Ali Parsa is the founder of a company that has made healthcare accessible and affordable to those who would normally miss out. He has 572 Twitter followers. Kylie Jenner has 40.4 million. Are all influencers influential? I think we can say no.
Travel influencers are not just the internet famous paid to photoshop their way through a destination. At Karryon, we say they are the ones that make travel happen. And we’re going to be telling their stories.
But why are we calling these people travel influencers? Karryon founder and managing director Matt Leedham explains.
Who are the real travel influencers?
The ‘travel influencer’ label has largely become socially undesirable in recent years. Mostly due to an endless supply of usually attractive folk unauthentically flooding our Instagram and TikTok feeds with their best, glamorous selves in exotic destinations.
While many professional travel influencers have huge reach and followings and have carved out a fantastic income for themselves, I’ve always questioned what their actual influence is when it comes to booking and selling travel.
How much commercial value do they give back to the travel brands and businesses that sponsor them to post on their behalf? And do they even care about the people and places they are being paid to spruik?
Compare that marketing dilemma of modern times to the real-time impact of travel agents who passionately influence their clients and sell multi-millions of dollars of travel products in return annually. Their professional performance and outcomes are without question, yet they are never universally defined as travel influencers.
And the same perspective applies to the broader supply chain of the travel industry, including BDMs, Concierges, Guides, and more. These travel industry loving professionals positively influence the people they meet. And they enhance travellers’ experiences in the communities and environments they visit for a true win-win for travel.
For me, that’s a real travel influence.
As we enter a new era of post-pandemic travel and an existential crisis in climate change, being an authentic and responsible travel influencer has never played a more critical role in defining the sustainability of the travel industry and, ultimately, the planet’s destiny.
So can we please start by acknowledging that the people working in the travel industry are the ones who have the most influence in travel and the most significant responsibility for that very same reason?
The Travel Influencer series is coming soon
At Karryon, we’ll be getting to know the real travel influencers. To share in their passions and their heart breaks. And we’ll find out what drives them and why they still do what they do, despite the pandemic years, despite the long hours.
These are the stories of the people on the ground. The ones who steer travellers into memorable moments. The ones who bring a destination alive.
They are your colleagues, your competitors, your reps, and the people you haven’t met but make you look good.
Read them. Be inspired by them. And look in the mirror. Because you are a travel influencer.
