Travel trade journalists and publications need content that speaks to their audiences of travel advisors, tour operators and airline executives. The hard truth, however, is that destinations often send trade outlets consumer-focused angles instead. To state the obvious, it’s simply not an effective strategy to get your destination the constructive trade coverage it needs to drive leisure bookings.

Creating storytelling moments for the travel trade press means tailoring your messaging so that journalists understand exactly how your pitch helps travel advisors and tour operators convert more sales. Your job is to demonstrate to them explicitly how news in your destination—whether it's a campaign or a new specialist program—will convert sales. The most effective strategy is to always be mindful to provide journalists what they need to make their job as easy as possible.

1. Leverage New Campaigns

If your destination launched a new consumer campaign, reflect on how to leverage it for trade. Be upfront in a pitch about which markets the new campaign is targeting and when it will go live. Include any conversion incentives being offered to travel advisors to connect the new campaign to the information that trade journalists want to share with their audiences. Spell out what assets are available for travel advisors to use in their own marketing endeavors, including curated copy and rights-free images. The travel trade media can then provide a link to this material which echoes the campaign’s message and increases awareness of the campaign itself.

2. Airlift and Hotel Updates

A new hotel can easily be a short blurb, but destinations wanting a feature story in travel trade press need to put some creative thought behind the pitch. Pitch Q&As with architects and CEOs to garner feature story coverage, instead of simply issuing a press release. And always send it to journalists before the big opening. The opening itself will be news, but it will drive sales if you link it to booking incentives that speak directly to travel advisors. 

New airlift can also generate trade headlines if you pitch it early. You can even consider giving travel trade journalists the scoop before an official announcement with an embargo on publication until it goes live. This helps get the story out as quickly as possible, allowing advisors to react immediately and start tailoring their packages for clients to take advantage of the new air routes.

3. Big Ideas, Daring Visions

CEOs at destination marketing organizations are sometimes too behind the scenes. But when big ideas are bubbling up in your offices or leaders are proposing things that have never been done before, the trade media will be interested. 

Check in with your leadership to see what is brewing, whether it's a new approach to attracting big events to drive visitation or a fresh economic development strategy that entices hotels to invest in your destination. Maybe there is a new consortia partnership that will enhance appeal among luxury travelers. All of these occurrences can be nurtured into an angle that will be interesting to the travel trade—and hence to the travel trade press.

Pitch your leaders for an op ed or an interview to help bring their vision—and awareness of your destination—to the travel trade. Or get even more personal with a fireside-style chat between the CEO and travel trade journalists to build and maintain trust with the media.

4. New Specialist Programs

Specialist programs are powerful ways to create both a knowledgeable sales force and a pool of advisors that a destination can remarket to over and over again. Innovation in your destination’s approach can fuel storytelling opportunities. If you are creating unique ways to arm trade with the confidence to sell a destination, journalists will be curious.

Imagine a culinary destination building a Certified Culinary Travel Specialist Program for advisors, which ends with a graduation ceremony MCed by a Michelin-star chef, followed by a Michelin-starred celebration dinner. Or consider a wellness hub that creates an online certification with perks like FAM priority for a trip led by a recognized yoga master or a customized wellness marketing toolkit. These are the concrete new angles—stressing new—that will garner attention.

5. Trending Topics

As a destination, the travel trade press may care how you respond to an industry trend for a round-up story. However, if you conduct primary research, such as speaking with travel advisors themselves, and do the most important thing a destination can do—listen—you can unearth real information that can then be packaged and shared with the travel trade press.

A headline like “Visit [City Name] asks advisors what’s driving winter bookings” would be a thrilling win. For DMOs interested in growing their appeal with the travel trade, a little research can go a long way to making it into trade publications.

6. Keep a Digital Mindset

AI isn’t going to make or break you when it comes to connecting with travel trade journalists, but data and keywords still matter to publications and their own SEO. Destination organizations can align with this tech momentum by ensuring their pitches are hitting the right keywords in both emails and attachments. If a journalist searches their inbox for “Gen-Z travel booking trends” to find a pitch they sort of remember getting, it’s vital that you include those key terms as much as possible.

Be clear in a pitch what the topic is and, even more importantly, why it’s important to the travel trade.

7. Pitch Destinations as Matchmakers

Travel advisors are facing increasingly demanding and disparate clients, so understanding how a destination can cater to specific needs can provide some winning storytelling. Whether it’s a specific narrative about how your destination appeals to Gen Z travelers, sustainability-minded visitors, LGBTQ+ travelers (and the list goes on), the trade press will be eager to help share that story with their readership who are seeking that sort of specialization.

So don’t just pitch why a destination appeals to a specific group. Make it clear why it’s easy to sell them on the destination and how your DMO can help them. This is what the trade press needs to get their audiences to click, view, and read.

At the end of the day, securing meaningful coverage in the travel trade press requires intentional, sales-minded storytelling that demonstrates how your destination can help advisors and operators succeed with their clients. By offering trade journalists clear, relevant, and conversion-driven content—from new campaigns and specialist programs to bold leadership visions and trend insights—you position your destination as a valuable partner rather than just another pitch in their inbox.

When destinations take the time to understand what the trade press truly needs, the result is stronger relationships, smarter coverage, and ultimately, more advantageous bookings.