How to Find Travel Influencers in 5 Easy Steps

Travel influencers have become a powerful way for brands in the hospitality, tourism, and lifestyle industries to connect with potential customers. Finding the right influencers can help hotels, restaurants, and travel businesses boost visibility, attract bookings, and build trust.

This guide will show you how to find travel influencers, what to look for, and how Bulba can turn this usually longer process into just five steps.

Why Work With Travel Influencers?

Travel influencers use their social media presence, blogs, or video platforms to share their travel experiences. They create content that shows off destinations, hotels, restaurants, and activities in a way that inspires their audience to visit those places.

Travel influencers can be a great way to promote your business. Here’s how working with them can help your business:

Boost Visibility

Influencers have loyal followers who trust their travel advice. When they post about your hotel, restaurant, or experience, their audience takes notice. This can bring new people to your brand, even those who may not have heard of you before.

For example, an influencer staying at your hotel might post about the view from their room, the pool area, or a special dining experience. These posts can reach thousands of potential customers, helping you get noticed without spending on ads.

Build Trust

People often follow influencers because they value their opinions. When an influencer recommends your business, their audience is more likely to listen. This trust can be stronger than traditional advertising.

For example, if a travel influencer praises your customer service or describes a memorable stay, their followers may feel more confident booking with you.

Showcase Experiences in Action

Influencers don’t just talk about your business—they show it. Through videos, photos, and blog posts, they highlight what visitors can expect. This can be more effective than standard ads because it feels more personal.

A food influencer, for example, might capture the plating of your restaurant’s signature dish, while a travel vlogger might film their morning swim at your hotel pool. This content helps viewers imagine themselves enjoying the experience.

Reach Niche Audiences

Many travel influencers focus on specific types of travel, such as:

• Luxury travel for high-end hotels and resorts.
• Budget travel for hostels, backpacker stays, and affordable dining.
• Family travel for hotels with kid-friendly features.
• Adventure travel for outdoor-focused experiences.

Choosing influencers who specialize in the kind of travelers you want to attract helps you connect with the right audience.

Drive Bookings and Sales

Good influencer content does more than just look nice—it can lead to real sales. When influencers post engaging content about your business, their followers may feel inspired to visit.

For example, an influencer might create a room tour video showing your hotel’s cozy design or post about a special dinner deal at your restaurant. This kind of content encourages followers to take action, whether it’s booking a room or making a reservation.

Find Travel Influencers That Fit Your Criteria in 5 Easy Steps With Bulba

For busy travel business owners, managing these steps can feel like a full-time job. That’s why platforms like Bulba help save time by streamlining collaboration requests from travel influencers who meet the specific eligibility criteria you set in your campaign settings—outlined below in five simple steps

Step 1: Creating Your Campaign

Once you sign up and visit the Campaigns page, you can start a new campaign by selecting how often you’d like to collaborate with influencers. There are three options:

Regular Collaboration

This option allows individual influencers to book experiences with your travel business on different days.

For example, one travel influencer might visit your boutique hotel to highlight its cozy design, while another might feature your rooftop dining experience a few days later. This method keeps your travel business visible to potential guests over time.

One-Off Event

A one-off event is ideal for hosting multiple influencers at once.

For instance, if you’re launching a new guided tour or opening a vacation rental, you could invite several influencers to experience it together. This approach can build excitement quickly and generate lots of social media attention.

Recurring Event

This option allows influencers to visit your travel business on a scheduled, repeating basis.

For example, if you offer sunset boat cruises every Friday, inviting influencers regularly can help you promote this experience on an ongoing basis. This strategy keeps your travel business fresh in people's minds.

Step 2: Choose What You Offer to Influencers

Bulba also lets you set clear terms for what influencers will receive. This saves time since only influencers who are happy with your offer will reach out.

Gifted Campaign

A gifted campaign allows you to offer free travel experiences, like complimentary stays or guided tours, in exchange for social media content. This is a great way to fill open slots with valuable marketing exposure.

Even if larger influencers are harder to reach, local travel bloggers and content creators can still help you attract new customers through their posts and reviews.

