List of Travel Conferences to Attend
So, you’re now a travel influencer. Here’s a list of travel conferences to attend yearly, and why you should attend them. You may have a blog, or a big social media following, or you could be a vlogger. You now want to step up your game. Maybe learn more from people who have been in the business longer than you are. You may want to meet DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations), or CVBs (Convention and Visitors Bureau) to partner with them.
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It depends. What do you want to get out of the conference? Do you just want to learn and sit in the sessions? Want to get discounted tours and activities by signing up for a conference? Do you want to meet destinations or companies to form partnerships with?
You need to figure out why you want to attend travel conferences so you can justify the cost of the entry tickets and the travel costs like hotels and airfare.
In no order and in my opinion, here’s a list of travel conferences that are worth attending.
Some conferences allow you to trade your time for a free ticket. It could be from volunteering for the conference or becoming a speaker. Volunteering for a conference means putting work in for a set number of hours. The type of work varies from helping man the registration booth, setting up, or doing random things for the conference.
Speaking at a conference can have its perks. You get free entry tickets to the travel conference. However, depending on how big that conference is, you could also get free hotel rooms and your flights compensated too. TBEX is one of those conferences that comp your flights and your hotel room if your topic is chosen.
It is highly competitive to be selected as a volunteer or a speaker, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Just fill out the form to speak or to volunteer and wait for the organizers to get back to you.
If you want a more intimate conference and you write content about the Southern states of the US, then Southern Travelers Explore is great. There are less than 60 tickets available, and the conference is usually held over a weekend. The schedule is perfect for those who are working full-time jobs and can’t take a lot of days off work. Fly in on the first flight that you can get on Friday (or one of the later flights on a Thursday) and fly out on Sunday. Easy as that!
Southern Travelers Explore is a great way to meet brands and influencers who focus on Southern content. CVBs from the South are in attendance too, and you can get a chance to meet and network with them. If your goal is to work with CVBs or DMOs from the South, then this conference is for you. If you want to grow more as a content creator, then there are talks that are included in your admission. These talks vary from social media to video, and written content. There are goodie bags that you’ll get to take home after the event. There are also prizes that you can win!
Conference tickets cost around $200+ taxes and fees per person, which isn’t bad, and the location rotates yearly. 2023’s Conference was hosted by Irving, TX, and 2024’s will be at the Hilton in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Much like Southern Travelers Explore, the Midwest Travel Network’s conference focuses on bloggers who want to write or focus on Midwest travel content. I have personally not been to this event, since I had conflicting schedules this 2023, but it usually happens in June, over 3 days (usually from a Thursday to a Saturday). The event changes its hosts yearly, but you can expect it to be hosted in a Midwest City. Like Southern Travelers Explore, you can also get a chance to meet CVBs and DMOs, as well as other content creators throughout the event. There are also talks that pertain to content creation and scaling up your business.
Conference tickets cost around $200+ with taxes and fees per person. 2023’s Conference is in Kansas City, MO and 2024’s will be in Shipshewana, Indiana.
Probably the biggest travel blogging conference out there, TBEx hosts multiple conferences, one in North America, one in Europe, and another one in Asia (or Africa for 2023). The first TBEX I attended was in Lafayette, Louisiana (North America) in 2022, and it has changed the way I treat my blog as a business. The number of networking opportunities you get as well as a chance to see more of the host destinations are more than worth the price you pay for the ticket.
When you buy a ticket to TBEx, you can sign up for some pre-tours (limited to 1 or 2, depending on the host cities), and a chance to attend a FAM (Familiarization trip) after the conference. The conference ticket also covers lunch, snacks, and after-parties that have dinner. You can also get to meet with brands and destinations one by one to connect with them. You can then turn these connections into deals and partnerships that will benefit both parties. Want to sign up for an affiliate program? These conferences may have sponsors that have companies that suit your needs. Want to partner with destinations to cover? Oh yes, they do have that.
