- Travel writing today is focused on the writer, not the destination.
- Women are the biggest consumers/readers of travel stories – editors know this and focus travel stories nearly exclusively on women subjects. Men have vanished from travel stories (my data collection on nearly 400 travel stories confirms this too, as well as comments from those in the industry.)
- Editors and content creators thus feature more stories by young women, for women – because the data says this leads to the most click throughs.
- The genre strongly favors narcissistic behaviors – where every story is a formula – the writer (often) overcame some vulnerability, some challenge, or is doing “scary” solo female travel – and begins with a headshot of the writer. The story is then about the writer – and not the destination.
Examples – and links to industry commentary that travel writing is all about the writer, and not the destination: Is travel writing narcissistic? Some think so – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
Imagine if an entire genre of media stories – with many such stories published every week – were almost exclusively about white males. The media pundits would be an uproar over that – but here we are.
