Comments on: How tour operators should deal with journalists

By: Shannon Hurst Lane

Shannon Hurst Lane — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:08:53 +0000

Every tour operator should read this. Thanks for your wisdom, David.

By: Tim Richards

Tim Richards — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:38:59 +0000

Totally agree. I particularly miss the presence of other travellers whose idiosyncracies, comments and reactions to the tour might otherwise add colour to my story.

By: Winsor Dobbin

Winsor Dobbin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:45:59 +0000

I find the same problem with hotels, B&Bs etc. They put fresh flowers or a bottle of wine, or a plate of chocolates in the room – simply because you are a journalist. You then write about how nice it is to get flowers/wine/chocolates and they come back to say “we only did that for you”. Don’t! I want to see exactly what a regular traveller gets so I can write about that experience. Not an enhanced one.

By: Andrew Sanger

Andrew Sanger — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:47:43 +0000

So true. This has been a constant problem over the years, both on press trips and when hosted solo.
Another great treat, actually useless from a work point of view, is to be shown around historic buildings, art collections, libraries, palaces etc that are normally closed to the public. You can’t even mention them in your piece.

By: Victoria Trott

Victoria Trott — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:40:52 +0000

On a press trip to Grasse we had the most wonderful lunch in field of roses – but you can only go there if you’re booking a largeish function like a wedding etc so I couldn’t use this in a general piece. This kind of thing happens all too often. The other annoying thing is when they insist on showing you something when you’re quite specific that you want to see something else (that you’ve deemed more interesting for your readers).

By: Mike Gerrard

Mike Gerrard — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:18:42 +0000

Agreed. It can prove difficult when you ask ‘And what does this cost?’ only to discover that they don’t do it for regular travellers.