Bloggers invade the New York Times Travel Show!
Bloggers are taking over the world. Or at least the travel industry.
That’s the impression I got at the 2011 New York Times Travel Show, which took place last weekend in Manhattan’s Javits Center.
While covering the event, I met travel bloggers from around the world– and tourism reps who were eager to work with them. In the conference rooms, industry presenters urged the crowd to embrace Twitter and gave tips on starting a travel blog.
It appears that the New York Times show has entered a new era: The rise of the influential blogger.
Bloggers Matt Stabile and Maria Russo joined me and NYC tour guide Jeffrey Tanenhaus on the show floor.
Bloggers Rule
On Friday’s “industry” day– open only to the press and travel reps– five full panels were devoted to blogging and social media. In fact, every presentation in the Travel Media room focused on new media.
During the weekend, when seminars were open to the general public, panel topics included Travel Wiser with Bloggers and a Travel Writing 201, whose presenters all had “.com” in their bios.
In contrast, there wasn’t a single seminar focusing on print media or how to break into travel magazines.
Saturday's "Travel Wiser with Bloggers" panel included Robert Reid, Kim Mance, David Farley, Andrew Evans and Jen Leo.
The Society Page
This was my second New York Times Travel Show. Last year I covered the event with the determination of a beat reporter. I stopped by as many booths as humanly possible, grilled the tourism reps and snapped photos of every stuffed moose, costumed Mountie and Carnival dancer in attendance.
This year I took a more laid back approach. I discovered that spending time with other writers was as rewarding as listening to seminars and stuffing tourism brochures into overflowing bags.
I had the chance to meet several well-known bloggers who I’ve been following on Twitter for over a year. As a rule, they were friendly and eager to share their tips and experiences.
Gary and Kelley at the NY Times Travel Show.
I was a bit star struck to meet Gary Arndt, the blogging equivalent of George Clooney. This A-list blogger is a true digital nomad; he’s been traveling non-stop for four years and chronicles his journey on the Everything, Everywhere blog. With over 100,000 Twitter followers, Gary is possibly the most influential travel blogger on Earth.
Gary shared his wisdom with me and Tripfilms.com producer/host Kelley Ferro. Kelley is based in New York and is a regular at TBEX chapter events. Her site recently posted its 10,000th travel video- not too shabby!
The ladies of travel: Sarah, Charu, Andi and me.
I was excited to meet Andi Perullo, the glamorous travel blogger behind My Beautiful Adventures and a practicing Chinese Medicine Doctor. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, she’s engaged to a handsome Argentine and is getting married in Buenos Aires. ¡Que copado!
It was great to finally meet Sarah Wu in person. A graphic designer by trade, Sarah posts her travel adventures on SWGraphic. She was very sweet and I hope to see her again soon.
We were joined by Charu Suri, the travel and beauty blogger who runs Butterfly Diary. Charu looked as fashionable as ever and was planning to attend an Oscars media event on Sunday.
Anthony, Maria and Matt tasting Dominican rum at the travel show.
I always enjoy hanging out with Maria Russo of Memoirs of a Travel and Food Addict, her husband Anthony, and Matt Stabile of The Expeditioner.
They sipped rum from the Dominican Republic booth without ice or mixers; I consider that extremely adventurous.
I sampled Caribbean rum punch with Charu and Matt.
Charu discovered more free rum (this time in punch form) in the Caribbean section. It was a great prelude to the official happy hour, which was sponsored by Brazil tourism.
We ran into Nomadic Matt, a well-known blogger who has been backpacking around the world since 2005. His posts on NomadicMatt.com touch on controversial topics and receive 100+ comments each.
During the happy hour, a woman in her golden years struck up a conversation and appeared to be flirting with Matt. He’s clearly a charismatic guy!
Charu catching up with Aaron and Teresa.
We spotted New York City bloggers Teresa Gotay of Art of Backpacking and Aaron of Aaron’s WorldWide Adventures. Teresa is gearing up for an extended trip through Europe, starting in Holland. Yes, I am extremely jealous!
We also met Laura of Travel for Love, a Pittsburgh-based blogger who travels frequently to meet up with her Brazilian fiance. She showed us the cutest video of Bolivian monkeys attacking her man. (Click on her site for details).
Cultural Highlights
The New York Times Travel Show offered plenty of photo ops. Stuffed animals– and people dressed as animals– were just a few of the cultural attractions.
The Mexico booth featured a giant statue of a bride. I’m not sure if this was a piñata or an effigy, but it sure got my attention.
Maria and I posed with reps in traditional Ecuadorian costume on the show floor.
After sipping on caipirinhas, I shot an impromptu travel video with The Expeditioner. I’m hoping to capture a slice of Matt’s impressive YouTube following. He seems to get recognized from his Colombia videos everywhere he goes!
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Awww I’m SO touched with what you wrote about me, gracias linda!!! Meeting you was definitely a highlight of my trip! Espero que nos veamos prontito. Super besos!
De nada! It was a pleasure meeting you and hanging out at the show. Hope to see you again soon 🙂
Interesting analysis on the changes at the show. I agree that bloggers are definitely becoming more influential. I am still shocked I was invited to Utah with a blog that is in the millions on the alexa rank and with Examiner, but it shows that some tourist agencies see the potential in what we are doing.
