Travel Matters

What if you could spend less time pitching destinations and more time getting paid to create travel content? For many travel creators, landing that first paid collaboration with a destination marketing organisation (DMO) can feel like a Catch-22. You need experience to get hired, but how do you gain experience if nobody gives you a chance? In this episode of Travel Matters, Palle Bo and Rick Calvert talk with Chris Lukenbill, co-founder of Shrpa, a platform that connects travel content creators with destinations looking for fresh photography, videos, and stories. Chris explains how Shrpa simplifies the entire collaboration process, from discovering opportunities and applying for projects to delivering content and getting paid. And it's free for creators to join. Whether you're just starting out or looking to fill your calendar with more paid assignments, this conversation offers practical insights into building a sustainable travel content business. In this episode How to find paid collaborations with destinations. Why you don't need a huge following or years of experience to get started. How to build a portfolio that attracts destination marketing organisations. How smaller destinations benefit from working with content creators. Why building relationships can lead to repeat bookings. Relevant links: Shrpa: https://shrpa.com Become a Shrpa creator: https://shrpa.com/resources/creator/start-today/ Chris Lukenbill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislukenbill/ Contact Chris: [email protected] Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com More Travel Matters episodes: https://tbexcon.com/podcast/ Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

Can you take a natural, authentic photograph of a stranger without making them uncomfortable? And how do you move beyond beautiful travel pictures to tell stories that actually mean something? Photographer and storyteller Ron B. Wilson joins Palle Bo and Rick Calvert at TBEX to share lessons from more than 30 years behind the camera. From documenting New York City on September 11, 2001, to photographing communities in India, Ukraine and Central America, Ron has spent his career capturing resilience and the human experience. But some of his most valuable pieces of advice is surprisingly simple: put your camera away. Ron explains why he spends time getting to know a destination before photographing its people, how he builds trust without necessarily speaking the local language, and why ethical storytelling matters more than getting the perfect shot. In this episode: Why spending time without your camera can lead to more powerful photographs. How to approach strangers naturally and always get permission. The art of environmental portraiture – capturing people in the context of their lives. Why authentic photography is about telling someone's story, not creating one for them. How the same techniques work with a smartphone. Relevant links: Ron's travel photography and stories: https://artstyleflow.com Ron B. Wilson Photography: https://www.ronbwilson.com Ron on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronbwilson/ Photographers Without Borders: https://www.photographerswithoutborders.org Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com Find more Travel Matters episodes in your podcast app or on https://tbexcon.com/podcast/ Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What if losing 90% of your website traffic didn't mean losing your income? What if a smaller, more focused audience could actually make you more money? That's exactly what happened to Gerrit van den Berg, founder of Hidden Holland. His monthly traffic dropped from 40,000 visitors to just 3,000, yet he still managed to earn almost $20,000 in one particularly successful month. Speaking with Palle Bo and Rick Calvert at TBEX, Gerrit explains why he stopped chasing traffic and focused instead on serving a very specific audience: North American travelers aged 50 and over who want unforgettable experiences in the Netherlands. Through personalized tours, paid consultations, and carefully chosen affiliate partnerships, he's built a business where trust matters more than clicks. And his advice challenges some deeply held assumptions about how travel creators should monetize their content. In this episode: Why more followers and website visitors don't necessarily mean more profit. How to identify a profitable niche without narrowing your audience too far. Why telling people what not to do can build valuable trust. How premium services, consultations, and partnerships can outperform advertising. Why profit margins matter more than impressive revenue figures. Relevant links: Hidden Holland: https://www.hiddenholland.com Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com More Travel Matters episodes: https://tbexcon.com/podcast/ Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What if your travel blog is just the beginning of your business, rather than the business itself? Travel blogger and entrepreneur Yasmin Metz-Johnson, founder of Yasmin Tells, joins Palle Bo and Rick Calvert at TBEX to explore how travel creators can turn their skills, experience and connections into new income opportunities. After a decade of blogging, Yasmin has expanded her business into events, interior design and curated group trips through TellsTrips. Her small-group experiences take travelers to cultural events across West Africa, from art festivals in Ghana and Senegal to football in Côte d'Ivoire. But building multiple income streams comes with challenges. Yasmin shares why she's learning to delegate, how she identifies opportunities and why stepping outside your comfort zone is essential for growth. In this episode: How to expand beyond blogging and create additional revenue streams. Why small-group tours can be a powerful business opportunity for travel creators. How to leverage