Comparative flight and accommodation demand data

See at a glance how different countries rank for accommodation and airline demand, with relation to inbound demand to and outbound demand from your primary country. use the filters above to select a primary country and up to 10 other countries to compare..

INBOUND INTEREST FROM SELECTED COUNTRIES TO PRIMARY COUNTRY

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Travel Analytics: Data Sources, Use Cases, and Real-Life Examples

• 11 min read
• Data Science ,   Travel
• 19 Sep, 2023
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In the continuously changing travel industry, data-driven insights are revolutionizing decision-making processes. Beyond its fundamental role in elevating customer experience, travel analytics has a valuable impact on revenue growth and cultivating a competitive edge. This article explores the influence of analytics on marketing strategies, revenue management, guest personalization, and other aspects of the travel industry. We will examine key data sources, real-world use cases, and how to approach analytics in travel.

Internal vs. external travel data sources

At the core of effective travel analytics lies the fundamental requirement for diverse and robust data from internal and external sources.

Internal travel data sources

Internal data refers to the proprietary information generated and collected by an organization as a result of its day-to-day operations and interactions with clients. It provides a comprehensive overview of a company's performance, highlighting both successes and areas needing improvement. By harnessing internal data sources, travel businesses can develop personalized services that cater to their customers' ever-evolving needs, as well as optimize their operations, enhance marketing strategies, and improve resource allocation, ultimately driving growth and profitability. Company’s booking website and mobile app allow you to track and collect a wealth of data, from web traffic information to user behavioral metrics (session duration, navigation paths, etc.), geolocation, profiles, and feedback. Internal systems — like a property management system (PMS) in hospitality, a passenger service system (PSS) used by airlines, or an OTA back office — are the backbone and the most relevant source of transaction details, booking histories, and inventory data for a travel business. Learn more about the functions of internal systems with our dedicated articles about hotel property management systems and passenger service systems . Customer relationship management (CRM) systems contain customer profiles with demographic information like age, gender, location, travel preferences, contact information, and communication history. They record and track customer and company interactions, spanning various communication channels like emails, chats, and phone calls. Loyalty program data can also be part of CRM records with information on membership tiers or rewards earned.

External travel data sources and providers

External data encompasses all types of information and datasets created outside a company and existing beyond its direct control, ownership, or management. Analyzing external data helps travel businesses stay competitive, adapt to shifting market conditions, and make well-informed choices regarding pricing, promotion, and overall strategies. Other travel booking platforms are the main source of information on competitors' offerings.   By monitoring and comparing them, you can identify popular services, destinations, and accommodations. This approach culminates in inventory optimization and competitive pricing strategies. Social media and travel blogs contain valuable information about travelers' experiences, recommendations, preferences, and popular upcoming events. These online platforms include customer reviews and user comments, covering everything from current trends to destination-specific information. Economic indicators cover a wide range of statistics that reflect the economic state of a region, country, or industry. They can be indicators of inflation, exchange rates, unemployment, and consumer spending. For the travel industry, this data is essential for understanding economic conditions that can impact travel patterns and consumer behavior. Travel data providers offer a diverse range of ready-to-use data for hotels, travel agencies, and other stakeholders . For instance, a notable expert in this domain, OAG , has a suite of air-related datasets, including historical flight data spanning 20 years. Businesses selling vacation rentals can take advantage of data collection from AirDNA , Mashvisor , and others. Read our article to find a more detailed exploration of short-term and vacation rental data . Other external data sources that can be helpful when building travel analytics solutions are weather forecasts and reports, and information on events that take place in a particular location.

The importance of the events economy in the travel industry.

4 travel analytics use cases

4 travel analytics use cases.

1. Revenue management

Revenue management is a set of practices for maximizing revenue by setting optimal prices based on demand. Many factors should be considered to find the right balance between rates and current seat availability, room occupancy levels, etc. That’s where modern analytical methods can help you out. Demand forecasting with machine learning allows companies to spot the slightest shifts in consumer behavior and predict a probable future demand for a product or service. For instance, businesses can prepare for more customers when flight bookings intensify for a specific destination. They can adjust prices and create appealing travel packages. Read our dedicated article to learn more about demand forecasting methods . Price prediction empowers companies to maintain a competitive edge in the market by establishing optimal rates. Learn about our experience in building machine learning models for flight price prediction and hotel price prediction . Occupancy rate prediction is crucial for making data-based decisions on pricing strategy, planned maintenance, and staff scheduling. Accurate forecasts allow revenue managers to quickly identify periods of increased or decreased interest, for example, months in which rooms will be sold at a higher or lower price. To gain further insights on this topic, take a look at our article that discusses occupancy rate prediction using machine learning . Dynamic pricing is the process of setting the price of a product or service in response to current demand, market trends, and other factors. Demand forecasting, price prediction, and occupancy rate prediction can be part of a dynamic pricing approach, helping revenue managers maximize profits in ever-changing conditions.

2. Sentiment analysis

With the widespread adoption of social media, travelers often share their experiences and recommendations, providing businesses with information about customers’ perceptions and preferences. This data can be used to run sentiment analysis. Sentiment analysis employs natural language processing (NLP) , statistics, and machine learning to decipher emotions, opinions, and judgments in text by extracting subjective information. Also known as opinion mining, it categorizes sentiments as positive, negative, or neutral. This type of text analysis can pinpoint areas for adjustment and assist in making improvements in service quality and customer experience, ultimately enhancing the brand's reputation. Read our article about sentiment analysis in hotel reviews to learn how we generate instant feedback snapshots, enabling travelers to swiftly compare various options and make the optimal choice.

3. Personalizing customer experience

Over 70 percent of customers expect the companies they engage with to consider their unique needs and desires. By analyzing factors like age, goals, status, region, values, and interests, businesses can facilitate effective personalization strategies for the various consumer types. Recommender systems and trip planning tools are two popular examples of how analytics enable this process in travel. Recommender systems use machine learning algorithms to make real-time personalized offers that meet the needs of a particular traveler. They can also aid in sustainable travel by suggesting ways to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate over-tourism, offering places with fewer visitors. For a deeper understanding, read our article that covers recommender systems or watch our video about the main types of recommender systems.

Main types of recommender systems.

Trip planning  is another example of how analytics drive personalization in travel. It can be viewed as an advanced recommender system that generates an itinerary and recommends the best order of places to visit based on a traveler’s preferences, behavior, and other data. While some platforms go no further than proposing accommodations or ticket booking, more advanced services offer comprehensive trip arrangements, saving both time and money.

4. Risk management

In the travel industry, challenges can arise from various unexpected events. It’s important to surveil such situations and spot potential disruptions. Fraud detection driven by analytics helps pinpoint subtle and hidden events in user behavior that can signal possible risks, such as fake bookings and chargebacks. To counter these risks, besides analytical tools, implement travel fraud prevention measures, including additional verification steps and raising the company staff's awareness of the fraud risk. Read our article on ML-assisted fraud detection or watch this video:

Fraud detection: Fighting financial crime with machine learning.

Guest screening is another application of travel analytics, involving the processing of guest information, booking details, and historical behavior patterns. In this examination, each reservation is assigned a risk score — a quantitative representation of the potential risk associated with that particular reservation. It takes into account factors such as the likelihood of property damage, the risk of non-payment, and the potential for illegal activities. Guest screening equips hoteliers with the insights needed to make informed decisions regarding reservation acceptance. Identifying potential issues before guests arrive enables you to create a secure environment and mitigate risks that can impact the property's safety, reputation, and financial stability. Flight arrival and departure time prediction is a powerful method for mitigating delay scenarios. Machine learning algorithms consider various factors like weather, arrival gates, aircraft type, and more, enabling airlines and ground handlers to better allocate gates, swap aircraft or crews on particular flights as needed, and thus minimize tarmac wait times. Predictive maintenance utilizes machine learning to process data from IoT sensors and detect early signs of equipment failures. Due to this analytical method, airlines, car rental companies, and other businesses can address small problems before they develop into costly damages. For example, in aviation, predictive maintenance reduces the need to pull the aircraft out of service, helps optimize repair schedules, prevents unexpected faults, and insures against flight delays.

Real-life examples of successful travel analytics implementation

Here, we're sharing real-life examples of notable brands leveraging analytics to achieve impressive results in customer engagement, cost reduction, and operational efficiency.

Marriott: Bringing more personalization to the loyalty program

Marriott International, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is a renowned American multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses a diverse portfolio of lodging options, including hotels, residential properties, and timeshares. Marriott began as an A&W Root Beer franchise in Washington, DC, in 1927. Thirty years later, the company expanded into the lodging industry, marking a significant milestone. To drive analytics, Mariotte partnered with IBM. After migrating to a modern data stack , Marriott deployed Db2 Warehouse on Cloud , which allowed IBM data scientists to map comprehensive customer data across all Marriott brands and build a travel experience platform that now powers Marriott Bonvoy, the industry's largest loyalty program with over 140 million members. Each time customers redeem their loyalty points, the platform gains more data to better understand those travelers and market to them in a more personalized way.

American Airlines: Optimizing operations and reducing fuel consumption

American Airlines, founded almost 100 years ago, has a deep-rooted legacy of pioneering achievements, launching the first major carrier loyalty program , and introducing airport lounges. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, it is the largest airline globally in terms of scheduled passengers carried and revenue passenger miles, a metric used to measure the total miles traveled by paying passengers. After transitioning its data platform to Microsoft Azure, American Airlines got a specific focus on optimizing operational efficiency. At the heart of its analytical efforts is an intelligent gating program that leverages real-time data on routes and runways and automatically assigns the nearest available gate to arriving aircraft. This enabled significant reductions in taxi time and fuel consumption, saving up to 10 hours of taxi time per day and thousands of gallons of jet fuel per year. American Airlines also developed the Hub Efficiency Analytics Tool (HEAT), an ML-driven program implemented to minimize the impact of weather-related flight delays. It analyzes various data points, including weather conditions, customer connections, air traffic, and gate availability. HEAT's proficiency in dynamically adjusting departure and arrival times has decreased flight cancellations during adverse weather conditions. All told, American Airlines' strategic embrace of AI, machine learning, and data analytics has led to notable improvements in operational efficiency, customer experience, and cost reductions.