Paid Campaign

With a paid campaign, you can connect with high-profile travel influencers while controlling your budget. By setting your own terms and pricing, you can manage costs more easily than through traditional influencer marketing.

Plus, Bulba doesn’t take commissions on paid campaigns—they count toward your monthly credits, just like gifted campaigns. This helps you make the most of your budget.

Step 3: Set Your Eligibility Criteria for Influencers

Bulba allows you to define your ideal influencer profile by setting criteria such as:

• Minimum follower count
• Average view count
• Additional notes for specific expectations

This helps you connect with influencers who align with your travel business goals.

Step 4: Target Niche Influencers

The Categories section helps you find influencers who focus on travel-related content. By selecting categories like "travel," "adventure," or "food," you’ll attract influencers who create content that matches your business.

For example, a travel influencer might highlight your eco-friendly resort while a food blogger could showcase your on-site restaurant.

Step 5: Complete Your Campaign

Fill in the rest of the details needed for your campaign. Click "Save and Activate", and you're done! All you have to do now is wait for Bulba to review and publish your campaign.

Once approved, Bulba will do all the work for you. All you have to do now is check your account for requests sent by influencers and approve them, and you're good to go!

How to Choose the Right Travel Influencers on Bulba

Using Bulba makes finding travel influencers easier, but deciding which influencers to approve still requires careful thought. While Bulba’s inbound model saves you from cold outreach, it’s still important to choose influencers who will bring real value to your business.

Here are some factors that can help you decide which influencer requests to approve:

Engaged Audience

On Bulba, you’ll see data about each influencer’s engagement—and this is key. Instead of focusing only on follower count, look for influencers with strong engagement.

Here are signs of an engaged audience:

• Consistent comments: Are followers asking questions or tagging friends in the comments? Comments show that the influencer’s audience is paying attention.
• Active story interactions: Influencers who get replies, votes on polls, and questions in Instagram Stories tend to have an engaged following.
• Saves and shares: These signals show that people find the content helpful or inspiring enough to revisit later or share with others.

Pro tip: Use Bulba to review engagement data directly before approving an influencer request. Influencers with smaller but engaged audiences can sometimes outperform those with larger followings.

Quality Content

When reviewing influencer requests on Bulba, take the time to look at their content. Strong influencers post content that feels natural and aligns with your brand.

Look for influencers who:

• Post clear, well-composed photos: Bright, sharp images stand out.
• Create helpful captions: Their captions should include useful travel advice, recommendations, or personal experiences.
• Showcase authentic experiences: The best influencers create content that feels genuine, not like a scripted ad.

Example: Instead of just posting a photo of your hotel pool, a good influencer might write:
"Spent the afternoon relaxing at [Your Hotel Name]. The poolside cabanas were perfect for soaking up the sun with a cocktail in hand—highly recommend the mango margarita!"

This type of content feels more personal and inviting, which is far more effective than a post that sounds like a sales pitch.

Right Audience

On Bulba, you can view data about each influencer’s audience demographics. This helps you choose influencers whose followers match your ideal guests.

Here's what to look for:

• Location: If your business is in Miami, an influencer with mostly local followers may bring better results than one with followers spread across the globe.
• Interests: If you’re promoting a luxury resort, look for influencers whose followers are interested in high-end travel.
• Age and lifestyle: Family-focused resorts may prefer influencers followed by parents, while adventure-focused brands may prefer influencers with younger, active audiences.

Pro tip: Bulba’s filters allow you to select influencers based on their niche, such as travel, food, or lifestyle, making it easier to connect with creators that fit your brand.

Right Platforms

On Bulba, influencers request collaborations based on the type of content they create. Focus on platforms that align with your marketing goals.

Best platforms for different goals:

• Instagram: Great for visual content, hotel room tours, and dining experiences.
• TikTok: Best for quick, engaging videos that highlight activities, room tours, or local hotspots.
• YouTube: Ideal for detailed travel vlogs or in-depth reviews.
• Blogs: Perfect for long-form content that stays visible in Google search results.

For example, if your goal is to boost direct bookings, Instagram Stories with swipe-up links may be your best choice. If you’re promoting a multi-day tour, a detailed YouTube vlog may perform better.

