Travel Creator Opportunities, Jobs & Giveaways This Week + Tourism Boards That Will Host You for Free
Jobs at Hilton, expeditions to Botswana, and the income strategy that makes me five figures with under 3,000 followers — plus a free ebook for our first 1,000 subscribers.
Hi friend!
First off, I want to say, “thank you!” This week has been a little crazy in the best way. The subscriber count has been going up and I am so excited about all the people who want to make money in travel coming into this community.
Welcome if you’re new. I’m Sarah. I live in Costa Rica, but also spend a lot of time in Europe (my husband’s family is in Germany) and the US (where my family live). I run a travel blog called Costa Rica Vibes (check it out if you are going to Costa Rica).
And my whole thing is helping you make real money from travel content, in whatever way that looks like for you. Every single week this newsletter has fresh opportunities. and real income strategies.
Let’s get into this week’s list 👇
💌 CREATOR OPPS
1. 🔗 Matador Network — Exclusive Fall Adventure in Jackson Hole — paid creator trip opportunity. Apply through their creator platform
2. 🔗 Matador Network — Copa Airlines Press Trip, Panama City — exclusive press trip to Panama City with Copa Airlines. Apply through their creator platform
3. 🔗 AdventureWEEK Baños, Ecuador — Media Delegate — 3 media spots available, flights and accommodation covered. US and Canada-based creators covering adventure or sustainability. Closes July 24
4. 🔗 Fujifilm GFX Challenge Grant — $10,000 global or $5,000 regional grant for photo or video projects, plus complimentary GFX gear and Fujifilm mentoring. Open until August 17
💼 JOBS
5. 🔗 Brand & Creative Manager + Designer — Le Marké — two remote roles at a European food and lifestyle brand. Brand & Creative Manager is full-time, Designer is part-time. Travel to Europe a few times a year.
6. 🔗 Sales Manager UK, Europe & North America — Matetsi Victoria Falls — Cape Town-based, representing one of Africa’s most iconic luxury safari lodges to travel advisors and tour operators. Closes August 5
7. 🔗 Tour Guide — Trek Travel — get paid to lead cycling vacations around the world. 2027 season, travel-based, housing provided. No guiding experience needed. Full training provided
8. 🔗 Senior Analyst, Influencer Marketing — Hilton — $72,500–$100,000, McLean VA hybrid. Leading creator, influencer and celebrity relationships across all Hilton brands. Managing end-to-end campaigns, sourcing creators, guiding hotel teams. 2+ years influencer or social experience required.
9. 🔗 Social Video Producer — GetYourGuide — producing social video content for a global travel platform with 33 million+ bookings. Berlin based.
10. 🔗 3 Editorial Roles — Mongabay — environmental journalism newsroom expanding globally. Senior Video Story Editor, Associate Editor and Managing Editor Africa. Rolling deadline. They also have a bunch of other cool jobs available, so I just linked to the general jobs page.
11. 🔗 Director of Marketing & Communications — The Starfish Canada — remote across Canada, $85,695, 12-month contract. Ocean and climate-focused nonprofit. Closes August 9
12. 🔗 2 Roles — JRM Group — Senior Talent & Brand Partnerships Manager and Creator Talent Agent. Full-time remote, Australia or APAC. For people who live and breathe the creator economy.
13. 🔗 Expedition Leader — Natural Habitat Adventures x WWF — WWF's official conservation travel partner is hiring expedition leaders across Alaska, Australia, Baja, Botswana, China, Churchill, Greece, Greenland, Italy, Morocco, South Africa, Uganda, Vietnam and more. Housing, meals and transport included.
14. 🔗 Travel Editor — Kensington Tours — remote, Canada or US, $135,000–$150,000. Build and run the editorial intelligence newsletter for one of the world’s leading luxury private touring companies. 10+ years editorial experience required. They also have a bunch of other great jobs available, so check out their general jobs page as well.
15. 🔗 Creator Manager AMER — Skyscanner — hybrid, Miami. First creator manager role for Skyscanner in the Americas, building influencer partnerships across the US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. Serious role for someone with agency or in-house creator experience
🎁 GIVEAWAYS
📌 Several contests are geo-restricted — check T&Cs before entering.
⏰ = closes soon.