Hilton: Personalization with data-driven smart suggestions

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is a renowned American multinational hospitality company headquartered in McLean, Virginia. From its inception in 1919, Hilton's goal was to operate the finest hotel in Texas. Commitment to excellence and innovation has positioned it as one of the world's most respected brands that has grown to operate in over 100 countries. Recognizing the growing importance of data in hospitality, the company is constantly investing in analytics to stay ahead in an ever-evolving market. For example, Hilton implemented in-page data capture technology by Celebrus , to accurately capture the smallest details of customer behavior on hotel sites. It allows for a better understanding of visitors and enhances their experience. Hilton also benefits from OnQ CRM, a proprietary system developed to handle large amounts of diverse customer data collected through various communication channels. With predictive analytics, the company can use these large volumes of data to forecast customer retention and better meet guest demands. Incorporating advanced data analytics and innovative technologies, Hilton has not only solidified its position as one of the global hospitality leaders but has also demonstrated its commitment to an exceptional guest experience.

Agoda: Enhancing user journey with OpenText Analytics

Agoda, founded in 2005, has revolutionized travel by simplifying the search and booking process. This Singapore-based OTA operates globally and is considered one of Asia's leading travel-tech companies. With millions of registered customers and over 6,000 employees across 31 markets, Agoda offers access to over 2 million properties worldwide and a range of travel-related services. Every day, the company's website serves millions of customers, which makes a frictionless booking journey and overall usability a major competitive factor. “Customers will stick with us if we provide high-quality products and a streamlined experience, and accommodation owners will offer optimized pricing if we give them the best marketplace," Idan Zalzberg, VP Data at Agoda, explains . To stay ahead of rivals, Agoda employed Vertica Analytics Platform (now owned by OpenText.) It enabled the OTA to analyze complex user behavior patterns in seconds and constantly improve the website based on insights from large volumes of data.

How to approach travel data analytics

The process of unlocking valuable insights from data involves the following key steps. Assemble a data science team. Building or hiring a skilled data science team with expertise in the travel domain is a fundamental step to take before the process even begins. Pay attention to the collaboration and communication skills of the team members since they must interact a lot with other stakeholders and be on the same page with them. Formulate key questions. Clearly define the problem your organization is going to solve with the help of analytics. Establish measurable goals and KPIs to gauge the success of your efforts. Articulating the anticipated results is critical for ensuring that all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the project's purpose and direction. Define data sources and collection methods. The next crucial phase is to gather the necessary data for analysis. The choice of data sources and collection methods should align with business objectives to ensure that the analysis is based on accurate and relevant information. Define the timeframe for data collection and create a clear plan with information on team assignments, relevant data sources, and key requirements. Choose analytical tools. Depending on the nature of the data and your business objectives, a variety of techniques may be employed, including machine learning, deep learning , natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision . Discuss the most appropriate methods with your data science team. Communicate and visualize the results. This step ensures that stakeholders understand and can use the analytics results to make informed decisions. Engage with stakeholders in a way that resonates with their level of expertise and interest, maintaining clarity and transparency. To enhance effective storytelling, utilize BI tools like Power BI or Tableau, or Python libraries like Matplotlib and Seaborn. Read our article on data visualization libraries and tools to learn more. Consider implementing data governance. An effective data governance strategy ensures the accuracy, availability, and security of data, making it compliant with data regulations, such as the GDPR in the EU and CCPA in California. Data governance policies safeguard the company’s reputation and enhance both partner and customer trust. These steps are crucial to fully leverage the power of data in your travel operations and ensure that your business initiatives are geared towards making informed, customer-centric decisions.

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121 Travel Blog Niche Examples to Inspire You in 2024

Table of Contents

Considering starting a travel blog, but need some inspiration? I’ve gathered over 100 travel blogs in different niches, with completely different audiences, to help you understand the variety of options you have.

I didn’t even know some of these niches existed until I started researching this post and asked the lovely members of my SEO for Travel Bloggers Facebook group to pitch in.

This is not going to be a completely exhaustive list, as there are nearly infinite specific types of travel blogs. That’s the great thing about this niche!

I will note quickly that if you want to start a travel blog and hope to make money from it , it’s best to find a niche that already gets some traffic/is well known to your audience, but not one that’s too saturated with big names.

Here’s how I determined each of the summary points:

Niche : Manual check from About Page, Homepage, top content, and blog theme

Monthly Traffic : Similar Web (for accuracy, it said my traffic was about 30% higher than it actually was in September 2023 when I tested 4 of my sites)

Primary Traffic Source : Similar Web

Page Speed : Pagespeed Insights (Speed Index Score)

CMS : Host Advice

Blog Host : Host Advice, Web Hosting Hero, Accuwebhosting, Hosting Checker

Theme : What WP Theme Is That, Satori Studio, manually inspecting code

Monetization Methods : Manual check in no particular order

Founded : About Page, Dupli Checker, Whats My DNS

Backlinks: Ahrefs Backlink Checker (free) (Linking Websites)

Please note that these metrics can change at any time. I endeavour to provide the most up to date figures, but due to the ever changing nature of blogging, some of these figures may have changed by the time you’re reading this.

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1. Nomadic Matt

Nomadic Matt is one of the best known travel blogs on the internet, especially if you’re into budget travel and backpacking.

Matt Kepnes founded the blog in 2008 to teach people how to travel on a budget, which also inspired his New York Times Bestselling Book, “How to Travel the World on $50 a Day”. It’s the book I used when I did my gap year after university.

The blog covers everything you can imagine about budget travel, including the best hostels to stay at, budget friendly things to do across the world (Matt’s been to over 100 countries), product reviews, and recently he’s been branching more into travel credit cards.

Matt has gone on to found The Nomadic Network and FLYTE. He also ran TravelCon but recently sold it.

Matt announced that he was stepping back from the site in February 2022 . It doesn’t seem like it stuck though, as he still appears to be posting (or perhaps his writers are) and he’s active on social media.

Niche : Budget travel/backpacking

Monthly Traffic : 1.22 million+

Primary Traffic Source : Organic Search (i.e. Google)

Page Speed : 3.3s

CMS : WordPress

Blog Host : Linode

Theme : Genesis Framework + Custom Theme

Monetization Methods : Affiliates, Ads ( Mediavine ), Books, Blogging Course, Group Tours

Founded : 2008

Backlinks : 21k

2. The Blonde Abroad

Kiki is the reason I quit the solo female travel niche: she’s got it covered!

Her blog has been around for over a decade and has articles covering all things solo female travel. You’ll also find articles on lifestyle topics and photography.

I love her mission to support non-profits while sharing helpful information to allow women to be more independent.

It’s hard to compete with a blog Kiki’s size, with over 1500 articles and over 1 million people on her email list (according to her homepage opt in).

She’s also founded TBA Escapes, where she hosts female group trips to areas women often feel uncomfortable traveling to alone.

Niche : Solo female travel

Monthly Traffic : 291k+

Page Speed : 3.7s

Blog Host : : Digital Ocean

Monetization Methods : Affiliates, Group Tours, Ads (Mediavine), Digital Products, Social Media Marketing, Consulting (according to her about page )

Founded : 2012

Backlinks : 9.5k

3. Be My Travel Muse

I met Kristin at Travel Blogging Summit Denver in 2022 and learned a lot from her. She’s the second reason I abandoned all hope with my solo female travel blog: again, she’s got it covered!

Kristin is a former investment banker who realized she wasn’t able to express her creativity and really wanted to write. She quit her job and headed to Bangkok, where she made her dream of living fully from her creative work a reality.

Now she runs Be My Travel Muse and Parenthood Adventures (after having her first child).

Kristin is known as a heavy weight in both the travel blogging and travel writing (i.e. for journalism) worlds.

You’ll also find her on Youtube where she demonstrates her stunning photography.

Monthly Traffic : 350k+

Page Speed : 2.3s

Blog Host : Digital Ocean

Monetization Methods : Group Trips, Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Book

Backlinks : 5.4k

4. The Planet D

The Planet D crops up in basically every travel niche because of their more general approach. While they state that they’re Adventure Travel in some places on their site and Digital Nomad travel in others, I’d classify them as a General Travel niche site.

Most general travel sites don’t see the same success as Dave and Deb, but the landscape was a bit easier back in 2007. It’d be much harder to be successful with this type of site today.

The Planet D is an award-winning travel blog that follows its founders, Dave and Deb, around the world. They’ve visited over 120 countries now and document all their original experiences on their blog.

I like that their site is the first on the list so far that I didn’t have to enlarge the text on. Their simple but functional theme is very SEO optimized.

Niche : General travel (but in different places on their website they say adventure travel and digital noad)

Monthly Traffic : 1.26 million+

Page Speed : 1.6s

Blog Host : Cloaked by Cloudflare

Theme : GeneratePress + Custom Theme

Monetization Methods : Affiliates, Ads ( Raptive ), Sponsored Posts, Photography, Public Speaking

Founded : 2007

Backlinks : 13k

5. Two Wandering Soles

Katie and Ben met in high school and went on to have the most epic adventures together. They founded Two Wandering Soles to share their experiences traveling around the world.

They cover everything from teaching English in Korea to living in their campervan “Vinny” in the US.

Their site is incredibly well researched and has lots of great videos from their Youtube channel. I also follow them in Instagram for their travel stories.

I found Two Wandering Soles when I was starting out because they shared their income reports up to 2020. It’s a great way to see how much someone can actually make blogging!

Niche : Eco and Adventure Travel, also an extensive Van Life pillar

Monthly Traffic : 360k+

Page Speed : 2.8s

Blog Host : Host Gator

Theme : Flatsome Theme

Monetization Methods : Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Blog Course, Sponsored Posts

Founded : 2014

Backlinks : 4.7k

6. World of Wanderlust

World of Wanderlust came to my attention on Instagram for Brooke’s lovely pictures.

The blog began in 2012 to document her adventures in Asia, but quickly grew to cover her solo travel adventures worldwide. Brooke also grew a popular Instagram account with over 570k followers.

She stepped back from the blog in in May 2022 to focus on her passion for baking. It seems that she either sold the site or has hired writers to keep it updated.

You can now find her in Australia at Brooki Bakehouse, where she gets to live her passion for baking (and has a very successful Tiktok about the company).

Niche : Solo Female Travel

Monthly Traffic : 147k+

Page Speed : 7.6s

Blog Host : Dreamhost

Theme : Lavoie by Pipdig

Monetization Methods : Ads (unclear, but maybe Google Ads), Book, Digital Product, Blog Course, Sponsored Trips

Backlinks : 5.9k

7. Bacon is Magic

This is my favourite blog name of all time.

I first found Ayngelina when I was looking for Canadian travel bloggers for a school project (yep, I used to work travel blogging into my Master’s degree for every assignment).

Ayngelina founded the blog to be for “Food Hunters” instead of Foodies. They travel to eat like locals, which I really appreciate.

