Author: Bhagyalakshmi Krishnamurthy
Never before has the scene been so exciting and promising for the Indian freelance travel writer as it is today. Globally, India still remains the flavor of the month, generating a lot of curiosity. At home, we Indians are travelling like never before. The rise in disposable incomes, the urge to see newer places, the emergence of tourist destinations as locations for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE), and of course the tremendous information blitzkrieg by the media has resulted in a huge surge in business and leisure travel. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has in fact, projected a steady annual growth rate of 4.4% for world travel and tourism. Moreover, the tourist today is better informed, compares packages and prices, analyzes recommendations, asks questions and actively seeks out information before making travel plans. This is where we travel writers come in.
You are probably a freelance travel writer already, writing for blogs, in house publications and magazines and papers, simply because you have travelled around and would like to share your experience with others! So, you already possess the most important requisite required to become a good travel writer namely, a deep liking for travel almost bordering on a passion. This invariably leads to an abiding curiosity and a keen eye for detail on all travel and tourism related developments.
For those of you who want to start, a search on one of the prominent search engines will throw up various portals and magazines that are looking for travel writers. Run your mandatory checks. Some of them may not be operational, some may not be very honest and some others may not be prompt in either informing you that they may not be able to publish your article or in paying you for what they have accepted.
Having entered the arena, you will soon find yourself writing about even those places that you have not visited. This is tricky. After all you don’t have a feel of the place and may end up giving the wrong impression (and sometimes the wrong information). Your article may be a mere fact file because you are writing not from your heart but from the reams of information you have dug out. Your article may be read by someone who knows the place inside out and can tear your work to shreds! True, true! But in a day’s work as a travel writer, I have actually enjoyed writing about destinations which I have yet to visit! I have learnt a lot about new places and I have learnt a lot about how to write! A few simple, mundane and sometimes most obvious pointers have taken me through.
Tips to write travelogues without traveling
Put yourself in the reader’s shoes: I begin by assuming that it is I who am planning a visit. This enables me to put heart and soul into my efforts. Why am I considering visiting this place? What in it has kindled my interest? What can I look forward to in this place? Questions like these direct me to finding out the information necessary to evoke an interest in the reader and make him/her read on.
Start from first principles: Then I get down to the basics. What is the information that I would need to make my visit feasible? How do I get there? Do I need to carry anything specific? What are the options and at what cost do they come? What is it that I should watch out for, etc. Here is where we travel writers of today are lucky because we have a mass of information already documented on the World Wide Web. We are saved from searching for people who have visited the destination, saved from scouring libraries for data and saved from making a round of government tourist departments! Much of all this information is just all a click away!
Look in the right places and look twice: From this ocean of data, we need to zero in on that which is accurate, tested and proven. Often I have found bits of information that would make very good copy but are insufficiently corroborated. This is the travel writer’s nightmare! The official web sites of the respective tourism boards and governments are good places to look for accurate authentic information on the nitty gritty. The portals of the industry associations are also good sources. Many times, web sites carry information gleaned from travelogues of tourists. But all these need to be cross checked across various portals because some of these may not be updated while the others may carry a wholly subjective view. It also helps to be up to date with travel magazines and supplements.
Suggest related sources of information: Readers may have various queries which may not have struck you. A list of sources that can be used by the reader to ferret out more information would be highly appreciated.
Be objective: Travel writers have a tremendous responsibility. What we write may actually influence decision making, so it is important to tread the middle path. Sometimes, I have not felt particularly disposed towards the place I have written on, but who knows, it may be of interest to the reader. Secondly, it is advisable not to use superlatives. You are writing about a place not marketing it. And after all, you don’t know if the palace at XYZ destination is really “magnificent”, you have not been there remember!
We travel writers need to be wordsmiths. We cannot be creative about the content but we must be creative in the presentation of the content. We are required to create an honest, objective yet interesting ‘virtual’ experience for the readers who actually look for reality checks from us. While it is difficult to get emotional about something we have not experienced, we cannot just churn out a dry travel manual. While it is easy to be verbose because we have basically no first hand information and would not like to take chances, we cannot just ramble!
It is a tall order! But believe me, it is not impossible and it only gets better as you go on!
About the Author
Bhagyalakshmi is a post graduate in Economics and has been a writer for over 14 years. Apart from reading everything she can lay her hands on, her other greatest interest in life is to travel as much as possible, explore new places and reach out to people.
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In my humble opinion, you should NOT write about places you haven’t been to! Writers do have a responsibility to provide accurate information, but writing has to have soul too! How on earth are you going to write truly, accurately, and with soul about Germany if you haven’t been past Goa? That way the reader can also look up search engines etc, what do they need a travelogue for? Travelogues are not just for travelers and not just for writers. They are for writers who travel, and travel for the love of it. I think it’s unethical to write about places you haven’t been to. With all due respect, I firmly disagree with the whole principle this article is based on. I’d day — don’t do it! Plenty of other markets to look at, if you are not a traveler leave it to the ones who do love the road.
This was really useful info, especially as I’m struggling t write a travel piece for a creative writing course assignment. I haven’t stepped out into my backyard – let alone travel to some exotic destination – in the last few months, and your article gives me hope that I can write a travel piece without travelling! Thank you so much!
Hi Shreya, You’re right, for an article to be truly convincing it is ideal if the writer travels there. But the fact is, that there is a huge market there for freelance writers who can write based on research. The clients need people who can write travel brochures etc. for them without travelling there. This article is an aid to people who choose to do such projects.