Flying high
How influencers are shaking up the travel industry
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Travel influencers routinely give us a glimpse into their lifestyles and life choices, from travelling across Britain in a vintage camper van (#vanlife) to the highs and lows of adventure if you’re plus-size (#plussizetravel).
With millions of followers in many cases, their reach can be liquid gold to brands who want to collaborate to, well, influence our buying and leisure habits. An influencer can sell out a product or event in hours, not weeks.
Often the ones with their finger on the pulse, it’s these influencers who are opening up new destinations or finding clever solutions to problems we didn’t even know existed.
Until recently they have also had a fairly bad rap, accused of being lazy or disingenuous in presenting an Insta-perfect life. Yet Sara McCorquodale, CEO of CORQ, the UK’s leading influencer authority, and author of influencer industry bible Influence: How Social Media Influencers Are Shaping Our Digital Future, thinks this is unfair, and agrees that authenticity is key.
Content creators are driving narratives in business and culture – and helping brands extend their reach into the billions
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“For many content creators or influencers, or whatever you want to call them, this is a career. They’re entrepreneurs, they want to be very, very successful and they’re commercially ambitious. They have become part of business and more part of the culture. The opportunities for people in this industry are enormous.”
CORQ’s mission is to “cut through the noise” and deliver all the essential influencer news, social media trends and curated talent hotlists, alongside a programme of digital upskilling webinars and online training that users can dip into. “CORQ is an intelligence business, and our aim is to turn you into a digital expert with minimal effort,” she says.
CORQ works with some of the biggest names on the high street through its Enterprise offering, which offers a curated influencer database, bespoke marketing and trends-led research, reporting and real-time tracking to show how consumers are engaging with campaigns. All of which can transform a brand’s communication strategy and, ultimately, its fate and fortune.
But digital media is not just for the big hitters. It’s not possible for people to bury their heads about social media and the internet, says Sara. It has become critical to almost every business’s success.
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“Even if you own a small business, this is relevant to you. If you’re running an Instagram account, you can learn where the big trends are every day, and you can create content that hooks into those trends to accelerate your growth,” she says.
Nor is “influence” simply the domain of Gen Z (in old money, that’s those born from the year 2000). “If you want to be an influencer, a creator, you can. Older people, like Gen X and Baby Boomers, are creating good content, particularly on Instagram. Gen Z absolutely love them because they’re so straight-talking.
“In the past, businesses would say, ‘Oh, well, that young person over there is going to understand all of that for us’.
“No – when you can drive so much of your revenue through social media, this is something that everyone in the business has to understand.”
When it comes to travel, influencers and creators are often looking for the unturned stone. “It’s rather like the opposite of TripAdvisor. Things you won’t find in the guidebooks. It could be someone doing yoga in a secret cave or ticking off a bucket-list experience.”
Read on for the travel trends heading to a sunlounger or backpack near you…
The next big thing
Influencers are always looking for the unturned stone
#staycation is a trend that has 4.6 billion views. Sally Hurman (Getting Stuff Done in Heels) is a regular at Watergate Bay Hotel in Cornwall, while Eulanda and Omo Osagiede rated Durdle Door as their top road-trip destination of 2022, and Amy Berry’s (Amy en voyage) feed overflows with UK destinations and is brimming with hand-picked experiences.
“This desire for UK travel has been present since the start of the year,” says Sara. “That is a big narrative online right now and that has been driving tons of engagement.
“People started seeing the UK as more of a travel destination during Covid, and they want to continue learning more and visiting places they’ve never been. The Scottish Highlands and islands, and Cornwall, Devon and Dorset are popular places where the scenery is beautiful and not dissimilar to overseas destinations, especially when the sun is shining!”
Keeping track of trends
Influence is multigenerational
#Babymoon – the trend where parents-to-be go on holiday before the arrival of their baby – has more than 235.3 million TikTok views. Former Love Islanders Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury went to Dubai, while creators and entrepreneurs Jamie Genevieve and Jack McCann went to the Maldives.
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#Airportdiaries has 531.3 million views. Milly G’s video of what time each friend arrived for their group trip has more than 5.7 million views. Such a simple idea that will have you packing quicker than you can say, “Is 7am too early for a prosecco?”
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#solotravel has 4.4 billion views. Sykes Holiday Cottages revealed that 32 per cent of people are looking to travel alone rather than with their friends and family in 2023. “With solo travel, the content that performs well is when women talk about safety. ‘When I’m travelling, these are the things I do to make sure that everything’s going to be okay; these are the red flags. These are the things that I want to see.’ Businesses could be tapping into this. What can you show you have in place? It could be something as simple as making sure the reception staff don’t say your room number out loud. They can work with creators so that this story is told, and it shows you take the safety of your visitors seriously.”
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TV tourism: more holidaymakers than ever are planning their trips to destinations seen in popular films and TV shows. Commonly referred to as Set-Jetting. Think Bridgerton’s Bath, or the Insta-worthy Cornish beaches and coves of Poldark.
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#plussizetravel has 293.4 million views on TikTok. Creators such as Kirsty Leanne Colclough share travel resources and advice. “Plus-size creators will say they get massively nervous before they go to the airport. They talk about ways they navigate a world where things aren’t designed for their bodies. You might think these are niche conversations, but then you see the reaction this type of content gets on influencer platforms. It’s massive,” says Sara.
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Queer travel: The Facebook group LGBTQ+ Backpackers has 5.8k members, and TikTokers are using #QueerTravel (22 million views) and #LGBTTravel (99 million views) to share safe destinations and recommendations. American LGBTQ+ travel creator Courtney worked with Kalamazoo in Michigan to promote it as a safe queer destination in a video that got 56k likes, 10k saves and 344k views.
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AI travel: Travellers are using AI, especially ChatGPT, to determine their travel itinerary. #ChatGPTtravel has 735k TikTok views. TikToker Madison Rolley has dedicated much of her content to budget AI-assisted travel. But can AI reserve you that sunbed spot with your towel?
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#Sobertravel has 4.7 million views. Gen Z drink less than generations before them, and this is having an impact on the travel industry as well. Creators are sharing tips for sober backpacking, virgin cocktails and places to visit. “Berlin, for example, has amazing nightlife. TikTok creators are experiencing the same culture but from a different perspective. If I were a business – a youth destination – I’d think I need alcohol-free options in my bar. If influencers are talking about it, chances are it’s something that is happening. Their content always suggests a bigger consumer shift.”
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Saudi Arabia might not jump out at you, but it’s the source of endless travel content online. “If you’ve had the impression that Saudi Arabia is not a good place, that it’s not very liberal, there’s a lot of content on TikTok that will challenge that notion, which is interesting,” says Sara.
Destinations