They blend in recipes from Canada and abroad (the Empress Gin Sour looks amazing! I was a bartender when the gin first came out and got to have a sip of one of the first batches. It’s truly magical!).

Niche : Foodie Travel and Recipes

Monthly Traffic : 99k+

Blog Host : Vultr

Theme : Tiny Salt by Loft Ocean

Monetization Methods : Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates , Sponsored Posts

Founded : 2010

8. The Broke Backpacker

The Broke Backpacker is actually ahead of Nomadic Matt in the budget travel space traffic-wise. Where Matt does $50 a day, Will Hatton goes down to $10 a day!

They began the blog in 2013 to teach others how to live on the road like they were doing.

I love their gear reviews as I’m just starting to get into camping (feel free to tweet me tips!). I do find them a little bit chunky (i.e. needs shorter paragraphs) and could stand to have a quick summarization for people on the go. But with their extensive audience, they’ve earned enough trust that I believe people would slow down to read it all.

Matt is the first person on our list to found a physical business located in one spot: a hostel. He cofounded Tribal Bali, a very pretty coworking hostel.

I really love the “Travel Expertise:” highlight in the author boxes on this site.

Niche : Budget Travel and Backpacking

Monthly Traffic : 1.41 million+

Page Speed : 4.1s

Blog Host : Google Cloud Platform

Theme : Custom Theme

Monetization Methods : Ads (Raptive), Affiliates, Hostel (cofounded)

Founded : 2013

Backlinks : 17k

9. Expert Vagabond

The Expert Vagabond, aka. Matt Karsten, shares tips for people looking to travel to unique destinations in a sometimes extreme way. He has posts on camping on erupting volcanoes, saving money for travel, how to take pictures of the Northern Lights.

Matt’s site is really interested because it has these custom author box-affiliate disclaimer hybrids on the posts that are customized to the location or type of travel for each post.

I like how clean and simple the whole site is. It’s very easy to information on what you need – as long as you know the continents.

Not only is their site popular, their Instagram has over 140k followers and their newsletter is 15k+ strong.

Niche : Adventure Travel and Photography

Monthly Traffic : 200k+

Page Speed : 2s

Theme: Trellis by Mediavine

Monetization Methods : Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Sponsored Posts

Founded : 2011

Backlinks : 9.6k

10. The Points Guy

The Points Guy was founded in 2010 by Brian Kelly to help people travel hack their way to their dream trips.

If you’re not aware, travel hacking is where you use points (i.e. credit card reward points and sign on bonuses, hotel reward schemes, etc) to lower the cost of your trip. It’s also got a component of finding good travel deals.

Their main monetization looks like it’s through their affiliates to various credit cards and banks – which they promote for the sign on bonus points.

The site has massive monthly traffic, but also a large team of over 35 people!

So don’t compare yourself too harshly when looking at your traffic. Think of it as aspirational for how far you could grow!

Niche : Travel Hacking

Monthly Traffic : 13.31 million+

Page Speed : 7.8s

Theme: Custom Theme

Monetization Methods : Ads (looks like Adsense but custom curated ads), Affiliates

Founded: 2009

Backlinks : 42k

11. Our Escape Clause

Our Escape Clause turned a 6 month global expedition into a business that allowed them to leave their desk jobs.

They initially focused on Europe, but have since expanded to cover US travel as well.

You’ll find tons of travel itineraries on their site for locations across the US and Europe.

They’ve got a very basic theme that is laid out a little bit oddly, in my opinion. I don’t love the map on the Destinations page as it kept glitching – I’m never a fan of maps though, to be honest, because they usually have some sort of issue like this.

Although they do sponsored posts occasionally (according to their contact page), I couldn’t find any on their site. So I anticipate their income is primarily from the Mediavine ads and affiliate links in review posts on their site.

Niche : USA and Europe Travel

Monthly Traffic : 639k+

Page Speed : 6.7s

Theme: GeneratePress

Founded: 2016

Backlinks : 6.5k

12. Young Adventuress

Liz Carlson moved to Spain alone to teach English and started Young Adventuress their time abroad. After a few years of Spanish travel, she moved to New Zealand and became a full time travel blogger.

I started following Liz when I moved to New Zealand and needed some tips on ways to spend all my money in the first month I arrived.

Liz is best known for their Instagram, where they take stunning photos of their global travels. They now own NODE, a plant store in New Zealand, and lead tours to the Arctic Circle.

You can join their 213k followers on Instagram as well. This is where the bulk of their following is and shows the power of Instagram for a travel blogger, but also that it doesn’t always translate to blog clicks.

Niche : Solo Female Travel and New Zealand Travel

Monthly Traffic : 36k+

Primary Traffic Source : Organic Search (i.e. Google) – this really surprised me from the size of their Instagram following!

Page Speed : 12.9s (because of a slow loading pop up. Closer to 4s really)

Blog Host : Amazon Web Services

Monetization Methods : Ads (Mediavine), Sponsored Instagram

Founded: 2011

Backlinks : 2k

13. Disney Tourist Blog

This site has the best About Page I’ve ever seen – even referencing robot walruses at one point.

I recommend checking it out, not just to learn about the Disney Tourist Blog’s origins when Sarah and Tom Bricker founded it.

The blog is definitely a one-stop-Disney-shop where you can get all of your Magic Kingdom (that’s a Disney thing, right?) answers in one spot.

One of the items in their navigation is a “Quote Request” that takes you to a Disney travel agent site. I’m not sure if Tom or Sarah are agents for this company or – more likely – if this is a custom affiliate deal they’ve negotiated. I’m inclined to believe the latter.

Niche : Disney Travel

Monthly Traffic : 2 million+

Blog Host : HostDime

Theme: Sensational by My Theme Shop

Monetization Methods : Ads (Raptive), Affiliates, Be Our Guest Vacations Connection

Backlinks : 10k

14. Goats on the Road

Goats on the Road have one of my favourite blog taglines: “Turn Travel Into A Lifestyle”.

It fits perfectly with their niche of digital nomad-ing. I actually didn’t find them until I was already well into my journey of living abroad, but I learned a ton about housesitting from them. In fact, I think they were the first to bring Trusted Housesitters into my life.

Nick and Dariece founded their blog in 2012 and it has gone on to be a massive name in the travel blog industry. They have a big team of 14 writers beyond themselves.

They’ve been featured in Forbes, on the Today Show, and in Lonely Planet.

I think they have one of the best menu bars I’ve seen so far on this list. It’s very clear, well organized and easy to follow. The only thing missing is a clear “Contact Us” section, which is in their footer (a pet peeve of mine).

Niche : Digital Nomad

Monthly Traffic : 604k+

Blog Host : Tools returned two answers: Bluehost (not gonna lie, my jaw DROPPED at this) and Cloudflare. I assume they used to be with Bluehost and are now cloaking with Cloudflare so I can’t find their current host

Monetization Methods : Blog Courses, Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates

Founded: 2012

Backlinks : 6.8k

15 . Ireland Before You Die

Stevie Haughey is on a mission to get everyone to Ireland before they die – ergo the name of the site!

They started the site at university in 2014 and it went on to amass over 1 million readers per month. It looks like it’s dropped down since that claim on his author page, but that’s liable to happen over time.

Posts vary from travel specific, like the best spa hotels, to Irish names for kids (a great place for a Name Generator !).

They are the first site on our list to have physical products for sale. In the site’s shop I found t-shirts and posters. But it also looks like the may have sold rings are one point.

Niche : Ireland Travel

Monthly Traffic : 498k+

Page Speed : 11.5s (not surprising as they use Elementor)

Theme : GeneratePress with Elementor base

Monetization Methods : Ads (Raptive), Affiliate, Digital Product, Physical Products

Founded: 2014

Backlinks : 8.2k

16. Anywhere We Roam

Mark and Paul quit their jobs to found this adventure and off the beaten path travel blog.

They’ve won numerous UK blogger awards, highlighting their expertise.

I couldn’t find any digital products or sponsored posts on their site. So I’m assuming they’re just using Mediavine and their affiliates to monetize.

They also have a “Buy Me A Coffee” button, which has become more popular with bloggers in recent years. I had one on my site eons ago and it never made me a penny. But I’d be interested to know if a more established blog like theirs does well with it.

Niche : Adventure Travel

Monthly Traffic : 264k+

Page Speed : 4.9s

Theme: Uncode by Undsgn

Monetization Methods : Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Kofi

Founded : 2017

Backlinks : 1.8k

17. Salt in Our Hair

This is my favourite blog theme on the list. It’s so cute and yet also so functional!

I’m very upset it was custom coded by them so I can’t even hire the developer cause I LOVE it.

But back to the site. Salt in Our Hair is a sustainable travel blog that follows Nick and Hannah around the world. The Dutch couple founded the company on Instagram first (I think that’s a first for this list!) and then moved it onto the blog.

Hannah was a graphic designer and Nick a web developer, which speaks to their amazing site. They’re also great photographers with a big focus on photography tips on their site.

Interestingly, they sell Google Maps guides. I’m not sure of the legalities of selling a Google Map but I expect they looked into it. I’d look into it on your own before doing the same, but that could be a great digital product for most travel bloggers.

I have like 400 just from 2023 with all my travels across Canada and the US.

They seem to be focused on Asia and the Middle East in their recent content, but they have articles for places across Europe, too.

Niche : Sustainable Travel

Monthly Traffic : 774k+

Page Speed : 3.8s

Theme : Custom Theme they built for themselves

Monetization Methods : Digital Products, Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Sponsored Posts

Founded : 2015

Backlinks : 5.1k

18. Travel Off Path

I met Kashlee in Nashville at the same summit I met the Blonde Abroad (y’all go to summits in person. They’re epic!).

She shared a lot about her site, but the most interesting thing to me was that it’s primarily a Google Discover site. Her team (she has over 65 writers across 5 sites – this is just one of them) publish posts EVERY SINGLE DAY.

She takes a very “news” style approach to her content, publishing shorter pieces that are on trending topics.

You’ll notice her titles are very skewed for Google Discover and less for SEO.

Two of her other sites that are doing similarly well are The Cancun Sun and The Bali Sun.

Kashlee is a great case study for a very different way of getting clicks from Google.

Niche : Travel News and Travel Tips

Monthly Traffic : 4.18 million+

Primary Traffic Source : Organic Search (i.e. Google Search) – Similar Web doesn’t differentiate between Discover and normal Google traffic so I couldn’t do a breakdown between the two on it but about 300k according to Ahrefs are organic traffic

Page Speed : 1.9s (and one of the few passing Core Web Vitals)

Blog Host : Big Scoots

Monetization Methods : Ads (Mediavine) *Kashlee revealed at the summit that her only income from the blogs is ad based but that she plans to start doing affiliates. She also does paid speaking gigs.