your existing skills, experience and international network. When to pivot, delegate and build partnerships to avoid burnout. Why cultural experiences can help travelers discover destinations they might otherwise overlook. Relevant links: Yasmin Tells – Blog: https://www.yasmintells.com Yasmin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasmin_tells/ TellsTrips – Group travel experiences: https://www.instagram.com/tells.trips/ ART X Lagos: https://www.artxlagos.com Chale Wote Street Art Festival: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chale_Wote_Street_Art_Festival Dak'Art Biennale: https://biennialfoundation.org/biennials/dak'art-the-biennial-of-the-contemporary-african-art/ Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com More Travel Matters episodes: https://tbexcon.com/podcast/ Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when a spontaneous travel tip turns into a viral TikTok video and thousands of new followers? And more importantly, how do you turn that attention into something that lasts? In this episode of Travel Matters, TBEX CEO Rick Calvert talks with Terry Abromitis, better known as Traveling Terry, about building a travel content business that connects social media with a blog. Terry shares how a chance encounter at TBEX Greece led to a video showing a fellow creator how to save €822 on a flight. The video went viral, helping her TikTok following grow from 58,000 to 125,000 in less than two months. But Terry isn't interested in collecting followers just for the numbers. Drawing on her background as a teacher and digital entrepreneur, she's developing practical ways to guide TikTok viewers toward useful content on her website. Key Takeaways Turn unexpected moments into content. Some of your best-performing videos might come from everyday conversations rather than carefully planned shoots. Make the next step easy. Every additional click between a social media post and your website risks losing potential readers. Give viewers a reason to visit your blog. Terry explains how a TikTok about five useful travel apps helped quadruple her website traffic. Prioritize publishing over perfection. A helpful video that gets posted can do more for your business than a cinematic masterpiece that never goes live. Use your platforms together. Social media and blogging can reinforce each other rather than compete for your attention. Relevant Links Traveling Terry on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@travelingterry  Traveling Terry's website and social links: https://linktr.ee/travelingterry  Gerald Gruenig on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@geraldgruenig  TBEX: https://tbexcon.com  Travel Matters Podcast: https://tbexcon.com/podcast/  RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk  Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What if your biggest opportunity as a travel creator isn't another sponsorship, but turning your audience into your customers? Chris Joondeph, the creator behind Authentic Traveling, has visited 170 countries and built an audience of millions by exploring places many travellers overlook or misunderstand. But his biggest business opportunity came when he started inviting followers to experience those destinations with him. Today, his company, Authentic Tours, takes travellers to destinations including Nigeria, Ethiopia and Somalia. And despite his enormous social media following, Chris says his tours now generate more revenue than his content. Palle Bo and Rick Calvert talk with Chris about building an audience through short-form video, turning trust into bookings, working with local partners and creating a business around something you genuinely love doing. In this episode: How Chris turned a passion project into a full-time business. Why his first Nigeria tour changed everything. How content creation and group tours support each other. Building customer trust and encouraging repeat bookings. Why everyday experiences can produce extraordinary travel content. Relevant links: Authentic Traveling: https://authentictraveling.co Chris on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authentic_traveling YouTube: https://youtube.com/@authentictraveling TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authentic_traveling Facebook: https://facebook.com/authentictraveling.org Ethiopia and Somalia Group Tour: https://authentictraveling.co/ethiopia-somalia-group-tour/ Extraordinary Travel Festival (October 22–25, Bangkok): https://extraordinarytravelfest.com (Use promo code Vagabond for $100 off.) Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com Find more Travel Matters episodes in your podcast app or on https://tbexcon.com/podcast/ Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

Google traffic is down. AI is changing how people search. Strategies that worked for travel creators just a few years ago are suddenly far less reliable. So what do you do when the rules of the game keep changing? In this episode, Palle Bo and Rick Calvert talk with Jarryd Salem, co-founder of NOMADasaurus, one of Australia's leading adventure travel and photography blogs. Jarryd has worked deeply with SEO for years and was experimenting with AI tools long before ChatGPT became mainstream. His view is refreshingly optimistic: the travel creator industry isn't disappearing, but creators need to stop expecting the old playbook to keep working. The conversation moves from the changing world of SEO and Google search to something even more important – building a creator business that doesn't depend on a single source of traffic or income. Jarryd calls it the "income octopus": multiple revenue streams that can keep the business moving even when one tentacle gets cut off. In this episode: Why traditional SEO strategies aren't working like they used to How AI could help creators discover new opportunities rather than simply replace them Why