Still Life in the Old Blog: Why Travel Companies Should Keep On Blogging

Blogs have been around a long time. In fact, with a history stretching back into the dark days of the 1990s, in web terms they’re positively ancient. Yet there’s still life in the old blog – in fact, it has never been more essential for travel brands to have their own blog platforms. Research firms like PhoCusWright conclude that just shy of half of all travel sales in America and Europe now take place on the internet, while the number of people researching about travel online is likely to be even higher than that. The percentages are consistently growing year-on-year.

Yet despite the ever-increasing number of customers online, too many travel brands still steadfastly stick to old-fashioned marketing methods, failing to make the most of those exciting digital tools available, such as blogging.

Holidaygoers doing their research on the web are looking for up-to-date, candid and compelling information – so whether you are a hotel or a cruise company, a travel agent or a tourist board, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not having an active, relevant and regular travel blog. Below are five more reasons why blogging still matters.

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Discovering St. Louis, Missouri: A City Destination Travel Guide For Expedia

For more than two years now, we’ve been producing destination travel guides for Expedia, a leading online travel provider. Our in-depth city guides have covered such varied destinations as Livorno in Italy, Kitakyushu in Japan, Istanbul in Turkey and Christchurch in New Zealand. These are just a few in a long list of online vacation guides.

Most recently, one of our expert travel writers produced an online travel guide on the ever-fascinating city of St. Louis. And to give you a taster of what you can expect from St. Louis, you’ll find this destination overview below.

Of course, the full city guide goes into a lot more detail, covering many of St. Louis’ most compelling attractions, including the famous Gateway Arch, as well as the top-notch City Museum and the somewhat surprising Grants Farm. But before you read about all of those here, scroll down to check out the introductory overview below.

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Ending With a Bang: Three Great Ways to Conclude Your Travel Articles

In travel writing, endings matter. They are the last words the audience will read and, when done well, they have a tendency to linger. A good ending is the feeling or image that survives, the thing that keeps the story alive and kicking in the reader’s mind long after they’ve finished the article.

In our last writers’ blog, we dealt with the all-important opener. This time round, we’re turning our attention to the equally important conclusion. It may come last, but the ending should never be an afterthought.

Travel writing endings need to not only alert readers to the fact that the story is over, but they also need to reinforce the main points of the article. The chronological end to your experience is usually not the best choice (embarking on a return flight does not make a good finale); you’ll need to come up with something better. Anyone who regularly reads travel content will be aware that the quote has become a fairly standard way of wrapping things up. And although a juicy end quote can be extremely effective, it’s a trick that is fast becoming overused.

With that in mind, here are three other travel writing techniques that can help spice up your finale.

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Photo Xpeditions: Hidden Myanmar Photographic Travel Itinerary

Travel and photography go together like steak and frites. But how can you get more out of your travelling snaps?

That’s the question one of our clients, PhotoXpeditions, is helping to answer. Through a range of photographic workshops, PhotoXpeditions takes participants on exciting travel adventures to such far-flung destinations as Andalusia and Peru – and all to practice their photography skills. During their travels, they are accompanied by a pro photographer who shares the tricks of the trade and offers advice on how to capture that perfect image.

Recently, we at World Words have been busy writing engaging photography-focused travel itineraries that reveal the details of PhotoXpeditions fantastic workshops. In the past, we’ve worked our magic on tailor-made photo tours through Northern Spain, such as this ‘On the Footsteps of St. James’ itinerary, but most recently we have turned our attention to Asia, helping to pen engaging travel itineraries for the likes of Myanmar and Japan.

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