Professional Behavior

While reviewing influencer requests on Bulba, take note of their past collaborations and professionalism. Reliable influencers make your campaign smoother and more successful.

Look for influencers who:

• Communicate clearly: Influencers who reply quickly and answer questions clearly are easier to work with.
• Stick to deadlines: Reliable influencers post content on time, especially for promotions or seasonal offers.
• Follow agreed terms: Influencers should deliver the type of content you discussed without unexpected changes.

Pro tip: Use Bulba’s campaign tracking tools to manage influencer deadlines and review content before it’s posted. This helps you avoid missed timelines or incomplete posts.

How to Track Results From Travel Influencer Campaigns Using Bulba

Tracking influencer campaign results is easier when you have clear data. Bulba's Statistics tab gives you a detailed breakdown of your campaign progress and performance, helping you understand what’s working and what isn’t.

Here’s how to use Bulba’s data to measure success:

Monthly Content Received

This section shows how much content influencers have submitted in the past 30 days. Tracking this helps you stay aware of your campaign's progress.

If this number is low, it may mean that influencers need a reminder to submit their content. On the other hand, if this number is high, it's a good idea to review the quality of the content to see which influencers are providing the most value.

If your content count is still at zero, you may want to revisit pending influencer requests or follow up with approved influencers to keep things moving.

Monthly Reach Achieved

This section shows how far your influencer content has spread. Reach refers to the number of unique users who have seen your content.

If your content has a high reach but low engagement, it may have attracted viewers without making a strong enough connection to get likes, comments, or clicks. On the other hand, low reach with strong engagement often suggests you’re working with niche influencers who connect deeply with a smaller, targeted audience.

To get a better understanding of your campaign's impact, compare reach data with comments, likes, and shares to see how well viewers are engaging.

Collaboration Requests

This section tracks incoming influencer requests for partnerships.

Pending requests should be reviewed regularly to identify influencers who align with your brand. Accepted requests help you track which influencers are actively moving forward with your campaign. Reviewing rejected requests can also provide insights to improve your selection process in the future.

If your pending requests are piling up, spending some time reviewing and approving influencers can help keep your campaigns active.

Collaboration Progress

This section helps you track the status of ongoing campaigns.

Pending content shows influencers who have been approved but haven’t yet submitted their content. Canceled collaborations track campaigns that influencers have withdrawn from. Expired collaborations highlight campaigns that missed deadlines without completion.

If influencers have asked for more time, they will appear under "Reschedule requested." Meanwhile, incomplete collaborations show influencers who didn’t fulfill their agreed content terms.

Checking this data regularly helps you manage delays and keep your campaigns on track.

Content Performance

Bulba tracks important engagement metrics to help you measure your campaign’s success.

The total posts metric shows how many influencer posts have gone live. Instagram posts and TikTok posts are tracked separately to help you compare platform performance.

For each platform, Bulba provides engagement details such as likes, shares, comments, impressions, reach, and plays. Likes indicate which content is drawing attention. Shares reveal how often posts are spreading to new viewers. Comments provide helpful feedback from the audience.

Impressions show how many times the content appeared in viewers' feeds. Reach measures the number of unique people who saw the content. Lastly, plays track video views on TikTok or Instagram Reels.

Paying attention to posts with strong engagement can help you identify which influencers and content styles are driving the best results.

Total Interactions

This combines all engagement data—likes, comments, shares, and plays—into one number. Tracking this total gives you a clear view of your campaign’s overall impact.

A high interaction rate suggests your content is connecting well with viewers. A low interaction rate may mean it’s time to adjust your influencer choices or content style.

By comparing interaction data across different influencers, you can identify your strongest partners and focus on the collaborations that bring the best results.

Why Finding Travel Influencers Can Feel Overwhelming

Running a travel business is already demanding. From managing bookings to handling customer requests, your daily tasks can quickly pile up. Adding influencer marketing to your to-do list may feel like too much to handle.

Finding the right travel influencers involves several steps, each of which takes time and effort:

Searching for Influencers

Finding the right influencers can take a lot of time. Browsing social media, blogs, or influencer platforms may feel overwhelming because there are so many profiles to review. To find creators who match your brand’s style, audience, and values, you'll need to do some careful research.

