Vacation Time in PR: How to Pitch Travel Reporters

Spring break season has arrived, which means summer is hot on its heels. And while college crowds are enjoying the nightlife at a remote beach destination and families are planning trips to theme parks, for public relations professionals who support the travel and leisure industry, now is an opportune time to pitch vacation-related stories. But can you get travel reporters to answer your pitches and cover your stories?

Of course you can – especially if you consider these exclusive insights from the upcoming 2025 State of the Media Report. This report includes survey responses from over 600 travel reporters and gives you the intel you need to go from a mere story idea to full-on earned media coverage for your brand.

Use this feedback to not only secure coverage when you pitch travel and leisure journalists but also build strong relationships with them and other media influencers.

Inside the Minds of Travel Reporters

The best way to build a solid relationship with travel journalists is understanding what makes them tick. Knowing their top challenges (both in the industry and individually) can help you create more meaningful outreach and write pitches that resonate with them.  

For most travel industry journalists, “maintaining credibility as a trusted news source” is the biggest industry challenge (229 respondents felt this way), followed really closely by the decline in advertising and circulation revenues (226 respondents chose this challenge), and having to adapt to changing audience behaviors around media consumption.  

What do you believe were the biggest challenges for journalism in the last year?

• 38% -  Maintaining credibility as a trusted news source/combating accusations of “fake news”
• 38% - Declining advertising and circulation revenues
• 36% - Adapting to changing audience behaviors around media consumption
• 33% - Competing with social media influencers and digital content creators for audience attention. 

Social media is now ever-present in the daily lives of journalists in the travel sector: 94% of them told us they use it for work-related purposes – from promoting content to checking or verifying information. 

In the last year, have you used social media for any of the following work-related reasons?  

• 75% - To publish/promote content
• 64% - To interact with my audience
• 63% - To source information
• 59% - To network

It’s interesting to note that journalists don’t use social media for “getting PR pitches”, so make sure you send your pitches through their preferred way of communication: 88% of travel reporters want to receive your pitches via email. If you want to use social media to your advantage, however, it’s a great place to learn more about travel journalists, the topics their audience is interested in, and the types of stories they’d be most likely to cover. (Pro tip: A media database like CisionOne is a great place to discover journalists related to your brand or industry and see which social channels they are most active on.)

What Travel Journalists Want From Public Relations Professionals

Want to craft a pitch that gets journalists’ attention and results in earned media coverage? Then you need to know what travel journalists want from you – and they told us. Travel journalists want news announcements or press releases the most (77%); but they also want access to events (59%) and original research reports such as trends or market data (58%). Try to include any or all of these elements to build a compelling pitch that catches the eyes of travel reporters. For example, if you have original data on summer travel trends or top travel destinations for the year, put it in a press release and include that in your media outreach, leading with the most compelling data points.

What kind of content or information do you most want to receive from public relations professionals?

• 77% - news announcements/press releases
• 59% - access to events
• 58% - original research reports (trends, market data, etc.)
• 51% - exclusives for stories

Are your pitches enough on their own? Including multimedia assets with your pitch can provide additional context for your story and help journalists add color to their coverage. While including multimedia won’t guarantee coverage, 39% of journalists are more likely to consider a pitch when you do so (just keep in mind – it depends on the type of multimedia, which should complement the story, be right for the medium, and appeal to their audience). In fact, most of the travel-focused journalists we surveyed said they used multimedia provided by PR professionals in the last year. The top assets included: Images (78%), videos (35%), and web polls or surveys (32%). 

Before you pitch travel and leisure reporters, make sure you also think which content assets you could use to amplify your media outreach.

What NOT to Do When Pitching Travel Journalists 

We’ve covered what travel reporters want from you – but it’s just as important to know what they don’t want and how you can avoid getting on their blacklist.  

So, what would make them avoid you? For 73% of journalists in the travel sector, the biggest PR pitching offense is spamming them with irrelevant pitches – that is, pitches that bear no relation to their coverage area or audience.  A majority also won’t tolerate inaccurate or unsourced information or pitches that sound like marketing brochures. (Pro tip: Check out our tip sheet with the best tips for PR writing.) 

What would make you block a PR professional or put them on your “don’t call” list?

• 73% - spamming me with irrelevant pitches
• 62% - providing inaccurate or unsourced information
• 50% - pitches that sound like marketing brochures
• 50% - following up with me repeatedly 

Knowing when to follow up (or whether you should follow up at all) on a pitch is also crucial. 1 in 2 journalists will block a PR pro who follows up repeatedly, and 66% of them would prefer you to only follow up once;. 24% of them want you to never follow up.

How to Identify the Right Journalists for Your Travel Pitch

Got a warm weather vacation story? Consider using a media database such as CisionOne Outreach which can help you search top outlets and journalists covering travel and discussing trends and topics related to travel. 

This platform not only helps you find relevant journalists, but it also allows you to see their profiles which cover intel you can use to personalize your PR pitching – see which other outlets they work for, discover recent pieces of content they’ve written, find out which other topics they cover, and monitor their social media presence. 

Make the most of CisionOne to build a media list of travel reporters and media influencers, then use the insights above from the soon-to-be-released 2025 State of the Media Report to write pitches that maximize your chances of getting your story covered. (Can’t wait for the 2025 report? Check out the 2024 State of the Media Report for more insights.)