In 2023, Intrepid Travel hosted their first Diversifying Travel Media trip to Croatia, inviting four emerging writers to travel with experienced journalists and mentors. Last year, Intrepid did it again, taking four new mentees and mentors to Portugal’s Côa Valley. To introduce the resulting four excellent stories for Adventure.com, executive editor Meera Dattani reflects on why initiatives like this are so important.
*The Portugal stories by 2024’s mentees are now published on Adventure.com.*
A couple of years ago, I took part in Intrepid Travel’s first Diversifying Travel Media (DTM) trip to Croatia alongside fellow mentors Lottie Gross, Shafik Meghji and Georgina Lawton. It was an enlightening week with mentees Chau-Jean Lin, Kira Richards, Sakhita Sharma and Queenie Shaikh—who impressed us with their questions, curiosity and ambition. When you bring together writers from different walks of life, you see how many perspectives come from one experience. It’s brilliant to see, important to do, and interesting to read. Which is why we champion it here at Adventure.com.
The second DTM initiative in 2024, this time to northern Portugal’s lesser-visited Côa Valley, saw a new cohort of mentors and mentees Jessica Heather, JD Murphy, Toyo Odetunde and Liseli Thomas travel by train to Porto for a similar trip with new mentors; exploring the region, talking to conservationists, chefs and curators to find great stories, and taking part in travel writing workshops. On their return, I met the mentees to flesh out their ideas for Adventure.com.
It’s fair to say travel writing can be a competitive, and sometimes closed, industry; some publications appear to take on few new writers, low pay in some quarters can make it unviable (anchor gigs, stable side hustles or other work are increasingly common), and getting a foot in the door can feel challenging. These factors are often multiplied for writers from marginalized backgrounds; be that age, disability, race, religion, neurodivergence, sexuality, or anything else.
But there is work out there and a career to be had—with support and legwork. But that legwork isn’t just for writers to do; none of us can keep talking about the importance of diversity without doing something about it. The onus is also on publishers, publications, PRs, and editors to help open that door, work on outreach, find a sweet spot in our own roles of working with new versus experienced writers, do what we can to improve pay. Because diversity = variety = sparkling stories.
The layered, varied stories that emerge is exactly why this publications whole-heartedly support schemes like Intrepid’s Diversifying Travel Media, and others like it. “It will often feel deflating for new writers not knowing where to begin,” says Richard Franks, part of the mentor team alongside Lottie Gross, Nori Jemil and Shilpa Ganatra. “Initiatives like this provide invaluable experience for emerging writers who wouldn’t otherwise know how to get on a press trip, look for stories or pitch to editors. I wish this was around when I was starting out.”
While most new writers face challenges, those with diverse backgrounds can face more, says Shilpa: “Unconscious bias, and spam filters not liking your name, for starters. The cumulative effect is significant. The foot-in-the-door stuff really matters at this point, and redresses some of the balance.”
“New voices are often where the most interesting takes are, and many in the industry recognize that. I’m hopeful this leads to a more equitable industry.”
- Shilpa Ganatra, mentor and travel writer
Whoever might groan at the ‘D word’, well, the National Council for the Training of Journalists ‘Journalists at Work’ 2024 report highlighted a real lack of diversity in UK media: 91 per cent from white ethnic groups, with journalists more likely from higher socio-economic backgrounds. And 66 per cent of new journalists took on underpaid work experience; writing for free (aka for ‘exposure’ with the trip in lieu of payment) remains an issue.
“It makes it difficult for anyone to get in, but especially those from diverse backgrounds,” says Lottie who led the workshops in Portugal and Croatia. “On the Portugal trip, we had diversity of all kinds, from ability to race and gender. It made for so many interesting conversations.”
And for Intrepid, investing in DEI is key: “As major brands scale back on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, it’s more important than ever for us at Intrepid to use our position as a travel company to amplify and invest in diverse voices,” says Intrepid’s Emme McKay who attended the trip. “We all travel differently and have different experiences and perspectives; that should be reflected in storytelling. We have plans to make our next Diversifying Travel Media press trip open for emerging writers globally—watch this space!”
When you see those perspectives unfold in real-time, it’s magic; something I saw first-hand in Croatia from Chau-Jean Lin, Kira Richards, Sakhita Sharma and Queenie Shaikh. Four mentees, same itinerary… End result? A personal essay connecting Croatia’s landscapes to childhood trips in Pakistan; a profile of a Croatian couple who left city life to create an ecotourism idyll; a story on one town’s commitment to its cultural heritage; and a feature on how one of Croatia’s most visited national parks had managed overtourism.
It was a similar tale in Portugal. “I loved seeing how each writer had their different take, and tailored this in their pitches and writing,” shares Nori. And I can verify that. The four stories we’ve commissioned for Adventure.com are testament to this: Food heritage, rewilding meets personal-essay, sustainable living, and ancient rock art.