storytelling and first-hand experience may become even more valuable How the "income octopus" can make a creator business more resilient Why passion and authenticity still matter in an increasingly automated world Relevant links: NOMADasaurus: https://www.nomadasaurus.com Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com Find more Travel Matters episodes: https://tbexcon.com/podcast/ Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when the platforms you've spent years building on suddenly stop delivering? Travel creators have lived through countless social media changes, Google updates and shifting algorithms. In this episode, Palle Bo and Rick Calvert sit down with two creators who have built very different travel businesses – Chris Christensen of Amateur Traveler and Hendric Tay, co-founder of The Travel Intern. Chris has been podcasting since 2005 and says he now puts far less effort into social media because the return often isn't there. Hendric takes a different approach, running a 15-person content team across a website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – while deliberately avoiding short-term SEO tricks. They compare what has survived Google's changes, where social media still makes sense, and how a travel creator's job changes when a passion project becomes a real business. In this episode: Why Chris has reduced his focus on social media Hendric's value-first approach to SEO and Google updates Growing The Travel Intern from two people to a team of 15 Turning a travel content brand into a travel business Why podcasting may be looking stronger as other platforms become less predictable Relevant links: Amateur Traveler: https://amateurtraveler.com   The Travel Intern: https://thetravelintern.com Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com Find more Travel Matters episodes in your podcast app or on https://tbexcon.com/podcast/ Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when Google and AI companies can answer a travel question using the experiences, photos and expertise of creators – without sending the reader to the creator who did the work? Travel Matters hosts Palle Bo and Rick Calvert sit down with travel creator and former attorney Nate Hake, founder of Travel Lemming, to talk about what he sees as an existential challenge for online creators. Nate argues that the problem isn't AI itself – it's how companies are using creators' work while taking away the traffic that has traditionally allowed publishers to make money. But he also believes creators have more power than they might think. They discuss blocking AI crawlers, emerging licensing models that could eventually compensate creators, why personal experience is becoming more valuable rather than less, and why relying on search traffic alone may no longer be a sustainable business model. The episode also includes an update recorded a year after the original conversation, looking at how AI licensing has developed since Nate made some of these predictions. In this episode Why AI-generated answers can threaten the traditional creator business model How creators can block selected AI bots without disappearing from Google Search Why AI companies may eventually have to pay publishers for access to their content Why personal experience, storytelling, photos and video are becoming increasingly important Why creators should think beyond traffic and build products, services and direct relationships with their audience Relevant links Nate Hake: https://natehake.com Travel Lemming: https://travellemming.com Nate's step-by-step guide to blocking AI bots: https://travellemming.com/perspectives/block-ai-bots/ Nate dives deeper into AI and content creators: https://youtu.be/0ftNbm6zmK0?si=YL25bgMoaSgvTPCx Watch the section specifically about blocking AI bots: https://youtu.be/0ftNbm6zmK0?si=zNqEe_m2V9dJLBZ8&t=3010 Nate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natehake/ Nate on X: https://x.com/natejhake Nate on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathan.hake/ TBEX: https://tbexcon.com Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when the platforms that built your business suddenly stop sending you traffic – or your entire industry shuts down almost overnight? Gary Arndt knows both scenarios very well. Gary was one of the early stars of travel blogging and an award-winning travel photographer. Then the pandemic wiped out 95% of his income within weeks. Instead of waiting for travel to return, he built something completely different: the daily Everything Everywhere podcast. That decision paid off. Everything Everywhere Daily has since passed 65 million downloads and now averages around 1.5 million downloads per month. In this conversation with Palle Bo and Rick Calvert, Gary explains why he became increasingly frustrated with a travel blogging industry dominated by SEO, algorithms and interchangeable listicles – and why he believes creators should focus more on building direct relationships with their audiences. The conversation also turns into a lively debate about AI. Gary isn't against using it, but argues that outsourcing the creative work can also remove the personality and expertise that give a creator a competitive advantage. In this episode Why Gary abandoned his old travel-media business model How a short daily podcast changed the economics of his content Why SEO dependence can leave creators dangerously exposed Where Gary thinks AI helps – and where it hurts creative work Why podcasts and newsletters may be a creator's most valuable assets Relevant links Everything Everywhere: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Everything Everywhere Daily podcast: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ TBEX: https://tbexcon.com/ RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk The Radio Vagabond: https://theradiovagabond.com Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.