Only individuals with special licenses and permissions deemed relevant by governments could move between countries. Today we’re going to look at a specific segment of the travel industry and see how travel influencers have bounced back post covid.

Before we get to that, let’s see how they were affected by the pandemic in the first place to provide some context on how things are changing for the better.

How Covid-19 affected travel influencers

The whole influencer marketing scene has been hit hard by the pandemic, but again, the travel segment was the one that suffered the most. Many travel influencers rely on exploring the world and getting sponsored trips, promoting brands, destinations, hotels, etc.

Since most of the population was on lockdown and all non-essential travel was banned, these influencers couldn’t do their jobs. Yes, most of them know how to make money on YouTube, but they need to get the travel content based around visiting a location and exploring its beauties.

At the same time, many influencers with long-term endorsements had their contracts put on hold, creating a long period of uncertainty for content creators. The travel industry suffered a decline of almost 50% at the early stages of the pandemic, with over $4.5 billion loss.

How the pandemic changed the travel industry & influencers

Hotels and influencers agree they need to maintain mutually beneficial relationships, but this doesn’t mean the future will be easy. Even though the pandemic didn’t change how the game works, it made things different. Travel influencers had much easier jobs in the past.

Most of the influencers took photos on beaches, recorded videos, and provided commentary. Today, influencers must be more insightful in working on more complex topics, like educating people about where they can travel, how, and what rights they have as travelers.

Influencers started using their platforms to teach people where to get refunds or what rights they have when booking flights or trips. By the middle of 2020, many influencers also started working on discovering rare places where travel was allowed and some lesser-known tourist destinations worldwide.

Finding new opportunities

Even though the pandemic stopped, all travelers started consuming more travel content. Travelers simply had more time to spend online and were hungry for travel content. Google trends showed that more people were searching for travel content than ever.

At the same time, a new type of content became very popular called “travel tours,” as people wanted to experience a bit of that travel experience digitally. Pinterest recorded a 100% increase in travel searches, and travel influencers played a major role in this spike in popularity.

Even though there was a travel ban, influencers had a tough job of keeping people excited about future travel while giving them valuable information about covid restrictions.

Influencers were the first to travel post-pandemic

Travelers no longer search for straightforward content like “what to visit in South America.” The search intent has changed drastically, and there are new niches like “social distancing travel” and other niches with evident information gaps. Travel influencers are looking to identify and fill these gaps.

As mentioned, they’ve done this by offering valuable content during the pandemic. However, since the travel bans were lifted, influencers were the first to start traveling. They used this opportunity to give people a hands-on perspective on post-pandemic travel.

They showed people what travel looks like and encouraged them to travel themselves. Influencers also showed what had changed regarding the regulations and protocols set by different countries and travel airlines.

Bottom line

Even though the pandemic has devastated travel influencers and the travel industry overall, influencers have adjusted and used this opportunity to be creative and offer different types of content. They’ve discovered lesser-known destinations and re-established their relationship with the local tourism industry, making it more resilient to future issues.

Travel influencers are a vital force that helps modern travelers get the information they need about destinations and adjust their behaviors. At the same time, they help travel companies learn what the public loves about their services and what could be improved.