In the end, travel is about the world, its different cultures, communities and people. So shouldn’t the people reporting on it come from a variety of viewpoints, backgrounds and abilities? “It’s been comforting for the future of travel media to see more editors calling for pitches from diverse backgrounds,” says Richard. “Representation is more important than a lot of people realize—if an emerging writer from a particular background doesn’t see someone like them in the media, they’re less likely to try and break through themselves.” As Shilpa notes, “New voices are often where the most interesting takes are, and many in the industry recognize that. I’m hopeful this leads to a more equitable industry.”
And features like these, on adventuring in a wheelchair in the Canadian Rockies, or attending your first festival as a neurodivergent traveler, or spotlighting Black history in Rio de Janeiro, go to show the power of travel, and travel writing, to empower and celebrate this incredible variety of perspectives and people.
“Use your Instagram, a blog, Substack etc. to write up travel stories and show off your talent. This goes down well with editors, but also with judges—if we can see you’ve made the effort, we’ll be confident the DTM press trip will be beneficial.”
- Lottie Gross, mentor and workshop leader
It’s also rewarding to be part of this from the mentor side. “I adore watching new writers ‘get it’,” says Lottie. “The writers we had were bright, motivated and curious—all excellent qualities in a travel writer. It’s as much a learning curve for me as it is for them.”
I 100 percent agree, having mentored under Intrepid’s 2023 DTM initiative, Talking Travel Writing’s mentorship program, and currently, with Women in Journalism. You not only learn from mentees (and fellow mentors), but you’re reminded of who’s helped you in your own career.
But as publications and editors, we have to make space for new voices too. It’s natural to use established writers whose writing we love, but it’s about balance. We can be more open about what we want from pitches, how writers can follow up, promote best-practice, manage expectations; essentially, remove ‘gatekeeping’ attitudes. We need to pay fair, pay promptly, and rebalance the writer-editor dynamic. Equally, writers too need to match their skill and style to the right publication, and work towards their ‘dream publication’ over time.
For writers struggling to get that sweet first commission, finding a USP can help; after all, not everyone can write about their career as a former firefighter and connect it to rewilding landscapes… But of course, it’s not just gender, ability, race etc. that makes you distinct. It’s about you, your relationship to a place, or unique observations about a topic.
“Travel writing doesn’t have to be about far-flung destinations,” says Nori. “Write about your hometown or somewhere on your doorstep.” This is something Richard is passionate about. “I’d like to see more local people writing hyper-local stories for national publications,” he says. “I don’t think newspapers and magazines understand the impact a good hyper-local piece can have on a community.”
Initiatives like Intrepid’s are of course not the only route in, but they’re a sign the industry wants to be more inclusive. “They’re opening up conversations that need to be had,” says Lottie. “Programs like this and the Travel Media Awards Step Up scheme are giving early-career writers a way in,” adds Nori.
Naturally, they’re often over-subscribed, so the work begins way before the application form. For starters, read, read, read. And I’ll die on that hill. Reading is how you instinctively, even subconsciously, learn about pace, structure, tone, what you like—and don’t like—about a story. As Nori says, “Read widely and don’t try to emulate someone else. Find your voice—authenticity will make you stand out.”
No bylines? No worries. “Use your Instagram, a blog, Substack etc. to write up travel stories and show off your talent,” suggests Lottie. “This goes down well with editors, but also with judges—if we can see you’ve made the effort, we’ll be confident the DTM press trip will be beneficial.”
At this publication, we have commissioned writers at the start of their careers, those at their peak, and everyone in between. Bringing in new voices while championing longstanding writers is always a balancing act, but one we try to nail as best we can. Once again, it’s been a joy to work with mentees from Intrepid’s second DTM initiative. I hope you enjoy reading their stories about Portugal’s Côa Valley as much as we’ve enjoyed editing them.
– Rewild, restore and connect: How a trip to Portugal brought solace to a traumatized firefighter by JD Murphy
– Far from the crowds: A guide to Portugal’s lesser-known Côa Valley by Jessica Heather
– Ancient Banksy in Portugal: Were the Neanderthals the first champions of public art? by Liseli Thomas
– Portugal for slow foodies: How one cook in the Côa Valley is helping preserve rich traditions by Toyo Odetunde
*Read the stories from both DTM trips here
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Meera Dattani is executive editor at Adventure.com and an award-winning freelance travel journalist, with an interest in food and cultural heritage, wildlife, conservation, identity, and decolonizing and modernizing travel. Based in London, she has written for publications such as National Geographic Traveller, BBC Travel, Lonely Planet, Condé Nast Traveller, and Travel Weekly.
