10 Paying Travel Markets Open to Freelance Article Submissions
Freelance writer Matthew Adams shares 10 paying travel markets open to freelance article submissions from writers.
Travel is an appealing subject for many freelance writers who routinely take vacations. The more you travel, the more inspiration you can draw for articles about the places you've visited—even those freelancers who don't take vacations that regularly can still write about more local destinations. Travel articles can be third-person destination guides, first-person journey narratives, cultural exploration pieces, listicles, and more besides.
The traditional freelance travel writing market used to be more magazine, guidebook, and newspaper print-focused. However, much has changed over the last few decades with the ever-expanding ecosystem of travel websites and blogs in the digital space. There are still plenty of printed travel publications, but the freelance travel writing market has generally followed the digital trend with an increasing focus on niche content. Now there's a bigger mixture of print and digital travel publications that offer remuneration for articles included. These are 10 paying travel article markets freelancers can pitch and submit articles to.
Afar is a travel magazine and website open to freelance article pitching for its print and digital publications. However, note that it prefers to commission website articles according to current needs, which its submissions page doesn't clearly specify. The Afar Magazine includes travel feature stories along with personal and photo essays. Afar.com is open to pitches for a broad range of travel pieces covering cruising, hotels, news, intel (vacation tips), and destinations.
The remuneration (payment) Afar offers is $0.50 per word for its website articles and $1 per word for magazine pieces. You can send pitches to variable email addresses for different channels, specified on Afar's submission page. Afar recommends potential contributors read through articles on its website or in magazines before pitching titles.
Go World Travel is a travel website open to all kinds of contributors. This site seeks to cover popular destinations from new angles and less well-known locations. Go World Travel includes articles that provide a sense of experience rather than merely cover what to do at destinations. The website also prefers first-person narrative articles from contributors who have been to the destinations they cover.
Go World Travel offers $30-$40 for articles included on the site, with a length requirement of 850 to 1,600 words. This website utilizes PayPal for making transactions. Note that first-time contributors should provide some links to sample articles when pitching. You can send Go World Travel article pitches to submissions@goworldtravel.com.
Intrepid is open to freelance submissions for travel article stories included on its The Good Times site. Articles within Intrepid's good stories and trips categories are first-person narrative travel accounts. Intrepid also includes articles that provide travel tips and those with political issue angles.
Intrepid does offer remuneration for articles included, but its submission page doesn't say how much. Its submissions page has a pitching contact form for you to fill out. That form includes a blog and/or portfolio field for showing article samples with URLs.
Despite its name, Italy Magazine is now exclusively a digital publication since its transition away from printed editions. Italy Magazine is a website and e-magazine (called Bellissimo) devoted to the wonderful world of Italian travel destinations. This website looks for features with strong narratives, explainer or trend, and listicle articles. It also includes Italian destination articles with more unique angles. Italy Magazine is especially interested in articles about lesser-known Italian locations beyond the country's principal cities.
Italy Magazine currently offers remuneration between $0.15 and $0.20 per word. You must submit invoices to Italy Magazine. The average length requirement for Italy Magazine articles is 800-1,400 words. Send your pitches to Italy Magazine's editorial@italymagazine.com email address.
Travel & Leisure is a website and print magazine, and you can pitch article title ideas to both. The website includes travel content about destinations, trip ideas, hotel & resorts, and tips and planning. Travel & Leisure doesn't clearly specify if it prefers first or third-person articles, and the website appears to include a mixture of both. The print Travel & Leisure publication includes an experiences section for first-person travel tales, along with discovery globetrotter guides and longer feature pieces.
Travel & Leisure offers flat-rate remuneration for articles included that varies depending on the article type submitted. You'll receive a rate sheet that provides remuneration details if your pitch is accepted. Contributors also need to send invoices to Travel & Leisure. There are various editorial email addresses you can send Travel & Leisure pitches to, specified on its submissions page.
The Indie Traveller website includes honest and practical travel destination guides, with a preference for a first-person perspective style. However, this site has a strong focus on locations in Southeast Asia, Mexico, the Balkans, and Latin America. Note that Indie Traveller asks for articles about destinations contributors have visited. It also asks for articles to be about (complementary to) destinations already covered on Indie Traveller.
The base rate Indie Traveller offers for articles included is $0.07 per word. Indie Traveller has a contact form for pitching purposes. It also asks potential contributors to show article samples with links to blogs or portfolios.
Travel Age West is a trade publication website primarily for a business travel advisor audience. It is open to freelance article submissions, even though much of its content is from in-house contributors. Travel Age West encourages pitches and submissions for travel industry, travel trends, cruise ship, and hotel reviews, and themed destination articles. Destinations articles for Travel Age West need to be in the form of third-person guides or cover locations with a specific focus (such as history or food).
Travel Age West offers $250 for articles 500-800 words in length. It also has a print publication for which it offers $600 for cover story pieces 1,200-1,600 words in length. To pitch article titles to Travel Age West, send an email to Ken Shapiro at kshapiro@travelagewest.com.
Time Out is a city-focused travel website open to freelance article submissions. This website encourages pitches from contributors who live in cities (or have visited them) who can provide more first-hand insight on the destinations. Time Out is especially interested in articles about new visitor attractions, city trends and subcultures, underrated locations in cities, and informative travel news stories.
The Time Out remuneration for articles included varies and is open to negotiation if your pitch is accepted. Invoice filing is a requirement for published articles. You can send Time Out pitches to the hello@timeout.com or travel.team@timeout.com email addresses.
The Independent is a well-known U.K. newspaper with a travel section on its website open to freelance article submissions. It includes destination features, 48-hour city guides, 24-hour room service, and complete guide travel pieces. Independent's trail of the unexpected articles are first-person accounts about certain travel phenomena or events.
The Independent only informs contributors of its payment rates when it confirms article inclusion. Contributors retain copyright to articles but grant The Independent exclusive first publication rights (meaning they can't be previously published pieces). You can pitch titles or send on-spec completed travel articles for The Independent to the travel@independent.co.uk email address.
Horizon Guides is a travel site for destination guides and journal features. Its guides focus on specific activities in destinations, such as trekking, cycling, cruising, safaris, etc. The Horizon Guides features are first-person journal pieces with stories about places and events.
The Horizon Guides article remuneration offered, specified in pounds, is £400+ for guides and £200+ for journal feature pieces. Horizon Guides uses the BACS and Transferwise payment methods for U.K. and international accounts. The email address for pitching article titles to Horizon Guides is editor@horizonguides.com.
Those websites and magazines feature a wide variety of travel-related articles written by freelance contributors, with remuneration offered. You can share your travel stories or destination insight by pitching and submitting articles to those digital and print publications. All those publications have reasonably detailed and clear contributor guidelines pages (linked above in their names) that you should also read through before pitching travel titles to them.
Matthew Adams is a freelancer who has produced a variety of articles for various publications and websites, such as Swing Golf Magazine, TripAdvisor, Windows Report, Tech Junkie, MakeUseOf, Naval History, Military History Matters, Artilleryman, dotTech, and Bright Hub. He has been a freelance tech writer for more than 10 years. Matthew is also the author of Battles of the Pacific War 1941-1945. Check out the book’s blog at battlesofthepacificwar.blogspot.co.uk.
