Travel Journalism & The Pandemic
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Flashback
When lockdown hit in 2020, travel journalists were stopped in their tracks. Many had to cancel their trips or fly home from places that they were writing about. These people had to go home and rethink how they were going to change their approach to writing under the unprecedented circumstances.
Writing Reflectively
One way that you can write about destinations without having to travel there is writing about past experiences that you have had. You could write about any point of your life whether it be your most recent trip or a childhood trip. Writing in a reflective way can get your mind working by triggering memories and experiences that can produce a great story.
Explore Your Country
As restrictions prohibited travelling abroad, this opened up opportunities to travel in peoples own country. I live in England and there are so many beautiful cities and countrysides to visit such as Bath (which I have visited), York and the Cotswolds.
As restrictions were lifted, people began to flood back to the typical travel locations such as Thailand and Bali, however, I found it touching that writers would go an experience the beauty that we have on our doorstep.
Did These Work Methods Change after the Pandemic?
As travel began bustling once again, on-destination writing pieces returned in full force. We began to see fewer posts written reflectively or written about internal travelling and there was less interest in such posts. However, there were some changes from the pandemic that are here to stay in the writing world.
One of the main changes that I want to stay following the pandemic is tourists and journalists alike practicing sustainable travel (both social and environmental).
CharlieonTravel described sustainable tourism as:
“A way that tourism can be maintained long-term without harming natural and cultural environments.”
The world of travel media following the pandemic has the potential to be fruitful due to the fact that we could see the introduction of more diverse and considered coverage towards new audiences that require addressing. During the last couple of years of people not being able to see their friends and families, people may want to explore group travel and multigenerational holidays. Also, due to the rise of digital nomadism, there are many opportunities for journalists to explore this in their own writing too.
The Summary
Well, the pandemic was obviously an exhausting and difficult time for everyone. I think it is important however that we try and look at the silver lining and the sometimes invisible benefits in the aftermath of the hard times. The landscape of travel journalism changed rapidly during the times of COVID-19 and it is up to us to evaluate the positives and the negatives of these barriers on our writing.