Founded: 2017

Backlinks : 12k

19. Travel Fashion Gal

Travel Fashion Gal comes up so often when I’m doing keyword research for my clients. They rank for a lot of terms, but especially for “Best X” where X is travel gear or clothing.

Packing lists are their game, so they also sell ebooks of their lists for what on the surface looks like their most popular regions.

Alex started the blog in 2008, but also does a good amount of promotion on other platforms too – with social being pretty close to Organic Search for their top traffic source.

Pinterest seems to be their biggest platform with 6 million monthly views and over 100k followers.

Niche : Packing Lists and Fashion Travel

Monthly Traffic : 884k+

Page Speed : 12.3s

Blog Host : Liquid Web

Theme : Divi

Monetization Methods : Ads (Raptive), Affiliates, Digital Product

20. Packs Light

I wanted to highlight Gabby Beckford on this list because she has made over $100k in Q1 of 2023 without an insane amount of traffic on her site.

Yes, it’s in Mediavine. But the majority of Gabby’s income seems to come from her social media.

She founded Young Travelers Network on Facebook (9.6k members), has over 158k followers on Instagram, has over 325k followers on Tiktok, AND has a significant Twitter and Linkedin presence.

She is literally EVERYWHERE hustling and it’s paying off.

The #1 thing you can learn from Gabby’s PTO (paid travel opportunities) site is how to build a community.

Her Delusional Confidence TedX talk changed my life.

Niche : Paid Travel Opportunities and Study Abroad

Monthly Traffic : 65k+

Page Speed :

Theme : Soledad (looks custom)

Monetization Methods : Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Digital Products, Group Tours, Sponsored Posts

Backlinks : 1.5k

100+ More Travel Blog Examples in Different Niches

We’d be here for 40 years if I was to do a deep dive into every travel site I found (or even all 236 that were submitted in my Facebook group thread ). Especially because I want to rep as many different niches as possible.

So for the sake of expediency, I’ve included the Blog Name – Niche

• Adventurous Kate – Solo Female Travel
• Introvert With Itchy Feet – Africa Travel
• Caribbean Uncovered – Caribbean Travel
• Offbeat Greece – Greece Travel
• Meandering Wild – Nature and Wildlife Travel
• Follow the Yellow Shell – Camino de Santiago and Other Long Walks
• Culture Feasting – Foodie Travel
• Adventures with TuckNae – RV Travel
• York Travel Expert – York, UK Travel
• Exploring South Australia – Southern Australia Travel
• New Zealand Travel Tips – New Zealand Travel
• The Hiking Helper – Hiking & National Park Travel
• Atlantic Destinations – Nova Scotia, Canada Travel
• Adventure Awaits – Canada Travel
• Nina Out and About – Living Abroad/Expat Travel
• Ottawa Things to Do – Ottawa, Canada Travel Blog
• Traveling With Your Pets – Dog Friendly and Service Dog Travel
• Corks and Tacos – Turks and Caicos Travel
• Will Travel For Lattes – Coffee and Foodie Travel
• The Autistic Traveler – Autistic and Neurodivergent Travel
• Continent Hop – Cultural Travel Through a POC Lens
• Four Around the World – Family Travel
• Life in Rural France – Southwest France Travel
• World on Wheels – Accessible Travel
• Continuous Roamer – Luxury Adventure Travel
• Alberta Mamas – Alberta, Canada Family Travel
• Sydney to Anywhere – Solo Female Travel in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco
• Take Me To Sweden – Sweden Travel
• The Home That Roams – RV and Boat Travel
• The Stoke Fam – Pacific Northwest Outdoor Travel
• Veganderlust – Vegan Travel
• Jessica Lynn Writes – Military Family Travel
• Mariee Travel – Honeymoon and Luxury Couple Travel
• I Travel Peru – Peru Travel
• Camping Kiddos – Outdoor Family Travel
• Money For Mangos – Liveaboard Sailing Travel
• Inspired By Croatia – Croatia Travel
• This Noshtalgic Life – Camping and Alaska Travel
• 3 Tickets Please – Budget Family Travel
• Japlan Ease – Japan Travel
• Dining Duster – Foodie Midwest Travel
• Sally Sees – Latin America Travel
• Kuala Lumpur With Kids – Kuala Lumpur Family Travel
• Colorful Journeys – Culture and Photography Travel
• Wine Travelista – Wine Travel
• Exit 45 Travel – Nomadic Retired Travel
• Pina Travels – Responsible and Sustainable Tourism
• The Art of Living in Turkey – Turkey Travel
• Lor & Jor Explore – Van Life Travel
• Caballe Family – Catholic Family Travel
• Celiac Travel Pack – Celiac and Gluten Free Travel
• Sas Crossing Countries – Family Road Trip Travel
• The Gypsy Chiring – India Travel
• Gathering Waves – Surf Travel
• Sunset Travellers – Couple Travel
• Germany Things to Do – Germany Travel
• Brissie Life – Brisbane Travel
• Second Dad to the Right – Disney and Disney Cruise Travel
• The End of Everywhere – Career Break Travel
• Glimpses of UAE – United Arab Emirates Travel
• The Cruise Blogger – Cruise Travel
• Histo Travel – Historical Travel
• G Extreme Travel – Colombia Travel
• Nomadasaurus – Travel Photography
• Hannah on Horizon – Affordable Luxury Travel
• Wild Trail Finder – US Hiking Travel
• The Honeymoon Guide – Honeymoon Travel
• My Cruiser Life – Living on a Boat in North America Travel
• Every Steff – Eco Luxury Travel
• Thrive and Wander – Solo Female Travel
• Travel Linger Relax – First Time Female Travel Over 40
• Remote Lifestyle Guide – Remote Work
• Paige Minds the Gap – Southern US Travel
• Nigel and Sue Adventures – Australia Road Trips
• Bridget Gutierrez – Oahu, Hawaii Travel
• Not Another Backpacker – Long Term Backpacking
• Laure Wanders – Cultural Travel
• A Single Woman Traveling – Solo Female Europe Travel
• Extended Getaway – Budget Travel Photography
• Dreams in Heels – Latina Solo Female Travel
• Dabbling in Jet Lag – Living in France
• Salut From Paris – Paris Travel
• California Wonderland – Central California Travel
• Korea Travel Planning – South Korea Travel
• Gotta Love New York – NYC Travel Blog
• Travel Across the Borderline – Hidden Gem Travel
• Home to Havana – Cuba Travel
• Discover Portugal – Portugal Travel
• A Love Letter to Asia – Senior Asia Travel
• Shades of Summr – Slow Travel
• Deyewa – Maryland Family Travel
• Traveling in Focus – US National Park Travel
• Kaylee Janell – Bucket List Travel
• Postcards From G – Postcards
• The Golden Star – Golden, BC News and Travel
• Red Around the World – US Hiking and Road Trips
• The Luxury Japan – Luxury Japan Travel
• Laurens Lighthouse – Outdoor Adventure and Luxury Couple Travel
• Guide Your Travel – Southeast Asia Travel
• Gather and Go Travel – Travel With Teens
• The Abroad Guide – Studying Abroad

How to Select a Blog Niche

Considering starting your own travel blog?

You need a niche!

Why? Because “travel” is about as specific as saying you’re going to “North America”. Um.. Canada? the US? Mexico??

That answer would not fly with my Russian grandma and “travel” won’t fly as a niche with Google – or to start building an audience.

Here are my tips for beginners:

Step 1: brainstorm.

Write a list of the ways you travel and the ways you enjoy to travel. Note places you’ve been.

Think about the places people ask you the most questions about.

For me, this was how I was traveling alone and moving so much. I went with the solo travel side of it at first, but realized it’s too competitive of a niche, so I went with moving abroad after the fact.

Think about the things you know that you didn’t find much research on online when you were learning about it for the first time.

Step 2: Market Research

Just because you have an idea for a niche, doesn’t mean there’s demand for it.

On the other hand, sometimes there is demand, but there’s already plenty of supply to meet it.

We want a niche that is unique, you have personal experience and expertise in, and that gets traffic but isn’t too hard to join in.

Pick your top idea or top 3 ideas from the brainstorming session and look for competitors.

You want to see a few blogs under DA 30 ranking on the first page of Google for some of the terms.

Lower DA’s = lower competition.

Yes, you can build a high DA – I’ve seen someone grow to a DA of 53 on a new domain in under 2 years in the travel niche.

But it’s a LOT of work – and probably money, cause you’ll likely need to outsource some of it.

You should also see that some of those sites are on a premium ad network ( Mediavine or Raptive ) – you can tell this from the logo beside the Mediavine ads and the “Raptive Publisher” in the footer that some of their partner blogs have.

We want to see that there is an audience searching for this (I usually gather keywords too and get at least 100k pageviews worth of keywords I could realistically rank for to check the viability of a niche.

Check this with Keysearch or Ahrefs, or whatever your keyword research tool of choice is.

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You also want to make sure your competitors have missed something .

If you have nothing new to add, there’s no point starting the site. You need to have something unique to add to the conversion in the niche.

I’ve yet to see it where there is truly nothing you could cover that’s new.

Step 3: Be Prepared to Pivot

Steer into the skid if something you didn’t expect takes off.

For my site, it was my 2 living abroad posts driving all of my organic traffic. I changed to that side of my niche and BAM my site blew up and hit 50k sessions in 6 months.

You don’t need to plan for this necessarily. But just know that even the best laid plans can go awry.

So pick a niche, do your best to stick to it, but know that some things can change down the line and it’ll be ok.

Tips for Experienced Bloggers

For my tips for experienced bloggers who need to niche down an existing site, I teach helpful strategies in my 6 Months to 50k Masterclass here.

How to Start a Travel Blog

Looking to start your travel blog?

You’ll need some things.

See the above post for all the details on this. But you’ll also need a blog name that reflects that niche.

Check out my helpful name generator to start sparking some ideas.

2) A Domain Name

I recommend Namesilo – the only registrar I’ve been with who doesn’t change the price every year.

Get $1 off your domain with code “nina”

Blogs live on WordPress, but you need WordPress.org. This is hosted via a blog host (think of it like the address your blog lives on and the WordPress bit is the house with all your stuff parked on it).

Get the best host for your blog! Lyrical Host increased my site speed and fixes all my tech issues. Get 10% off with code “sheknowsseo”

I recommend Kadence (free is all you need).

