Press trip or influencer trip?

Invite journalists or content creators? Many companies in the travel and leisure industry struggle with this choice. Yet the answer is rarely black and white. Press trips and influencer trips are often seen as alternatives, while in reality they play very different roles within a communications strategy. Which approach delivers the best return depends mainly on what you want to communicate and who you want to reach.

A different story requires a different approach

Journalists and influencers can highlight the same destination, but each does so from their own perspective. A journalist informs, provides context and writes from an independent editorial point of view. This builds credibility and trust. Especially when you want to put a new destination on the map or tell a more complex story, that editorial credibility remains particularly valuable.

An influencer takes their community along on the journey and allows followers to experience a destination through personal experiences, creative videos and photos. This type of content often generates high engagement and rapid online visibility. That makes influencer marketing a particularly powerful tool for sparking interest and inspiring people. Both therefore play a different role within your communications strategy and can complement each other perfectly.

The target audience is different too

Just as important is the question of who exactly you want to reach.

Traditional media generally reach a broad audience looking for reliable information and interested in background stories and in-depth travel features. They also continue to enjoy a high level of trust, particularly among a slightly older audience with strong purchasing power.

Influencers, on the other hand, often reach a much more specific community built around shared interests or a particular lifestyle. Want to reach young families, Gen Z, foodies or outdoor enthusiasts? A creator with the right audience can make a much more targeted impact.

The best return comes from the right mix

One of the biggest mistakes we still see? Thinking you have to choose.

Many organisations still consider press trips and influencer trips as two separate communication tools, while in practice they can actually reinforce each other. Influencers create immediate visibility during the trip through Stories, Reels or TikToks, while journalistic features often appear several weeks or even months later. This allows you to build a campaign with multiple peaks in visibility, one that both inspires and informs while reaching different target audiences.

And return is about much more than reach alone. An influencer with a smaller but highly engaged community can ultimately have more impact than someone with hundreds of thousands of followers. At the same time, one strong online article can remain visible in search engines for years and increasingly appear in AI-generated answers. Together, these elements contribute to the success of a campaign.

Conclusion

Want to build credibility or tell a more complex story? A press trip is often the best choice. Want to quickly generate online buzz or inspire a specific target audience? An influencer trip often offers more opportunities. In many cases, however, the greatest added value comes from combining both.

Journalists provide depth and independent perspectives, while influencers bring a destination to life in a personal and authentic way. Together, they create a richer story and ensure that a campaign is not only visible today but continues to make an impact in the longer term.

Ultimately, successful destination communication is not about choosing between press or influencers. It is about delivering the right message through the right channel to the right audience. That is where the greatest return lies. At Thx.agency, we have extensive experience in reaching the right audiences through both press and influencers. Find out more about our approach and get in touch with us at jo@thx.agency.