Travel copywriting: How to write destination-led content
To be clear, this blog isn’t just for travel companies.
Destination-led content can work its magic for any visitor-focused organisation; whether you’re a restaurant, a museum, a local library, or a national park.
There’s no reason why your organisation can’t be the one to give tourists advice, especially if it ties in with an experience you’re offering. And the more people who visit your website and read your content, the more search engines will see you as a trusted source, which helps your website get found online.
What do we mean by ‘destination-led content’ then?
If you are a travel company, this is a little more straightforward. It could literally be the content you put out about your products. A holiday package. An excursion. A hotel. This could be everything from listings and brochures to adverts and e-newsletters.
But destination-led content doesn’t have to be about selling something.
It can also be about helping your audience understand the local area around your organisation (which, happily, often provides answers to the questions they’re likely to be searching, and brings them to your website).
Here are a few examples:
a blog about the best walks nearby, for a countryside cafe offering lunchtime grub
a page on a museum website dedicated to more things to do in the local area
a guide to fun day trips from your B&B
a blog listing the cosiest nearby cafés to hunker down in with a book, for a library or bookshop website
a guide to local beaches on a surf shop’s website
See how it works?
You can use your travel content to link to your own products and services, but this sort of content is great in its own right. It’s your chance to build confidence in your organisation and to help customers have the best overall experience.
So, how do you write this gold-dust travel copy?
My top five tips are:
do your research
write for your audience
help your readers to imagine themselves there
prove you know what you’re talking about
forget the clichés
Ready for the details?
1. Do your research
A huge part of writing doesn’t actually involve any writing at all.
Research is where everything begins.
You need to get up to scratch with your topic, and even if you’re an expert already, it’s important to remind yourself what you know and what you don’t, and plan how you’re going to structure your content.
The best thing you can do, of course, is visit the places you’re writing about. But it isn’t always practical to drop everything and head off to who-knows-where in the name of research.
If you can’t make it to the places you’re writing about, fear not. The wonders of the internet have really stepped up here. Yes, read articles about your destination if they exist, or go on their website, but also:
take a virtual stroll around the area using Google Maps (street view is your friend)
look up reviews and check out forums to learn about visitors’ experiences
find as many photos as you can of the place, to get a feel for what it’s like
on that note, head to social media to see images, videos, and any other content relating to the place you’re writing about
Together, all these things will give you a good idea of your subject.
You can keep a note of what other visitors loved about certain places, any regular events that take place there or nearby, potential issues you’ll need to flag to your readers (and their workarounds), and heaps of other details that’ll make your content genuinely insightful (we’ll get onto this later).
If this sounds like a lot, you might want to consider chatting to a freelance writer who can dedicate proper time to useful research (that’s me!).
2. Know your audience - and write for them
If you’ve read any of my other blogs, you’ll have seen this one coming from a mile off.
It’s sooooo important to understand who’s reading your content (or who you want to be reading it), and to make sure what you’re penning is relatable and written in a tone of voice that speaks to them. (I have, in fact, written a separate blog post all about writing for your audiences, if you fancy a deep dive.)
Two pieces of content about the exact same place should be completely different if the audiences are.
Let’s say you’re a heritage attraction, writing a guide about historic towns to visit in North Yorkshire, including Whitby. Your core audience is history enthusiasts and experience-seekers, so the bit about Whitby could go something like this:
‘For your maritime history hit, head to the coast and spend at least a day getting lost down Whitby’s crooked ‘snickleways’. Follow in Captain Cook’s footsteps (to begin with, at least) and set sail on a guided boat trip from the harbour, then climb the 199 steps to the dramatic ruins of Whitby Abbey, where Abbess Hild founded a monastery in AD 657.’
Now, let’s imagine you’re writing a blog for your bookshop about literary destinations in the UK. Your core audience is a younger, BookTok generation of readers, with a taste for the whimsical. Here’s how your Whitby section might sound different:
‘It’s 8 August, 1890, and a budding writer just jotted down a name he read in a library book: ‘Dracula’. The writer? Bram Stoker, holidaying in Whitby on Yorkshire’s coast. Over 130 years later, you can still wander the quirky shops and winding streets of Britain’s ‘Goth capital’. Looking up to the lonely ruins of Whitby Abbey, it’s not hard to see why Stoker was so inspired.’
The first example is practical, written in the active voice, and focused on history-themed suggestions for its go-getter audience. The second is more about setting the scene and creating a mood that’ll enrapture its literature-loving audience.
3. Help your readers to imagine themselves there
Talking of conjuring up an atmosphere…
Travel copy isn’t really about describing a place. It’s about making your readers feel as though you’ve picked them up and plonked them down in that destination.
You want them to get excited about experiencing it for themselves.
And this is what I love about destination-led copywriting. You can be super creative with it, because it’s so much more than just a fact-finding exercise for your readers. They want to be inspired.
So, rather than just describing what you can do in a place, see if you can think a little outside the box to help your readers understand the full picture.
This list of things to consider should get you started:
can you write about what you’ll hear, smell, touch, and taste in this destination (not just what you’ll see)?
are there any local words or quirks that you can drop in or explain?
what makes this place different from any other town, castle, café, park, etc.?
conversely, does this place remind you of any other, well-known place that your readers can relate to?
are there any interesting stories or folklore that reflect the atmosphere of the destination?
4. Prove you know what you’re talking about
There’s a reason everybody loves a local tour guide or recommendation.
Visitors want to know about the places no-one else knows about, and to feel like they’re getting an authentic experience. If you can get this across in your writing, then all the better.
Obviously, this is easier when you’re a local yourself, but it’s still absolutely possible even if you’ve never been to the place you’re writing about. It just takes a little more digging to include those specific details. Remember: research is everything!
For example, don’t just recommend that visitors check out the rooftop bar with the best views of the city. Pull up the cocktail menu and suggest the best-looking tipple to pair nicely with an evening watching the sun set over skyscrapers.
Recommend the ideal place to stop for a picnic in your guide to nearby walks.
Mention that if you visit this specific pub in winter, your readers should try and get an armchair by the fire.
Point out that a museum offers a student discount in your blog for a university website.
Going the extra mile in this way not only makes your writing feel more authentic, but it genuinely makes it more useful and, at the end of the day, that’s what readers need.
5. Forget the clichés
On that note, try not to only recommend experiences that everyone will easily find out about from a quick Google search.
Granted, some of these experiences will be popular for a reason, and they’re worth a mention. But if you do include them, be sure to get those specific details in there, too, to show you’re not simply giving a generic recommendation.
Equally, when it comes to language, avoid the same tired phrases that so often pop up in travel writing and destination-led copy.
Here’s a small selection of phrases you see all the time:
hidden gem
breathtaking views
melting pot
rich heritage
crystal-clear waters
majestic mountains
lush greenery
Yes, we’re all guilty of wheeling a cliché out once in a while, but just remember: every time you use one of these phrases, a writing fairy loses its wings, okay?
Opting for overused phrases is the easiest way to make sure your blog, or guide, or whatever it is you’ve written gets forgotten about, because it just won’t stick in people’s minds.
And what you really want is for people to remember you, come back for more, and check out your main offering while they’re at it!
If you’re looking for someone who A) has lots of experience writing destination-led copy, B) is rather good at it if she may say so herself, and C) loves getting stuck into that research more than you probably do… drop me a message right here!