This means looking at their content, checking if their followers match your target audience, and reviewing their overall online presence. Taking the time to find influencers who truly align with your brand will help you build better partnerships.

Checking Audience Quality

Even after you find potential influencers, confirming they have real followers is important. Some profiles may look impressive at first, but their audience could include fake accounts or purchased engagement. To spot this, you’ll need to analyze their likes, comments, and follower demographics.

Look for consistent engagement patterns, meaningful comments, and a follower base that makes sense for their content style. Taking this step helps you avoid working with influencers who may not deliver real value.

Negotiating Terms

Once you’ve identified influencers you’d like to work with, the next step is reaching out to discuss the partnership. This process can involve several back-and-forth conversations to agree on details like content deliverables, deadlines, and compensation.

Balancing your budget while offering fair terms is key. Clear communication and well-defined expectations will help both parties feel confident in the agreement.

Tracking Content and Results

After influencers publish their content, tracking performance is important. You'll want to monitor key metrics like likes, comments, shares, and clicks. This helps you measure the success of the campaign and see if influencers are driving the results you expect.

Managing multiple campaigns at once can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re tracking several influencers. Staying organized with clear goals and tracking tools can help you manage results more easily.

If all of the above seems tedious, that’s because it is. You already have a lot on your plate, and handling influencers shouldn’t be on your to-do list. That’s where Bulba comes in.

Why Bulba Is the Smart Choice for Influencer Marketing

Bulba offers a smarter, simpler way for businesses to connect with influencers. Whether you're a restaurant, hotel, or tourist attraction, Bulba helps you grow your business without the high costs or complicated processes often found in traditional influencer marketing.

No Cash Required

Instead of paying influencers directly, you offer free experiences like meals, stays, or tickets in exchange for content. This keeps costs low while still promoting your business.

Volume-Based Pricing

Bulba is the only platform that gets cheaper as you scale. With plans starting at just £79/month, it's designed to fit the budget of small businesses.

Inbound-Only Model

With Bulba, influencers request to collaborate with you. This saves you time and effort since you won’t need to spend hours reaching out to creators.

Full Control

Approve, decline, or reschedule influencer requests with ease. You can also set criteria like minimum follower counts and engagement rates to connect with influencers who match your goals.

Guaranteed Content Creation

Influencers must post content within three weeks, giving you fast and reliable exposure to their audience.

Free Content Rights

With Bulba, you own the rights to influencer content. This means you can reuse their posts on your social media, website, or marketing materials without extra costs.

Real-Time Data Insights

Bulba gives you access to influencer stats like follower count, engagement rates, and audience demographics to help you make informed decisions about which influencers to work with.

Bulba gives small businesses an easy and affordable way to connect with influencers and get noticed. Sign up today and start working with influencers who can help your business grow.

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FAQs About Find Travel Influencers

How to find travel influencers?

To find travel influencers, start by searching social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Use hashtags such as #travelblogger, #travelphotography, or #bucketlistdestinations to discover profiles. Platforms like Bulba also help businesses connect with influencers by showing detailed audience demographics and content styles. This makes it easier to find influencers who align with your brand's values and target audience.

Who is the best travel influencer?

The best travel influencer depends on what you're looking for. Some focus on travel photography and hidden gems, while others share travel tips or create lifestyle posts about food and local culture. Finding the perfect match for your brand often comes down to audience demographics, content style, and the influencer's reputation for providing honest reviews.

How much do travel influencers get paid?

Travel influencer rates vary widely. Some lifestyle influencers or travel bloggers may accept free stays or experiences in exchange for content, while others charge based on their reach and engagement. Influencers who create high-quality travel lifestyle content often command higher rates, especially if they offer detailed travel hacks, travel tips, or personalized recommendations for bucket list destinations.

How to find a specific influencer?

If you're looking for a specific travel blogger or lifestyle content creator, search their name on social media platforms or Google. Tools like Bulba allow you to filter influencers by categories such as travel, food-lover, or lifestyle influencer to match your brand's needs. Checking their travel blog, social media posts, and audience demographics can help confirm if they’re the right fit.