16. 🔗 ⏰ Win a stay at El Pital Paradise Glass House, Costa Rica — 3 nights for two + chocolate tour. Winner announced July 18. Enter RIGHT NOW
17. 🔗 ⏰ Win a 4-night stay in Crete — Lofos x Puro, breakfast included. Closes July 20
18. 🔗 ⏰ Win €1,000 in flight tickets — Melly_ba x Chapka Insurance. European residents only. Closes July 26
19. 🔗 Win a 5-night stay at Escape at Nonsuch, Antigua — flights not included. Closes July 27
20. 🔗 Win 2 round-trip tickets on the Arctic Route, Norway — Best Arctic, Tromsø to Sommarøy. Closes July 31, must use before August 23
21. 🔗 Win a 2-night stay at Hotel Can Simoneta, Mallorca — Condé Nast Johansens, breakfast + half board dinner included. Enter via link in their bio
22. 🔗 Win a 2-night stay on the edge of the Isle of Skye — Hidden Scotland x Sand and Stone Escapes, Milovaig House sleeps 4 with a wood-fired hot tub, fire pit, roll-top bath and a log burner. Closes July 27
And now for some unique income sources…..
TOURISM BOARDS THAT WILL HOST YOU FOR FREE
Did you know that city and country tourism boards are actively looking for creators to host on press trips? Yeap, it’s true!
You can visit places for free if you create content for a tourism board. The best part is that sometimes this can lead to longterm partnerships or even a job.
Here are ten with active programs right now:
🔗 Visit Estonia — press trips for journalists and influencers
🔗 VisitScotland — influencer programme + content creator network
🔗 VisitCzechia — group and individual press trips (Benelux focused)
🔗 VisitDenmark — individual press trip support
🔗 Visit Greenland — partnerships with bloggers, journalists and videographers
🔗 Visit Norway — pitch your story for collaboration
🔗 Cotswolds Tourism — press visits and media trips
🔗 Discover Greece — international media room
🔗 Visit Singapore — press trip application for creators
🔗 Tourism Ireland — overseas media support
The key is often to pitch with a specific story angle in mind. See what they are looking for on their site and try to craft your pitch around that.
Most of these tourism boards probably get hundreds of cold emails a day. You need to make yours stand out.
Instead of a general, “Hi, I’m a travel creator and I would like to visit your country”, you need to provide a fresh perspective of exactly what your content can capture.
📚 COMING SOON: 17 INCOME SOURCES FOR TRAVEL CREATORS
Substack friends, I’ve got presents for you!!
Once I hit 1,000 subscribers (hopefully in the next few weeks) every single person on this list will get a free copy of my e-guide:
Get Paid to Travel: 17 Income Streams and the Money Mindset Behind Them
This is not a watered-down list. These are actual income streams I use and recommend, including a few that most travel creators have never even thought about (plus some good strategy in how to actually execute them succesfully).
I’ve also included info on the money mindset shifts that are often standing between most creators and actually making real money in travel.
Resolving my money issues (that I didn’t even know I had) definitely helped take me from struggling to success.
💰 THE INCOME STRATEGY I WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT: DIRECT PARTNERSHIPS
I make over $5,000 a month from my travel blog. And most of it doesn’t come from ads or brand deals in the traditional sense.
It comes from direct partnerships with travel companies. These are hotels, tour operators, activity providers. In other words, these are companies that are already paying commissions to Booking.com and Viator every time someone books. I just negotiate that commission directly with them instead.
The great thing is that there is no upfront cost to the company, so really they have nothing to lose by having this type of partnership with you.
The thing is, this only works if you set it up properly. You need a system for tracking bookings so you actually get paid. You need to know how to find the right companies (and how to spot the ones that will waste your time). You need a pitch that works. A deals page on your site. A media kit that makes you look credible even if you’re just starting out.
That’s exactly what I teach in The Partner Sprint, my group course launching at the end of August. We will work through the entire process together, you will be actively pitching brands during the Sprint, we will all share what’s working in real time, and you will (hopefully) walk away with real money coming in.
👉 Grab the free guide + join the waitlist
✈️ ALSO, ARE YOU ON TRAVELPAYOUTS?
If you’re monetising travel content through affiliate links, TravelPayouts is worth knowing about.
It’s a hub for loads of travel affiliate programs all in one place (Booking.com, GetYourGuide, and more). So, instead of managing a dozen separate programs, it’s all in one dashboard and your earnings combine toward a much lower payout threshold.
The feature I always recommend is Drive. It automatically converts your relevant blog links into affiliate links without you manually updating anything. If you have any volume of content on your site, this alone is worth turning on.
That’s everything for this week!
I was thinking the other day that we’re already halfway through summer. It made me sad, and I had a bit of a mental panic about it. But, I guess it’s time for all of us to be pumping out that fall content.
Happy mid-July. Enjoy all the summer you have left. See you next Thursday. 🌴
— Sarah
Bookmarking this roundup, always looking for tourism boards to collaborate with for Vietnam-focused content.