I went to the Chicago show a couple of weeks ago, but bloggers were pretty much absent. That is awesome you were able to mix with so many legends of twitter.
It’s interesting that the Chicago travel show isn’t as blogger-friendly. New York City is a media hub, with traditional companies (Hearst, Time Inc) and new media agencies based here. Maybe that’s why? I feel lucky to live in a city with a variety of blogger events and PR-sponsored tweetups.
It is not that they were not blogger friendly. They reached out to me and gave me a pass, but it is just I am one of the few travel bloggers in town. Whereishawkins is really the only other local travel blogger I know of. You are lucky to have so many travel bloggers there and they all seem to be very pretty 🙂
On behalf of all NYC female bloggers, I thank you for the compliment!
What a great round-up of this event! It looks like y’all had an awesome time!
Thanks Akila! It was fun (and informative).
Yeah, I’m sexy
Work it!
Aw, I missed all the fun! Tons more bloggers this year then last that’s for sure! Hope we connect soon, but definitely there as well next year! xoxo
There were definitely more bloggers this year vs 2010. It was great seeing old friends and making new ones! Hope to see you soon in NYC 🙂
Love the society page and seeing so many people I consider friends but have never met in person.
Are you coming to TBEX?
Yes! Jake and I will be at TBEX in Vancouver. Although I’m based in NYC, I actually missed the last TBEX. I’m excited to meet you in person!
It was so fun hanging out with you Leslie! This was my first travel show and I really had no idea what to expect. I certainly didn’t realize that so many bloggers would be there, that there’d be so much emphasis on social media, or that the rep’s would show so much interest in us. Plus, I’ve added a lot of must-see destinations to my list. I’m so glad I went!
I’m glad you went too! Now I have a friend in Pittsburgh for my next weekend getaway 😉
Hilarious photos! I loved how you got photos with everyone!
Thanks 🙂 I think I have the chops to be a “blogarazzi”
I loved this and I also love your bright red hair. It looks great. Anyway, thanks fo rturning me on to these great travel bloggers.
Aw, thanks for the compliment on my hair and post! Hope you make it to NYC soon.
I HAVE to get to this next year. Sounds like an incredible time. We’re getting our blogging feet wet at TBEX in Vancouver in June, God willin’ and the creek don’t rise.
Nice post. cI wish I could have joined you and the other bloggers there. What fun! Nice to see you all in the pics, too.
Nice post. I wish I could have joined you and the other bloggers there. What fun! Nice to see you all in the pics, too.
Always so lovely to see you and I am flabbergasted at the mention!!! I wish I could bring all my NYC tweeps to Europe. As much as I am ECSTATIC to see my Dutchie, I am so sad I am going to miss tweetups. Plan some epic events for the summer; NYC summer events are just the absolute best! We had a great crowd and I’m so glad I came out to the event despite the family crisis. Thanks for keeping my spirits up!
I can’t wait for summer– free movies and concerts in the park, outdoor happy hours… the possibilities are endless! Have a blast in Europe. I’ll be following your posts!
This is so awesome to hear!!! Looks like you met some fantastic bloggers – I’m so jealous – wish we weren’t so far away and could have attended this show (any excuse to get back to my favourite city, actually)!
I dunno– your RTW itinerary looks pretty sweet! The next time you come to NYC, let me know and we’ll have a tweetup
Leslie,
good to hear (and see) your perspective on the show this year. looking forward to your reports from TBEX as well.
I am so happy you posted this! I was set to come and the New England snow and frozen pipes got in the way. But now I feel as if I am caught up and informed. Great to see Teresa’s smile! Look forward to going next year!
you are SO lucky .. you got to meet them all.. and they , you! arrgh.. i hope to be so lucky one day:)
Seriously! But I’ll be the lucky one when I finally visit Malaysia and get to meet all of the famous foodie bloggers there 🙂
Missed it by one day. I was there on Sunday. I am not sure I would say “dominated” given the lines to meet Samantha Brown or Rick Steves were the longest.
Well, I wouldn’t expect bloggers to attract lines of fans like those TV stars! (Although that would be exciting). Consumers don’t queue up to greet magazine writers or newspaper reporters either. However, the travel industry is embracing travel bloggers and social media tactics.
It was so wonderful to see you again and to chill with all these amazing bloggers! Y’all were by far my biggest takaway from the travel show!
I have to agree… the panels seem to be the same from year to year. How many times can we hear that Cuba is the next big destination or listen to a presentation on why Twitter is important?
Awesome… You guys conquer the NYC Travel show! 🙂 Looks like more and more bloggers are representing their city. And all the names from famous events.. I love it! Can’t wait to join you 🙂
Nice to hear and see that travel bloggers took over Manhattan! 🙂
Seems like you had a lot of fun! Maybe I’ll make it there too someday. Would love to meet all the US travel bloggers some day.
Do you ever go to blogging events in Europe, like the TBEX Europe chapter or Travel Bloggers Unite? I’m curious to know how bloggers are accepted by the travel industry in your part of the world 🙂
What a great event for travel bloggers. And yes, bloggers are becoming more influential every day. Thanks for covering the event!
Ahhh! Now I regret not going. And to think I was just sitting at home in Virginia doing nothing that weekend. Surprised to see so many bloggers! In 2010 it was just you and Expeditioner Matt, and I.