5) Keyword Research

Keywords will drive your site.

Essentially they’re the terms that users pop into the search bar in Google.

We want to answer those questions. But we need to know how many people search for them, and how hard the competition is at the top.

6) Write Your First Post and Launch!

Don’t second guess things for too long.

Your first posts will suck. It’s just a fact.

Even if they were “perfect” to you today, in a year you’ll be a completely different person and be like “what 4th grader wrote that??”

…no? Just me? Every single year?

Well, it happens to most of us. Don’t be afraid to be mediocre for a bit as you learn. It’ll get easier.

Check out my guide to the number of blog posts you need to launch.

7) Start Building Backlinks

Want to get a DA as high as our top 20 on this list? You need backlinks!

I rounded up over 100 travel blogs accepting guest posts that you can check out here.

How I Did My Analysis

Tools I Used : Moz , Similar Web , Pagespeed Insights , Host Advice , Web Hosting Hero, Accuwebhosting , Hosting Checker , What WP Theme Is That, Satori Studio , Dupli Checker , Whats My DNS , Built With

Thank you for exploring the wonderful world of niche travel blogs with me.

These sites are not necessarily the “best travel blogs ever”. They’re just meant to show the variety of travel types available to us as bloggers.

And they might even inspire your next type of travel! I know some of those beach destination sites have me eyeing Skyscanner.

Choosing your niche can be the hardest part of starting your blog because there’s so much pressure to get it right. But don’t let it hold you back!

If you’re absolutely stuck, try writing a post in each of your niche ideas to see what you enjoy most.

I started She Knows SEO and had never written about SEO before in such a long form. I hated it for a while so I paused writing. Once I felt more confident in my research methods, I found my love for it.

But if I’d taken a minute to pause beforehand I could have saved myself 6 months of hosting costs when the site basically sat empty.

Your homework is to pick a niche for your site. And make it EXPLICIT on your homepage, your about page, and in the posts you write about.

I had to exclude some sites from this list because I just couldn’t figure out what the heck their niche was, or the niche they told me seemed very different from what I saw on the site.

Make it simple for your audience so they can know if you’re the right fit for them.

I’d love to hear some of your favourite niches in  my free Facebook Group, SEO for Travel Bloggers! (please no links as the spam filter blocks them). Have you stumbled across a weird or unique niche site that I didn’t cover? Let’s hear it!

Like this post? Share it with others!

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Nina Clapperton is a multi-6 figure travel blogger and the founder of She Knows SEO. After sharing her stories of living in over 12 countries in 10 years on all platforms and making $0, she learned SEO and scaled her blog to 50k sessions in 6 months. Within 13 months, she was making $30k/mo passively. Now Nina runs a portfolio of niche sites and helps over 3,500 students grow their blogs. She's on a mission to help bloggers achieve financial freedom via passive income from their hobby blogs.

• 30+ Best Travel Blog Examples (2023)

Most people who have a 9-to-5 job usually travel once or twice a year. However, some occasionally end up inspired by one of these trips and decide to embrace traveling as a way of life. Yes, I’m referring to travel bloggers who have often given up safe and profitable jobs to pursue their true passion and earn money by traveling the world.

If you’re reading this and feeling butterflies in your stomach, this is the article for you. You can travel around the planet and get paid for it, but you’ll need a solid blog to get started .

In this article, you’ll be presented with a variety of top-rated travel blog examples that provide compelling travel content, attractive photos, and modern design to attract readers. If you’re ready for your first lesson on how to become a travel blogger , pay attention to the rest of this article.

35 best travel blogs

When you start looking up travel blogs on the internet , you’ll come across hundreds of different websites. That’s why I have attempted to pick 35 of them that are currently active and growing. They are great examples of travel inspiration, guides, tips, and photography.

1. Salt in Our Hair

Follow Hannah and Nick, two creative travel bloggers from the Netherlands, who own and run the Salt in our Hair blog. This award-winning travel blog will get your attention with its fantastic travel stories, guides, and tips, accompanied by spectacular Instagram-friendly photos.

Main topics covered: travel tips, travel guides, lifestyle Built with: WordPress The main source of income: presets, e-book The most popular post: Ultimate 3-Week Route Guide on What to Do in Bali Instagram account: @saltinourhair

2. The Blonde Abroad

Kiki is a beautiful blonde who’s been empowering women to travel solo for many years. Throughout her journey, this blogger has managed to visit over 70 countries and collect material for high-quality blog posts that focus on tips for female solo travelers.

Main topics covered: travel tips, packing guides, photography, lifestyle Built with: WordPress The main source of income: presets, product sales The most popular post: Travel Bucket List for 2021 Instagram account: @theblondeabroad

3. The Travel Book

While this may seem like a travel couple’s simple blog at first, it’s actually much more than that. This blog will teach you how to travel and remain environmentally conscious at the same time. You can expect a lot of eco-friendly advice and travel tips from this travel blog while also learning about some of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Main topics covered: eco-friendly traveling, sustainable lifestyle Built with: WordPress The main source of income: book, e-books, posters The most popular post: Lofoten — Must-See Places Instagram account: @thetravelbook

4. TravelFreak

Jeremy is a travel blogger with an exceptional eye for photography. He’s been traveling for more than a decade now, and his blog is like an art gallery where you will find extraordinary pieces featuring different kinds of scenery from the most diverse places. Check out his website and see for yourself why Forbes, New York Times, and Vanity Fair consider Jeremy worth mentioning.

Main topics covered: travel tips, travel gear, inspiration and mindset, working abroad Built with: WordPress The main source of income: partnerships, advertising, content creation, product reviews, affiliates The most popular post: 17 Best Travel Backpacks for Every Adventure Instagram account: @travelfreak

5. Be My Travel Muse

Kristin is another solo traveler that’s been exploring the planet for more than nine years. Her travel blog is one of the top websites of this genre, attracting more than five million readers per year thanks to her useful money-saving tips and stories about wild adventures.

Main topics covered: travel adventures, money-saving tips Built with: WordPress The main source of income: books, courses, tours, clothing design The most popular post: The Cheapest Travel Destinations in the World in 2021 Instagram account: @bemytravelmuse

6. Adventurous Kate

According to Kate, every woman can travel the world on her own after completing thorough research about a place. Still, in order to help you skip the daunting task of investigating a destination for hours, Kate has prepared a variety of guides that’ll make your female solo trip to almost any country in the world as easy as ABC.

Main topics covered: travel guides, travel inspiration Built with: WordPress The main source of income: advertising, campaigns, affiliates The most popular post: Backpacking Southeast Asia vs. Backpacking Central America Instagram account: @adventurouskate

7. Nomadic Matt

If you want to find out how to travel the world on $50 a day, then Nomadic Matt’s blog is the first page you should check out. This New York Times best-selling author has helped millions of people travel on a budget and visit far-away places for as little cash as possible. Make sure to check out his website, as you’ll definitely benefit from reading his numerous travel tips and tricks.

Main topics covered: travel on a budget, planning and packing guides Built with: WordPress The main source of income: books, e-books, destination guidebooks The most popular post: The Ultimate Guide to Travelling When You Have No Money Instagram account: @nomadicmatt

8. Camels & Chocolate

Kristin Luna loves taking photos, trying delicious food, and doing both of these worldwide. As a true journalist, she tells her readers all about her travel adventures in her blog posts, along with stories about her hometown. At the same time, she touches upon details about becoming a freelancer and other useful things.

Main topics covered: travel, family, animals Built with: WordPress The main source of income: partnerships, consulting, marketing, editorial content The most popular post: Mingling Mermaids: Diving Into Grenada’s Culture Instagram account: @lunaticatlarge

9. A Broken Backpack

If you don’t mind cutting down on a luxurious lifestyle in order to spend more time in an exotic country, make sure to take a peek into this broken backpack. The stories come from a woman who started her own travel adventures with a pile of student debt and learned how to save and earn money along the way in order to make her travel dreams come true. She shares these lessons with the world on this amazing blog.

Main topics covered: expat life, travel tips Built with: WordPress The main source of income: affiliate marketing, content creating, advertising The most popular post: Most Scenic Drives in Vermont Instagram account: @abrokenbackpack

10. Getting Stamped

The couple behind this blog doesn’t simply want to brag about all those countries where they have gotten stamped. Quite the opposite! These two have been trying to add meaning to each of the destinations they have visited and inspire their readers to travel more. Believe me — you’ll definitely get motivated to travel after you see their captivating photos and videos.

Main topics covered: travel tips, honeymoon guides, photography Built with: WordPress The main source of income: collaborations, affiliate marketing The most popular post: Top 12 Caribbean Islands for Beach Lovers Instagram account: @gettingstamped

11. Spirited Pursuit

If you’re particular about your next travel destination, and it has to be in Africa, you must take a look at the stories coming from this lovely lady. She believes that Africans should be the ones representing this beautiful continent and promoting its best qualities to the rest of the world, which is exactly what she has been doing in her travel and lifestyle stories.

Main topics covered: travel stories, retreats, lifestyle Built with: WordPress The main source of income: e-books, collaborations, partnerships The most popular post: 10+ Tips for Visiting African Countries Instagram account: @spiritedpursuit

12. SilverSpoon London

Here is something for those of you who are interested in both travel and luxury. SilverSpoon London is a blog that has won many awards, such as the No. 4 UK Luxury Travel Blog by Vuelio in 2019 and the Best Luxury Travel Bloggers by Teletext Holidays. This speaks volumes about the kind of content you’ll find on this page.

Main topics covered: luxury travel and lifestyle, traveling with a baby Built with: WordPress The main source of income: collaborations, photography The most popular post: The Eight Most Romantic Places in Italy Instagram account: @angiesilverspoon

13. Limitless Secrets

Ophélie is a beautiful and avid traveler, food connoisseur, and photographer living in Paris. On her blog you can discover the best sights to see and restaurants to visit both in Paris and around the world. Learn where you can get the best meals, take the most Instagram-friendly photos, and much more.

Main topics covered: Travel, photography, food Built with: WordPress The main source of income: Photography, collaboration, product or service promotions The most popular post: Best Instagram Spots in Chicago Instagram account: @limitlesssecrets

14. Goats on the Road

Even though this blog won’t actually tell you stories about goats, this couple from Canada considers this name ideal for a team of two wanderers, since goats clearly display this characteristic as well. Their travel blog is filled with great content available in both text and video format, and it’s user-friendly, so that you can easily find what you’re looking for.