TBEx is worth the entry fee, and if given a chance, I would go to all the different events in the cities they have, if the dates align with our travel. Having the chance to meet brands and attend pre- and post-BEX tours is worth your time. Think of it as having a workcation: where you get to explore a new city while also generating content for the host as well as networking with other people. In October 2023, TBEX will go to Africa for the first time and will be hosted in Durban, South Africa. TBEX North America is in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 2023, while TBEX Europe for 2023 was in Peloponnese, Greece. TBEX Europe will be in May 2024 in San Sebastian, Spain, which we already visited. Next year’s dates are usually announced a year in advance, so you can plan your trips accordingly.
A downside to TBEX is sometimes, the destinations that host the event could be hard to get to. One year, they hosted TBEX North America in Tri-Cities in Washington State. For a small destination with not a lot of links to a major airport, I decided to skip that event altogether. Not to mention having to fly all the way from the East Coast (in Jacksonville, FL where I am based), to the West Coast meant that the flights are exorbitant, and I needed to pay for a rental car too. Take note of the destinations and how hard (or easy) it would be to fly in and out of in case you are thinking about attending. I will skip Africa this time because the airfare is a few thousand dollars, and I would need at least two weeks off from work to just attend.
Women in Travel Summit was in Puerto Rico in 2023 and is my first ever WITS conference. While the conference programming is good, I feel it is catered more to influencers on Instagram and TikTok than it is to blogging. I did like the session about doing the travel business with a full-time job as well as the SEO session.
WITS also offers pre-tours where you can sign up for free, as well as the chance to get FAM trips. There’s also the Media Marketplace, where you can talk to brands and other sponsors for potential business opportunities and partnerships. You’ll get a lot of value by signing up for WITS on the pre-tours, FAMs, and the ability to connect to other brands during the media marketplace. The sessions are a bonus for me and are always a plus if the host is in a destination that I have never visited before. Traveling somewhere and connecting with brands as well as fellow content creators is always a plus when doing these types of events!
2024 WITS will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a day out in Park City included!
I’ve only learned about Travel Blogging Success (TBS) because some of the bigger bloggers started promoting it a lot through emails and social media. Unlike WITS and TBEX, which have pre and post-tour FAMs, TBS focuses strictly on content, and the sessions are all catered to that. The conference lasts 2 days with no pre or post-tours available for the ticket. The price of TBS is twice as much as WITS and TBEX, even on an early bird rate.
For the price you pay, you can get to learn from a big influencer. 2023’s main keynote is from A Blonde Abroad, and you can learn how to grow your creator-centric business from them too. I don’t have much experience of this conference to say if it’s worth going to or not.
2023’s Travel Blogging Success is available virtually and in person from Nashville, TN.
IPW is the US Travel Association’s conference, where media and trade partners meet in different cities held yearly. I personally have not been to an IPW but am excited to try and join if I get accepted as a media partner for 2024’s event.
2024’s event will be held in Los Angeles, California. Registration is already open for exhibitors but will have to reach out to a contact person to get Media credentials. You’ll then need to get approved before you can get access to IPW! Not sure if you’ll have to requalify yearly for the media pass though.
ITB Berlin is the biggest travel and trade show in the world. The location does not change every year and is usually in March in Berlin, Germany. I have personally not been to this event, but just adding it to the list to be on the radar. To get into ITB Berlin, one must provide a screenshot of at least 5,000 readers to the website from Google Analytics.
If you have a mostly European audience or want to focus on European travel, then ITB can be a solid choice for you when it comes to a travel and trade conference. I for one would love to write more about European content, given that we fly yearly to the continent to visit family.
WTM is a bit like ITB, where it is a travel and trade show focusing on the European market, mostly. I also have not been to this event but adding it in for future reference for me! WTM is always in London during November, with just the dates changing yearly. It is a bit predictable where one can just go to the same city and convention center, but not enough for me to justify going back to Europe a second time during the year just to visit (yet).
In a few travel blogging groups that I’m in, some people find WTM London and ITB to be excellent sources to meet brands they would like to partner with. These could be in the form of hosting and providing content, as well as affiliates for certain services.
