How to Score Press Trips: What Tourism Boards and PRs Actually Want From You
If you’ve ever wondered how some travel bloggers and writers seem to travel constantly — staying at four-star hotels, attending exclusive media dinners, exploring destinations on someone else’s dime — the answer is press trips. And if you’ve wondered why the same seems out of reach for you, the answer is almost always the same: they’re not pitching correctly, or they’re pitching too early.
I’ve been on both sides of this equation. As a travel PR professional for a decade, I managed press trips. I decided who got invited. I vetted media kits and evaluated pitches. I know exactly what makes a publicist or tourism board say yes — and what makes them quietly pass.
Here’s the honest version of how it works.
What Is a Press Trip, and How Is It Different from a FAM Trip?
Press trips (sometimes called media trips or hosted trips) are travel experiences hosted by a tourism board, hotel, resort, destination marketing organization (DMO), cruise line, or travel brand. The host covers your travel expenses — usually including airfare, accommodations, meals, and activities — in exchange for coverage.
FAM trips (short for familiarization trips) are similar but often larger-scale group experiences, originally designed to introduce travel agents to a destination. Many now include bloggers and social media creators alongside traditional travel media.
Both are legitimate opportunities. The mechanics differ slightly, but the way you earn a seat at the table is essentially the same.
The Honest Prerequisites: When You’re Ready for Press Trips
The number one mistake aspiring travel bloggers make is pitching for press trips before they’re ready. Pitching too early doesn’t just result in a no — it puts your name in a PR’s mental file under “not yet,” and you’ll have to work harder to change that impression later.
You’re generally ready to pursue press trips when you have:
An established platform. This doesn’t have to mean massive traffic, but it does mean a real, active presence — a blog with consistent content, engaged social channels, and ideally a growing email list. Quality of audience engagement matters more than raw numbers than it used to.
A clear niche. “Travel” is not a niche. “Luxury travel for women over 50” is. “Budget travel in Southeast Asia” is. “Food-forward travel in Europe” is. PR professionals and tourism boards are allocating press trip seats strategically. They need to know your audience matches their target traveler.
A media kit. This is your professional calling card — a concise, designed document that covers your blog or platform stats, audience demographics, social following, previous brand partnerships, and reach. If you don’t have one, you’re not ready to pitch.
Published content that demonstrates your work. PRs will look at your blog before they respond to your inquiry. Make sure what’s there reflects the quality of coverage you intend to deliver.
How Press Trips Are Actually Assigned
Understanding the process demystifies everything.
Tourism boards, hotels, and destination marketing organizations typically work with PR agencies that handle their media relations. Those PR agencies maintain contact lists — media databases full of journalists, bloggers, content creators, and influencers they’ve worked with or want to work with.
Press trip invitations often go out to that existing list first. That’s why breaking in feels hard: if you’re not in the database, you’re invisible.
Getting into that database requires getting on PRs’ radar — which happens through:
- Proactive outreach and pitching (more on that below)
- Attending industry conferences and networking (TBEX, SATW, NATJA, and others connect writers directly with tourism brands)
- Creating a profile on TravMedia, a platform used widely by tourism PRs to find and vet media
- Joining press trip databases and media networks that share opportunities directly with qualified bloggers and writers
- Existing relationships — often the fastest path in
How to Pitch for a Press Trip (Without Getting Ignored)
Pitching for a press trip is a business pitch, not a fan letter.
Lead with what you offer, not what you want. The host needs to justify the investment to their client — a tourism board, hotel, or brand. Your pitch needs to make their case for them. What coverage will you deliver? On what platforms? To what audience?
Be specific about your reach and your audience. “Engaged travel audience” is meaningless. “Monthly blog traffic of 15,000 readers, 65% female, 35–55, household income over $100K, with an active Pinterest presence in Italy and France content” is a case for an invitation.
Pitch the right angle. Don’t just say you want to visit. Tell them what story you’d tell, what your audience would care about, and how the coverage fits your platform’s focus.
Keep it brief. A press trip inquiry pitch should be two to three paragraphs: who you are, what you deliver, and what you’re proposing. Attach your media kit. That’s it.
Follow up once. After two weeks without a response, a brief, professional follow-up is appropriate. After that, move on.
How to Build the Relationships That Get You Invited Without Pitching
Some of the best press trip opportunities come not from cold pitches but from relationships built over time.
Show up where PRs and DMOs are. Industry conferences like TBEX (Travel Blogger Exchange) were built specifically for this. Tourism board representatives attend to find content creators. These events pay for themselves quickly in media opportunities.
Engage genuinely on social media. Tourism boards monitor who’s posting about their destination. Thoughtful, well-photographed content that tags the destination’s official accounts gets noticed — especially when engagement is real.
Deliver excellent coverage from previous trips. The fastest path to the next press trip is exceeding expectations on the last one. File your stories. Post your content. Send clips. This sounds obvious, but many bloggers under-deliver post-trip, and PRs remember.
Write thank you notes and share your coverage. Every single time. Send links. Make it easy for the PR to show their client what the investment produced.
What to Do on a Press Trip That Ensures You Get Invited Again
Being invited once is the entry point. Being a repeat guest — the writer PRs request by name — comes from being genuinely easy and excellent to work with.
That means:
- Showing up on time, every time
- Being professional and collegial with other media on the trip
- Not complaining publicly (or privately to the host) about itinerary elements
- Filing your coverage promptly and completely
- Delivering what you promised — ideally more
It also means being honest in your coverage. PRs respect writers who have integrity. You don’t have to rave about everything, but you do need to deliver thoughtful, useful content that actually serves your readers. That quality is what justifies the investment and gets your name on the next list.
The Part Nobody Talks About: What PRs Are Evaluating
When a PR sits down to evaluate press trip inquiries, here’s what they’re actually asking:
- Does this person’s audience match our target traveler?
- Will the coverage they deliver justify the cost of hosting them?
- Are they professional and easy to work with?
- Do they deliver what they promise?
- Is their existing content quality we’d be proud to show our client?
Everything about how you present yourself — your media kit, your pitch email, your existing published work, your social presence — is answering those questions before you ever get on a plane.