Main topics covered: traveling, business, and money-making tips Built with: WordPress The main source of income: online business courses The most popular post: Ten High-Paying Online Jobs to Earn $3,000+ Per Month Instagram account: @goatsontheroad

15. The World Travel Guide

David’s travel blog is one of those sites that can be easily understood by backpackers, millennials, solo travelers, couples… basically, anybody who wants to travel the world without spending a fortune. All of the images and videos on his blog are unique, and his readers can enjoy some breathtaking drone photos that can’t be found anywhere else.

Main topics covered: travel stories, photos, and videos Built with: WordPress The main source of income: partnerships, photography The most popular post: Cappadocia Turkey: Travel Guide, Map, Tours, & Best Cave Hotels Instagram account: @theworldtravelguy

16. Two Monkeys Travel

Kach and her husband met on the road during a backpacking trip to Laos. The moment they saw each other, they recognized a mutual burning desire to describe their travel experiences on a blog. Together, they have visited more than 80 countries, while Kach has managed to personally experience a total of 143 countries.

Main topics covered: travel stories, itineraries, staycation, lifestyle Built with: WordPress The main source of income: online business courses The most popular post: What to Look For in a Great Travel App [Travel App Tips] Instagram account: @2monkeystravel

17. The Barefoot Nomad

What started out as a couple has now turned into a family of four. Their combined love of traveling and technology has made all of their stories available online. If you want to see the world while living a fulfilling family life, make sure to follow their example.

Main topics covered: travel, tech, family Built with: WordPress The main source of income: advertising, promotions, product reviews The most popular post: The Best Small Travel Gifts Instagram account: @thebarefootnomad

18. One Girl One World

Are you the kind of person who doesn’t want to miss out on taking care of their skin and hair while traveling? If the answer is yes, you’ll be happy to know that there’s finally a girl who can help you with all of it. Find advice not only about traveling but also on maintaining a good skincare and haircare routine while on the road.

Main topics covered: travel stories, skincare, haircare Built with: WordPress The main source of income: e-books, one-on-one coaching The most popular post: Your Ultimate Guide to Instagram Reels Instagram account: @onegrloneworld

19. Backpacking Matt

Apart from being a traveler and Instagrammer, Matt is also a travel planner living in New Zealand who can map out your next trip to this distant country. Read his backpacking advice, contact him for trip organization, and don’t forget to pick up some tips about running an amazing travel blog.

Main topics covered: travel planning, adventures, lifestyle Built with: WordPress The main source of income: travel planning and booking website  The most popular post: Do’s and Don’ts in Italy Instagram account: @backpackingmatt

20. PlacesofJuma

PlacesofJuma is a famous travel blog in Europe. The Austrian travel bloggers Jürgen and Martina launched PlacesofJuma in 2017 and their blog is with a focus on adventure, travel photography and how to organize perfect round trips. By 2021, they had published more than 600 articles about their travels around the world, where readers can learn more about the best places to visit and get useful tips and tricks about traveling.

Main topics covered: travel tips, how to organize your trip, best hotels, travel photography Built with: WordPress The main source of income: affiliate links The most popular post: 15 Best Places to Visit in Tuscany, Italy! Instagram account: @placesofjuma

21. Wandering Earl

A blog that’s been active for more than two decades definitely represents a good example of how things are done in this niche. Wandering Earl has helped many people make their travel dreams come true by building a platform that offers practical and easily applicable travel tips.

Main topics covered: travel tips and advice, travel costs, travel guides Built with: WordPress The main source of income: affiliate marketing, e-books, online projects The most popular post: Why I Travel So Much? Instagram account: @wanderingearl

22. Dan Flying Solo

By spending 1467 days on the road, this simple guy once working as a restaurant manager has transformed himself into a popular travel blogger. Dan has seen the world, and he wants people to see it too, which is why his blog is an ideal place for anyone in need of inspiration.

Main topics covered: travel, photography Built with: WordPress The main source of income: partnerships, advertising, photography The most popular post: Unique Honeymoon Ideas: Ten Alternative Romantic Escapes Instagram account: @danflyingsolo

23. The Poor Traveler

Although these guys didn’t have a lot of money when they started their travel blog, the word “poor” in this context is used as a synonym for “unfortunate or unlucky” rather than “penniless.” They claim to have made some poor decisions on their travel journeys, but they have used these mistakes to develop a travel blog that everybody wants to read.

Main topics covered: travel guides and itineraries, visa guides Built with: WordPress The main source of income: advertising The most popular post: CENTRAL JAPAN: 25 Best Things to Do & Places to Visit Instagram account: @thepoortraveler

24. Let’s Be Merry

Being constantly on the road may seem fun and exciting, but it can often be tiring too. Your energy can be easily drained by all of those sleepless nights at airports, unhealthy fast food, and other tiny but significant things. However, if you read Merry’s travel blog, you can get some wellness tips that can help you maintain your health and fitness while on the go.

Main topics covered: travel, wellness, lifestyle Built with: WordPress The main source of income: commissionable links The most popular post: Dreaming of Travel? Consider These 6 Travel Trends for 2021 Instagram account: @lets_be_merry

25. Traveltomtom

Remember how I’ve mentioned people who start their career as travel blogger because of a single trip? Well, Tom is one of those people who is continuously traveling since 2012. No home base, not spending more than one week in a place. And that is a good enough reason to check out both his blog and Instagram account, and maybe become inspired to follow his lead.

Main topics covered: detailed destination guides, planning tips, budget traveling ideas Built with: Joomla! The main source of income: advertising, affiliate marketing, guided tours The most popular post: 13 Off The Beaten Path Destinations in Europe for 2021 Instagram account: @traveltomtom

26. Expert Vagabond

Expert Vagabond has been writing his travel diary for over a decade now. He has been recognized by the Travel Channel, Lonely Planet, Nat Geo, and other renowned names from the travel industry. His blog, which is a great example of an all-inclusive travel platform, contains content for both families and solo travelers.

Main topics covered: travel, backpacking, photography Built with: WordPress The main source of income: affiliate and influencer marketing, travel photography, advertising The most popular post: 50 Best Travel Tips After 10 Years Traveling The World Instagram account: @expertvagabond

27. Time Travel Turtle

Time Travel Turtle will inspire you to check out not only the world’s top classic tourist destinations but also the protected UNESCO World Heritage Sites that aren’t easily accessible. Get access to ancient temples and cave arts, old factories, and much more incredible content by visiting this unique travel blog.

Main topics covered: UNESCO World Heritage Sites Built with: WordPress The main source of income: sponsorships, affiliate marketing, content creating The most popular post: Is Cambodia Safe for Travellers? Instagram account: @michaelturtle

28. A Dangerous Business Travel Blog

You don’t necessarily have to quit your job to become a travel blogger. On her blog, Amanda will show you how to make the most out of your current lifestyle and adapt it to your travel desires.

Main topics covered: solo-female travels, cost-effective travel inspiration Built with: WordPress The main source of income: advertising and affiliates The most popular post: Why I’m Not Afraid to Travel Alone Instagram account: @dangerousbiz

29. Indie Traveller

This is a travel blog that features an organized layout and simple design so that readers can focus completely on the content. You’ll find great travel tips on this website, so make sure to browse through it carefully.

Main topics covered: travel tips, budgeting, accommodation Built with: WordPress The main source of income: book, advertising, affiliate The most popular post: 9 Underrated Destinations You Must Have on Your Travel List Instagram account: @indietravlr

30. TheBohoChica

Read stories from a woman who lives in Dubai but has a passion for Arctic landscapes and the countryside. If this sounds like your kind of content, make sure not to miss this chica’s travel reports.

Main topics covered: travel stories, culture, hiking, cuisine Built with: WordPress The main source of income: print sales, advertising, affiliates, books The most popular post: Where to Stay in Dubai: Insider Guide to Dubai Accommodation (By A Local) Instagram account: @thebohochica

31. Of Whiskey and Words

Yes, this guy also quit his job to travel the world, but though he still travels frequently he doesn’t do it full time like others on this list. All of these travel experiences helped him to realize what’s important in life: finding your purpose and achieving balance in your life. If this combo is what interests you too, feel free to glance at this travel blog.

Main topics covered: travel tips, location guides, packing advice, whiskey recommendations Built with: WordPress The main source of income: affiliate marketing, travel agency, and trip planning service The most popular post: How to Start a Travel Blog Instagram account: @ofwhiskeyandwords

32. Travel Hacking Mom

If you still haven’t heard of travel hacking, make sure that you devote some of your time to this mom’s blog. Here, you can learn all about it thanks to her straightforward and engaging content.

Main topics covered: free travel using credit card points Built with: WordPress The main source of income: partnerships The most popular post: How to Travel for Free Instagram account: @travelhackingmom

33. Luggage and Lipstick

All of you Baby Boomers out there will relate to this Boomer Blond. Perhaps you’ll even get motivated to finally plan that trip to your dream destination. Remember, age means nothing, as long as there’s a will to explore this lovely planet.

Main topics covered: outdoor adventure, beaches, solo travel, and unique experiences Built with: WordPress The main source of income: book, affiliate marketing The most popular post: 13 Jaw-Dropping Places to Visit Once in a Lifetime Instagram account: @luggageandlipstick

34. A Couple for the Road

Lovers of music, history, art, and cuisine who want to travel the world while also keeping their current jobs can discover the exact way to do it on this travel blog. If this courageous couple can do it, so can you!

Main topics covered: travel tips and guides, food Built with: WordPress The main source of income: product sales The most popular post: Five Best Day Trips from Berlin Instagram account: @acouplefortheroad

35. World of Wanderlust

Even with the recent traveling restrictions, this blog has been kept alive and it has continued inspiring women to travel on their own. Read their expert tips about solo trips and get ready for your next big adventure.

Main topics covered: travel, lifestyle, entrepreneurship, health and wellbeing Built with: WordPress The main source of income: travel courses The most popular post: 20 Best Places for Solo Female Travelers Instagram account: @worldwonderlust

As you can see, great travel blogs are everywhere around you, and they provide numerous tips and tricks on becoming a travel blogger yourself. If you’re confident that traveling the world is your calling, take a good look at the examples from this article, pick out the best parts from each travel blog, and start writing about your latest trip.

The first step is the hardest, but once you get going, it will become easier day by day.

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Perspectives

4 Key Ways Data Can Elevate Customer Experience in Travel

10 may 2024, kashyap mansata, director – research and analysis, travel and leisure.