If you’re not big on the content creation part of travel and just want to see what the world has to offer, why not visit a consumer show? Some of these consumer shows do talk to media, but out of our personal experience, nothing has really materialized in terms of partnerships for us. However, you can get a lot of inspiration from these consumer shows on where to travel next.
Some consumer shows sell tours and have promotions on the spot which are specials for the trade show.
The Travel and Adventure Show is a very consumer-friendly trade show. There are multiple booths that cater to destinations, cruises, and tour operators, and each has its own freebies or brochures that you are free to take. Some of these sponsors have promotions happening on the spot.
At one Travel and Adventure show in New York, they had amazing deals for Antarctic expeditions. I was nearly tempted to book a trip but realized I didn’t have the budget for it yet! The travel and trade show up the ante for you because you can get a LOT of information on different destinations at the exact same spot.
They even have book signings and other meet and greets and Travel and Adventure shows. Previous guests have been Pauline Frommer, Samantha Brown, and a few other travel influencers slash celebrities that you may have heard about.
The Travel & Adventure Shows do provide media passes for writers, but I didn’t particularly connect with any CVBs at the time, since they were mostly in the consumer mindset and getting people to visit their destination instead of building a partnership.
There are multiple cities for 2024’s Travel and Adventure Conference, including New York, Chicago, and Atlanta.
I don’t have a particular experience with World Travel Expo. The event for 2023 is in Miami, at a conference center close to the airport. I feel that it is more of a consumer-focused show with media invites to the event. I’ve included it in the list to add to my radar for next year’s event in case the dates align. For now, it appears that 2024’s event will still be in the Miami area.
Travel hacking means using points and miles to travel cheaper than paying cash. This means paying just taxes and fees while flying or staying in hotel rooms for free. Travel hacking takes a bit of time to learn. Once you know more, you can now reap the benefits of traveling without paying too much for it.
There are travel hacking conferences that focus on the art of learning more about the hobby. These conferences are rarely recorded, since some of the sweet spots and what is being discussed during the conference are not meant to be taught mainstream. We have been to the Chicago Seminars back in 2017 and it has been a game-changer in our life.
The Chicago Seminars are so-called because it is always in Chicago (close to ORD airport). The seminars are usually on Friday evenings and end on Sunday. The schedule is perfect for weekend travelers. During my first-ever Chicago Conference, my husband and brother-in-law tagged along, and they used the time to explore downtown Chicago while I was in the seminars. It is a perfect trip for those who have partners who have no intention of going to the seminars, and just want to explore a big city!
If you do attend, make sure you know at least an intermediate level of travel hacking. The topics are not really catered to beginners. There are plenty of online courses available online that you can pay for if you want to fast-track your learning, but there is also plenty of free content available. A few of the bloggers to follow if you are just learning would be Lucky at One Mile at a Time, and The Points Guy. The Points Guy (TPG) is catered to beginners and intermediate travel hackers, so you can binge-read a lot of his articles. There’s also a free course by 10x that you can join!
You can also network with fellow travel hackers during the event, but you usually just attend these seminars to learn more from the presenters. There are usually a few tracks to choose from when you are in the event to cater to what type of information you are looking for.
Like the Chicago Seminars, FTU focuses on travel hacking information but has a bit more of a beginner-entry vibe to it. FTU changes its location for its conference (called FTU Signature) yearly, but you can pay to see some of its information online.
I have not been to any FTU conferences yet but planned to go to one eventually. It will be a good way to compare what would be available in FTU vs what’s in the Chicago Seminars and if the same people are attending both. You go to these seminars to learn more about sweet spots and other things you may not know about travel hacking. You don’t go to these conferences to partner with brands unless you are using them to increase your number of points or miles through buying groups.
There is a small sub-niche of travel content creators that focus strictly on cruising. We get it, we ourselves are big cruisers and have already taken our three-year-old child on cruises multiple times. It is hard not to get addicted to cruising, and if you are in the cruising niche, or want to get more into cruising content, here are a few travel cruising conferences you can attend.
