How Travel Bloggers Make Money

Ever wonder how travel bloggers make money? How it can ever be possible to get paid to travel the world and never work a 9-5 again?

Well, I’m here to tell you that, yes, it is definitely possible. And, you can make good money doing it.

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Travel Blogger Salary

According to ZipRecruiter, the average travel blogger salary is roughly $88,000 USD per year, with some travel bloggers earning little to nothing and other travel bloggers earning upwards of $200,000 per year.

How much a travel blogger makes heavily depends on how much the travel blogger is working (hobby, part-time or full-time) as well as the scope of work that the travel blogger is doing (passive and/or active income).

As you can see from the average salary of a travel blogger, it’s definitely possible to make a fantastic living from travel blogging. But, how?

Here’s exactly how travel bloggers make money.

How Travel Bloggers Make Money

1. Ads

The first way travel bloggers make money is from placing ads on their blog posts and webpages.

While travel bloggers can design their own ads and work with brands on ads individually, most travel bloggers work with an ad agency that serves as a mediator between the bloggers and brands. Working with an ad agency is, by far, the easiest, fastest and most lucrative way to earn income passively with blog ads.

When just starting, most travel bloggers start placing ads on their blog through Google Adsense, an ad agency with a high acceptance rate and a relatively low barrier to entry.

As their blog traffic picks up overtime, travel bloggers then apply to bigger ad agencies, such as Ezoic, Mediavine or AdThrive, which have stricter acceptance policies but pay significantly more money that Google Adsense.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Furthermore, another passive income stream that travel bloggers have is affiliate marketing.

Travel bloggers make money through affiliate marketing by sharing products they love on their blog with an affiliate link that is unique to them. When a reader purchases a product through one of these links, the travel blogger makes a commission on that sale.

Just like ads, the more traffic travel bloggers have, the more money they make from affiliate marketing each month, generally speaking.

Two of the biggest affiliate programs that travel bloggers use, including myself, include Amazon Associates and LTK.

3. Blog And Social Media Sponsorships

Next, travel bloggers can make a substantial amount of money through blog and social media sponsorships.

In a sponsorship, a brand pays the blogger to promote its product to the blogger’s readers, email list subscribers and social media followers.

Essentially, the blogger acts as a human billboard in sponsorships. Instead of paying for an actual billboard to advertise to highway traffic, brands pay for a promotion to advertise to the targeted blogger’s blog traffic.

Although sponsorships are active income, which aren’t as scalable as passive income streams, travel bloggers can still make a ton of money on sponsorships — especially when just starting out.

4. Press Trips

Similarly, travel bloggers make money on press trips.

In the same way as sponsorships, brands will pay the bloggers to come on a trip to promote a particular hotel, airline, tourism board or other travel brand.

Press trips can either be hosted (all expenses covered but no additional pay), partially hosted (some expenses covered but usually no additional pay) or paid (all expenses covered and additional pay).

5. Content Creation

When a travel blogger is hired for content creation, the brand is usually paying the blogger for photography or videography.

In essence, the blogger is creating content for the brand to use on their website, socials and ads.

how to make money as a travel photographer

Although this is an active form of income and, therefore, not very scalable, content creation is a very lucrative way for bloggers to make money because bloggers can negotiate higher pay for contract elements like image usage rights, ad rights and brand exclusivity.

6. Other Freelance Work

Likewise, many travel bloggers make money through other freelance work opportunities, such as freelance copywriting, editing, graphic design, photo editing, ghost writing, etc.

When just starting out, bloggers can find freelance clients through word-of-mouth referral, social media or freelance networks like Upwork and Fiverr.

7. Selling Products Or Services

Finally, travel bloggers make money by selling their own products and services to their audience members.

Selling products and services can be passive and/or active, and can come in a variety of forms.

For example, some bloggers sell digital products (ebooks, online courses, digital templates, Adobe Lightroom presets, etc.) while other bloggers sell physical products (clothing line, product line, merchandise, etc.).

How Travel Bloggers Make Money On Instagram

Travel bloggers make money in Instagram through paid Instagram sponsorships, affiliate marketing, Reels bonuses and monthly subscriptions.

We have already talked about sponsorships and affiliate marketing, so we’ll touch on Reels bonuses and monthly subscriptions now.

Through Reels bonuses, bloggers are paid directly by Instagram to create Reels. Generally speaking, the more views a creator’s Reels get, the more money that creator makes.

Through monthly subscriptions, on the other hand, creators can be paid monthly by their Instagram followers to receive exclusive Instagram content from the creator in return.

How do travel bloggers get free trips?

Travel bloggers get free trips by working alongside hotels, airlines, tourism boards and other travel brands to promote the brands to their blog readers, email list subscribers and social media followers.

To start getting these free trips, travel bloggers must grow their blog and/or social media traffic, as well as network with travel brands they want to work with.

These free trips are the basically same as the press trips mentioned earlier. Again, the expenses of press trips can be completely covered, partially covered or completely covered with additional pay.

Is travel blogging worth it?

Yes, travel blogging is totally worth it if you’re willing to put in the hard, long work that it requires.

It can take a minimum of 1-2 years of hard work to build a sustainable income as a travel blogger. Although this may sound intimidating, it is completely worthwhile if you are passionate about travel and serving others.