• Amid the ongoing digital transformation of the travel and hospitality industry , data has become the catalyst for groundbreaking advances in customer experience.
• Meeting customer expectations through data and technology integration requires organizational alignment and a dedication to customer-centricity with both artificial intelligence and humans in the loop.
• This blog examines crucial drivers of this dynamic landscape, encompassing social media influence, innovative customer loyalty programs and big data opportunities to re-define customer experience.

As digital transformation propels the travel and hospitality industry , data emerges as the cornerstone driving innovation, fueling remarkable advancements in Customer Experience (CX). For airlines , hospitality companies , Travel Management Companies (TMCs) and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) aiming to craft personalized, immersive journeys, it is crucial to grasp the transformative factors shaping this sector. This blog explores four pivotal CX drivers of the digital age while confronting the diverse challenges and opportunities in harnessing data to re-define CX.

Navigating Social Media Influence

The ubiquitous presence of social media has fostered a hyper-connected global community. A great swathe of the customer base now engages actively across multiple platforms, magnifying the impact of voices and experiences. This abundance of data has placed the travel industry on the brink of a virtual disruption, with McKinsey projecting that the metaverse holds a ~USD 20 Billion potential in delivering immersive extended reality experiences by 2030 for this sector.

In the real world, organizations must leverage global best practices to navigate social media landscapes effectively, harnessing their potential for customer engagement and brand promotion. A gateway to connect with diverse customer segments, it can prove a cost-effective means for expanding brand reach and amplifying marketing efforts, driving significant impact with minimal investment.

By tapping into social media and influencer networks, organizations can glean valuable market insights, discern evolving trends and preferences, test new product / service ideas and refine pricing strategies in real-time. Through in-depth analysis of data collected from social media listening, businesses can derive valuable insights into customer preferences, behaviors and expectations. This wealth of information enables organizations to streamline processes, create personalized offers and provide relevant recommendations across all channels.

Embracing Customer-centricity

Market dynamics have compelled travel and hospitality players to be more responsive to changing environments and prioritize customer-centric approaches. For instance, understanding the distinct priorities and spending patterns of a leisure traveler versus a business traveler enables companies to offer bespoke recommendations, ensuring delighted and loyal customers .

Drawing on inspiration from companies like Amazon and Netflix, airlines, hotels, OTCs and TMAs now aim to deliver personalized experiences and offer relevant ancillary services to increase wallet share. When a customer books a ticket to Hong Kong, there might be an opportunity to offer additional services – such as a great Disney package, a car rental or a hotel stay – or upgrades like premium economy seating and excess baggage options. This strategic upselling can occur at different stages of the customer journey and can significantly impact outcomes if executed effectively.

In practice, pursuing digital efficiency can erode the personal touch, alienating customers and undermining brand loyalty. In 2020, 25 percent of customer interactions were automated through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). The number has since risen to 40 percent and continues to grow.

A seamless and consistent customer journey, from pre-purchase to post-purchase interactions, is critical for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Yet, common pain points often plague the customer experience, such as complex navigation on websites / apps, fragmented omni-channel experiences and impersonal digital interactions. The proliferation of multiple customer touchpoints, back-end disparities and silos, and a focus on solving issues at isolated touchpoints obscure the broader customer journey, limiting insights into holistic CX.

Cultivating a culture centered on CX excellence demands organizational alignment and a concerted effort to drive efficiencies. Adopting a hybrid and flexible human-digital model that assesses individual touchpoints and the broader customer journey will enable organizations to integrate platforms for a 360-degree view of the customer. By leveraging data across the entire customer journey, organizations can identify and address consumers’ pain points effectively.

Navigating the Loyalty Maze

Pursuing customer loyalty presents a multi-faceted challenge, necessitating innovative approaches to engagement. Generic offerings have long ceased to resonate with discerning customers. In fact, a lack of experiential offerings undermines customer engagement and loyalty. However, the proliferation of options has exacerbated customer indecision, challenging organizations to stand out amid competition.

Every customer interaction provides a treasure trove of valuable insights that can be harnessed to enhance both customer service and the overall product / service offering. Analyzing data from customer transactions allows teams to better understand customer emotions and preferences , enabling them to deliver empathetic and personalized interactions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hotels experienced a significant decline in revenue. However, some innovated by harnessing rich datasets to develop new product offerings in Food and Beverage (F&B), thereby generating cash flows and staying connected with their customers.

The right use of analytical models can generate significant revenues at reduced costs while opening up new markets to expand a firm’s loyalty base. The concept of staycations, although not novel, has gained traction, fueled by the use of data and advanced analytics to provide tailored experiences for guests seeking weekend relaxation with indulgent spa treatments and F&B options. This trend also allows hotel chains to grow their customer pool, particularly targeting the burgeoning middle class for loyalty potential.

Groundbreaking technologies such as Generative AI-powered solutions are making great strides in streamlining customer service interactions. Meanwhile, digitally powered centers of excellence provide round-the-clock support across all touchpoints . Continuous data collection and analysis are essential for driving ongoing improvements in customer service quality.

Fostering loyalty demands a journey-centric approach: By delivering superior value across the entire customer journey, organizations can nurture lasting relationships built on trust and satisfaction. Loyalty also transcends mere programmatic initiatives, necessitating a cultural shift toward customer-centricity and value creation.

Harnessing the Data and Technological Revolution

Many travel companies still rely on legacy infrastructure, which can hinder analytics, agility and innovation. This, often siloed, setup includes the traditional Central Reservation System (CRS), Revenue Management (RM) and planning systems for airlines, and the Property Management Systems (PMS) used by hotels. Despite containing vast amounts of valuable information – including booking details, purchasing behavior, and customer demographics and preferences – the databases remain underutilized owing to the overall fragmented framework in which they sit.

The exponential growth of data means organizations need an infusion of modular technology and tech-savvy talent for swift yet cost-effective digital transformation . This is crucial to transition from legacy systems and ensure seamless integration of data sources for meaningful insights.

Shifting to data-driven decision-making demands organizational buy-in and cultural transformation. This is necessary to deploy:

• Big Data Infrastructure : Investing in robust IT infrastructure enables organizations to harness the power of big data effectively
• Analytics : Leveraging data science techniques empowers organizations to extract actionable insights through descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics to forecast demand, anticipate customer needs and adjust pricing and offerings
• AI / ML Integration : AI and ML models unlock a myriad of opportunities, from personalizing offerings to enhancing customer segmentation and recommendation systems
• and Cultural Change : Equipping employees with data literacy skills and fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making ensures alignment with the enterprise’s CX objectives

Embracing Data for CX Excellence

In the digital age, data will prove the life force of CX excellence in travel and hospitality. By harnessing the power of data across the customer journey, organizations can unlock unparalleled insights, drive personalized experiences and foster enduring customer loyalty.

However, achieving CX excellence necessitates a concerted effort underpinned by organizational culture, strategic alignment and a relentless commitment to customer-centricity. As travel companies set out on this transformative journey, the integration of data and technology stands as the linchpin of success, guiding them toward a future where CX reigns supreme and customer satisfaction knows no bounds.

Click here to explore how your organization can cultivate a culture of CX excellence by infusing technology into CX initiatives, driving value for both customers and stakeholders.

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Money latest: Chocolate is a superfood - if you buy these bars

Read all today's personal finance and consumer news below - and leave a comment on any of the stories we're covering.

Saturday 11 May 2024 07:04, UK

• UK exits recession, official figures show
• Ed Conway:  Three reasons to be gleeful about the ONS figures
• Interest rate held at 5.25% | Bank of England: June rate cut 'not ruled out but not fait accompli'

Essential reads

• Chocolate is a superfood - if you buy these bars
• How to avoid a holiday data roaming charge (while still using the internet)
• Mortgage rates up again this week - here are the best deals on the market
• PG Tips enlists stars in big-budget ad after falling behind competitors - but poll shows Britons prefer rival
• My daughter discovered undeclared £600 management fee after buying her flat - can we complain?
• Best of the Money blog - an archive

Ask a question or make a comment

The Money blog is your place for consumer news, economic analysis and everything you need to know about the cost of living - bookmark news.sky.com/money .

It runs with live updates every weekday - while on Saturdays we scale back and offer you a selection of weekend reads.

Check them out this morning and we'll be back on Monday with rolling news and features.

The Money team is Emily Mee, Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young and Ollie Cooper, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

If you've missed any of the features we've been running in Money this year, or want to check back on something you've previously seen in the blog, this archive of our most popular articles may help...

Loaves of bread have been recalled from shelves in Japan after they were found to contain the remains of a rat.

Production of the bread in Tokyo has been halted after parts of a "small animal" were found by at least two people.

Pasco Shikishima Corp, which produces the bread, said 104,000 packages have been recalled as it apologised and promised compensation.

A company representative told Sky News's US partner network, NBC News, that a "small black rat" was found in the bread. No customers were reported to have fallen ill as a result of ingesting the contaminated bread.

"We deeply apologise for the serious inconvenience and trouble this has caused to our customers, suppliers, and other concerned parties," the spokesman said.

Pasco added in a separate statement that "we will do our utmost to strengthen our quality controls so that this will never happen again. We ask for your understanding and your co-operation."

Japanese media reports said at least two people who bought the bread in the Gunma prefecture, north-west of Tokyo, complained to the company about finding a rodent in the bread.

Record levels of shoplifting appear to be declining as fewer shopkeepers reported thefts last year, new figures show. 

A survey by the Office for National Statistics shows 26% of retailers experienced customer theft in 2023, down from a record high of 28% in 2022.

This comes despite a number of reports suggesting shoplifting is becoming more frequent. 

A  separate ONS finding , which used police crime data, showed reports of shoplifting were at their highest level in 20 years in 2023, with law enforcements logging 430,000 instances of the crime.

Let's get you up to speed on the biggest business news of the past 24 hours. 

A privately owned used-car platform is circling Cazoo Group, its stricken US-listed rival, which is on the brink of administration.

Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk is a leading contender to acquire Cazoo's marketplace operation, which would include its brand and intellectual property assets.

The process to auction the used-car platform's constituent parts comes after it spent tens of millions of pounds on sponsorship deals in football, snooker and darts in a rapid attempt to gain market share.

The owner of British Airways has reported a sharp rise in profits amid soaring demand for trips and a fall in the cost of fuel.

International Airlines Group said its operating profit for the first three months of the year was €68m (£58.5m) - above expectations and up from €9m (£7.7m) during the same period in 2023.

The company, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said earnings had soared thanks to strong demand, particularly over the Easter holidays.

The prospect of a strike across Tata Steel's UK operations has gained further traction after a key union secured support for industrial action.

