How Brands Can Work With Travel Bloggers in 2026
We’ve weathered a tough few years in the travel industry since March 2020. But finally, things have returned to a sense of normality, and the world has reopened for adventures. For travel brands, it’s an exciting time to be working with travel bloggers – and many travel marketing teams are currently thinking about how to get their product and content out to as wide an audience as possible.
Working with travel bloggers has been a popular way to market your travel brand, and I’ve worked on both sides, as both an industry marketing professional and a travel blogger. If you’re a brand that’s thinking about working with travel bloggers in 2026, check out some top tips and advice below!
*This post is sponsored by GetBlogged*
Why should brands work with travel bloggers?
While social-only campaigns can tempt with large potential reach, having your travel product or destination featured in a blog – or YouTube video – offers longevity of content and the opportunity to appear in search results. When I’m working on a press trip or campaign in my day job, I’ll always aim for a mix of social and blog/video content.
When it comes to bigger trips, travellers can take up to six to eight months to plan and research, and often use search engines, blogs and videos for advice and to bring their ideas to reality. While a social media post provides instant inspiration, a well-researched blog post with SEO value can benefit you for months and years to come.
Press Trips
Press trips are a key way that brands work with bloggers, as it gives the blogger the opportunity to experience a destination and share it with their audience.
Another way of working with bloggers who already have a trip planned is through complimentary activities, accommodation or meals on that trip.
Sponsored Content
A common way brands work with UK travel bloggers is through sponsoring content on a blog post. This is a great way to get more long form content to the blogger’s audience. Sponsored posts will be paid for by the brand, and usually written by the blogger (a few blogs will accept pre-written content, but most prefer to write in their own style).
The benefits of a sponsored post is that it can link directly to your website to increase your SEO. A well-written, optimised post has a long lifespan – someone could find it through a Google search in a year’s time!
Gifting/Product Reviews
If you’re a brand selling travel products, reviews are a great way to raise awareness of your product, and have the potential to do well in search engines.
If you don’t have products, but still want to do some outreach, gifting related products is a great way to get your brand name out there. For example – a food hamper from a destination, or branded merchandise, could be great for a gifting campaign.
Social Media Campaigns
Social media platforms offer a great way to quickly bring large-scale awareness of a destination, product or campaign. Most are done on Instagram through either feed posts or stories, but many bloggers also offer Twitter and Facebook posts. They’re also a great way to advertise something that’s short term, like a promotion or special offer.
How to find travel bloggers to work with
Social Media: Social media is a great way to find ideas for travel bloggers to work with – you can search hashtags such as #uktravelblogger and #travelblogging.
Blogger Platforms: GetBlogged offers a travel bloggers UK marketplace where you can list your opportunity and receive pitches from interested bloggers. I’ve worked with GetBlogged a few times now, and it’s a really quick and easy way to work with bloggers as it streamlines the partnership on both sides.
In the past, I’ve looked at influencer databases for my day job – however, these tend to be Instagram-focused and not great for finding more niche influencers.
Top Tips For Brands Working With Travel Bloggers
- Collaborate, don’t dictate: Travel bloggers know their audiences best, so allowing them to be creative and deliver content that fits their usual style is vital.
- Expect to pay: Travel blogging has become a job and asking a travel blogger to work for free when you’re making money from their work is pretty rude. In terms of budgets – these will depend on various factors including audience size and amount of work needed to complete the project. Many bloggers will have rate cards you can ask for.
- Disclosure: ASA rules state that bloggers and influencers must disclose when they’re being paid for work, so this is something you should be aware of when working with travel bloggers.
