I covered this topic before – it is well known that travel writing has fallen into narcissism – in large part because the focus on self is done to compete with social media such as TikTok and Instagram. Writers and editors know that this style generates more clicks.

Media: How travel writing became self-centered narcissism

Here’s a snapshot from Business Insider today, re-enforcing the description – stories are about the writer, not the destination. 90% of the time, its a young woman highly educated at a private university.

And just down the page from that

I was reminded of this topic after attending a local meeting where the guest speaker was a local travel reporter. He spent the first 20 minutes rambling on about his background, even saying he just rambled(!), and then gave his 40 minute presentation, mostly have nothing to do with the group’s interest area – but featuring him in several video presentations.

Crazy.