Seatrade Cruise Global is a trade show and conference in one, where leaders of various cruise lines get to mingle with destinations as well as cruise lines. Where it gets tricky is how to meet with the cruise lines in the expo as they do not have a booth of their own. Instead, the cruise lines are just freely roaming about and the only way to identify them is through their credentials.
Here are a few of my thoughts on Seatrade, having been accepted into their media program and from my first year of attending. First off, the expo floor is huge but is conveniently separated into two parts. The first part is for the destinations, which is what you’ll want to focus on if you are a travel content creator. The second part is for ship suppliers, so if you need materials for a ship or a boat, then that’s the place for you.
Within the Seatrade conference, you’ll get access to panels, press conferences (if on a press pass), private parties, and more. There’s even F&B@Sea, which is a trade show mostly for those who deal with food and beverage options. It’s a way to sample some food and drink without having to leave the convention area.
Seatrade is so huge that it gets overwhelming. It doesn’t help that I got an invite to the event late to the event. By the time I wanted to meet with destination representatives, the schedules are already full. If you have the time, do get some of the freebies on the expo floor from various destinations. They have amazing stuff up for grabs!
The conference is located yearly in Miami or Fort Lauderdale. There’s also a European leg held in Hamburg, Germany yearly, so you can do two Seatrade events a year if you are up for it.
While I haven’t personally been to Cruise 360, it is much like Seatrade, which is a conference and trade show on cruising. One can get a media pass by applying for one, and it includes entry to the panels, the expo floor, and any press conferences. If you are trying to get credits for CLIA certification, the ship tours count as part of your continuing education. Cruise 360 is the official conference from CLIA, the world’s largest cruise line trade association.
Cruise 360 is in either Fort Lauderdale or Miami yearly. A lot of cruise lines have a presence in Miami, so the who’s who of these companies are in attendance.
As a bonus, I’ve included a few conferences that may help your travel content creation career. These are not applicable to me now since I am mostly focusing on long-form writing on a blog but adding it in just in case I want to branch out more in the future.
With so many social media platforms coming out to create content on, there are always a few new conferences coming out. Here are two that have been more focused on podcasting and videos (long or short form).
Another conference I have never been to but thought would help podcasters out there to grow more. The cities change yearly, but if you want a podcasting conference that’s always in one location, there’s Podfest in Orlando.
I’ve never been to any of these podcasting conferences. From reviews I’ve heard from fellow content creators, Podcast Movement is pretty good but more catered to intermediate podcasters. Podfest in Orlando does have a track for beginner podcasters or just learning more about the media. As a plus, the tickets for beginners in Podfest are half the cost of the creator ticket (but do not have access to the actual learning tracks).
VidCon is usually in Anaheim, California, but is going to Baltimore in 2023. A lot of your popular vloggers and video content creators go to this conference, and you can get a chance to meet them. I feel this conference is the best way to up your video content creation game if you’re on the industry track and a way to learn more from those who have millions of subscribers.
Video is a great way to get sponsorships, ad revenue, and a way to create a base for your followers to follow you in your other endeavors. VidCon does not come cheap for the industry track, but you can get a community track for $50 a day. You can then get a chance to go to the expo floor to meet exhibitors and meet your favorite creator who’s attending.
VidCon has other events happening all over the world, so just depends on where you are located. The one I mentioned above is the United States track. Will I ever attend VidCon? Maybe, it just depends if I can have enough bandwidth to focus on video creation as part of our travel business.
With a really long list of travel conferences to attend for the year, how many are you planning to go to? Did I miss any conferences that you should absolutely attend? Please feel free to let me know and leave them in the comments below!
If you are just starting out, pick and choose which ones to go to (or use my list of conferences to try above). The entrance fees to attend may be a barrier to entry. Time is also a factor when visiting an event, especially if you’re still building your travel business on top of your full-time job. In my case, we try to pick and choose the conferences that we feel would return the most investment and in a destination we haven’t been able to visit. We then treat these conferences as a workcation where we can see and visit a new destination while trying to grow a business!
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