Community, which has more than 3,000 members, said 85% voted in favour of fighting the India-owned company's plans for up to 2,800 job losses, the majority of them at the country's biggest steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Tata confirmed last month it was to press ahead with the closure of the blast furnaces at the plant, replacing them with electric arc furnaces to reduce emissions and costs.

In doing so, the company rejected an alternative plan put forward by the Community, GMB and Unite unions that, they said, would raise productivity and protect jobs across the supply chain.

Rishi Sunak has told Sky News that the UK exiting recession shows the economy has "turned a corner". 

He told our economics editor Ed Conway : "I am pleased that while there's more work to do, today's figures show that the economy now has real momentum, and I'm confident that with time, people will start to feel the benefits of that.

"We've had multiple months now where wages are rising, energy bills have fallen, mortgage rates are down and taxes are being cut... I'm pleased with the progress that we're making."

Mr Sunak added: "I am confident the economy is getting healthier every week."

Lidl will increase staff wages for the third time in 12 months, the supermarket has announced. 

Shop workers in London will get £13.65, up from £13.55, while staff elsewhere will get a rise from a minimum £12 to £12.40 - at a cost of £2.5m to Lidl.

The supermarket invested £37m in pay increases in March, on top of £8m in September - a total of more than £50m in the past 12 months. 

The increase comes into effect from 1 June. 

Lidl GB chief executive Ryan McDonnell said: "As we continue to expand, we are welcoming more customers and attracting more colleagues into the business every day.

"It's absolutely right, therefore, that we continue to offer industry-leading pay."

Tech giant Apple has apologised after an advert for its new iPad model prompted outrage.  

The ad promoting the thinnest-ever iPad shows creative tools including cameras, books, paint cans and musical instruments being crushed in an industrial press.

But many, including celebrities like Hugh Grant, decried the crushing of artistic objects.

In a statement released to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing communications, said: "Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world.

"Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry."

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

The FTSE 100 has been propelled to another record high this morning after official figures showed that the UK is now out of recession.

The index, of the London Stock Exchange's 100 most valuable companies, is up more than 0.5% and hit an intraday (during the day) high of 8,433 points earlier.

The score is based on a calculation of the total value of the shares on the index.

It comes after officials revealed that gross domestic product (GDP) in the UK grew by a better-than-expected 0.6% during the first three months of the year. 

However, commentators said investors had been buoyed more by the rising cost of metals, along with suggestions from the Bank of England yesterday that interest rates could be cut soon . 

Russ Mould, from investment platform AJ Bell, said: "Given its international horizons, this has little to do with the UK's better-than-expected GDP growth and is largely being driven by strength in the resources space where higher metals prices and the promise of M&A [mergers and acquisitions] are helping to stoke share prices.

"The next key test of the index's new-found vim and vigour will likely come next week in the form of US inflation figures. Investors have broadly accepted rate cuts won't be as deep or come as soon as would have been anticipated at the start of the year. However, any signs inflation is proving much more stubborn than predicted would still represent a shock to the system for financial markets."

Among the movers on Friday is UK-based mining firm Anglo American. 

Its shares are up almost 2% after reports that industry giant Rio Tinto has been considering a multibillion-pound takeover of the firm. It comes after Anglo American rejected a bid from rival BHP.  

Meanwhile, shares in Vodafone are up more than 2% after the government conditionally approved its plans to merge with fellow mobile operator Three. However, an investigation into the deal by the UK's competition watchdog is still ongoing, meaning it’s not a done deal yet. 

On the flip side, property listings website Rightmove is down nearly 6% this morning. It comes after the company cut its advertising revenue growth estimates in a trading update.

Rightmove said higher mortgage rates and lengthier completion times for sales were likely to weigh on buyer sentiment in the coming months, but it also forecast a better year for the UK residential market as a whole.

On the currency markets, £1 buys $1.25 US or €1.16.

Sainsbury's is running a scheme that allows some shoppers to earn easy Nectar card points. 

To earn extra points, shoppers just need to spend £1 across multiple transactions at Sainsbury's this month. 

The supermarket says the scheme is available to "millions" of customers, though all it would say about the eligibility criteria is that it's "based on a range of factors".

Check if you're eligible

Log into your nectar card app and check to see if you have this message...   

Make sure you opt in once you see the message. 

From there, you simply need to spend £1 or more five times - earning extra points each time. 

The number of bonus points on offer varies for each customer.

The offer runs until 4 June. 

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Optimizing Travel Connectivity: Unveiling the Power of eSIMs Through Data Analysis

Travel is always changing. Connectivity is now crucial for our journeys. Whether for business or leisure, staying connected is no longer a luxury but a necessity. However, traditional SIM cards have often posed challenges. They have had compatibility issues across countries, as well as the hassle of getting new numbers and plans at each stop.

Enter eSIMs, a revolutionary technology that promises to transform the way we stay connected while on the move. By leveraging data analysis, eSIMs offer a seamless and optimized travel experience, breaking down barriers and unlocking a world of possibilities for travelers. Lets read more about optimizing travel connectivity.

The eSIM Revolution

Table of Contents

To truly harness the power of eSIM technology, especially for those in North America, looking towards options like eSIM Canada becomes essential. These providers have recognized the importance of not just facilitating smoother travel experiences but also unlocking the potential of data analysis. With their advanced networks, they are at the forefront of collecting and interpreting vast amounts of data, enabling not just a transformation in how we connect globally but also in how connectivity services can be refined and improved for users everywhere. This symbiotic relationship between eSIM technology and data analytics paves the way for a future where mobile connectivity is more intuitive, reliable, and tailored to individual needs. 

The Power of Data Analysis

While eSIMs undoubtedly offer numerous benefits for travelers, their true potential lies in the ability to leverage data analysis. By collecting and analyzing data from various sources, such as user behavior, network performance, and travel patterns, eSIM providers can gain valuable insights to optimize their offerings and enhance the overall travel connectivity experience.

Data-Driven Optimizing Travel Connectivity

Network performance analysis.

By analyzing network performance data across different regions and carriers, eSIM providers can identify the optimal network partners offering the best connectivity solutions for specific travel destinations. This includes monitoring metrics like network speeds, latency, and signal strength to ensure users are always connected to the highest-performing network available.

User Behavior Insights

Studying user behavior patterns, such as peak usage times, data consumption habits, and preferred applications, allows eSIM providers to tailor their data plans and offerings to better align with individual user needs. This personalized approach ensures a cost-effective and optimized experience for each user.

Travel Pattern Analysis

Tracking travel patterns and popular destinations among their user base enables eSIM providers to proactively establish partnerships with local carriers and negotiate favorable data plans. This ensures seamless connectivity for customers as soon as they arrive at their travel destinations.

Real-Time Network Monitoring

By leveraging real-time network monitoring tools, eSIM providers can quickly identify and address connectivity issues. They can reroute users to alternative networks or implement performance optimizations, ensuring uninterrupted service.

Predictive Analytics

Applying predictive analytics techniques to historical data allows eSIM providers to anticipate future trends, user demands, and potential connectivity challenges. This enables them to stay ahead of the curve and continuously refine their offerings for an optimal experience.

The Benefits of eSIMs for Travelers

Connectivity without borders.

With eSIMs, travelers can bid farewell to the frustrations of roaming fees and the constant search for local SIM card providers. By simply switching to a local eSIM data plan, users can enjoy high-speed internet access and make calls at local rates, regardless of their destination.

Streamlined Experience

No more juggling multiple SIM cards or dealing with the hassle of physically swapping them out. eSIMs allow users to switch between different mobile networks and data plans with just a few taps, ensuring a seamless and uninterrupted connectivity experience.

Cost-Effective Roaming

Traditional roaming fees can quickly add up, especially for frequent travelers or those on extended trips. eSIMs offer a cost-effective solution by providing access to local data plans and rates, potentially saving users a significant amount of money.

Increased Security

With eSIMs, sensitive information like phone numbers and network settings are securely stored within the device, reducing the risk of physical theft or loss of traditional SIM cards.

The Future of Travel Connectivity

As the adoption of eSIMs continues to grow, the possibilities for optimized travel connectivity are endless. Imagine a world where your device switches to the best network and data plan as soon as you step off the plane. It does this without any need for manual intervention. Imagine smooth video calls with loved ones. You have uninterrupted access to work emails. And easy navigation through new cities. A reliable and optimized eSIM solution powers all of this.

eSIMs will also integrate with other new technologies, including 5G networks and the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies promise to improve the travel experience. Imagine your luggage being tracked in real time. Your hotel room adjusts to your preferred settings as you approach. Your rental car seamlessly integrates with your digital devices. This is all enabled by eSIMs and connected devices.

Also Read: Top 100 Data Science Project Ideas For Final Year

In travel connectivity, eSIMs are poised to revolutionize how we stay connected on the go. By using data analysis, eSIM providers can optimize their offerings. They can use it to give travelers a seamless, low-cost, and highly personalized connectivity experience. Technology continues to evolve, and the future of travel will be more connected, efficient, and tailored to individuals than ever before. Join the eSIM revolution. It unlocks a world of endless connectivity. Data makes every journey better.

FAQ’s

What is an esim.

An eSIM, or embedded SIM, is a revolutionary technology that allows you to switch between mobile networks and data plans without physically swapping SIM cards. It’s a digital SIM embedded directly into your device, providing you with unparalleled flexibility and connectivity.

How does an eSIM benefit travelers?

eSIMs eliminate the need for carrying multiple SIM cards or dealing with the hassle of acquiring local SIM cards at every destination. With just a few taps, you can switch to a local data plan and enjoy high-speed internet access, making calls at local rates, and staying connected without borders.

Is it expensive to use eSIMs while traveling?

On the contrary, eSIMs can be a cost-effective solution for travelers. By providing access to local data plans and rates, eSIMs can potentially save you significant amounts of money compared to traditional roaming fees.

Are eSIMs secure?

Yes, eSIMs offer enhanced security compared to traditional SIM cards. Since sensitive information like phone numbers and network settings are securely stored within your device, the risk of physical theft or loss is greatly reduced.

Key Takeaways

• eSIMs offer seamless connectivity across borders, eliminating the need for traditional SIM card swapping.
• By leveraging data analysis, eSIM providers can optimize network performance, tailor data plans, and anticipate user needs.
• eSIMs provide cost-effective roaming solutions, potentially saving travelers significant amounts of money.
• Enhanced security features protect sensitive information and reduce the risk of physical theft or loss.
• The future of travel connectivity lies in the integration of eSIMs with emerging technologies like 5G and IoT.
• Embracing the eSIM revolution unlocks a world of boundless connectivity and enriched travel experiences.

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