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TravelGenrePresentation

Before the Internet, we usually relied on books, television shows, travel agents and word-of-mouth to gather information about the places where we are traveling to and for booking tickets. Now the Internet can literally be our “one-stop shop” for getting destination ideas, researching countries, and then purchasing our tickets.

Traditional TV Shows on the Internet

Traveling blends in very well with other genres such as food and sports and is, therefore, hard to define on its own.

http://travel.discovery.com/tv/bizarre-foods/bizarre-foods.html
This website for the show “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” (from the Travel Channel) shows the intersection of food and travel.

…and Podcast

http://travel.discovery.com/tv/samantha-brown/latin-america/podcast.html
This page from the website for the show “Samantha Brown: Passport to Latin America” allows a viewer to download podcasts of her shows.

http://www.erikhastings.com/audio/podcast/
Not as flashy and fancy compared to the above Travel Channel show sites, but this radio show host’s site contains a list of MP3s that you can download and listen to on the site itself or download to an iPod or MP3 Player, etc. I found it practically impossible to sit and listen without any visuals, considering traveling is usually about being stimulated by what you see. But there are videos as well, for instance: http://www.erikhastings.com/Destinations/dest_new_orleans/dest_new_orleans-overview.asp

Different Formats

The examples above have a host introducing the viewer to various aspects of a country or region but here is an example of a couple of hosts introducing an area of the world through the eyes of other people by using a six-degrees of separation type of format:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/lptv/

Holding Back

One thing I’ve noticed about these television websites is that they offer previews, outtakes and exclusive show snippets in terms of video but nothing beyond that. Here are examples from the show “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations”:
http://travel.discovery.com/video/video.html?playerId=203712212&categoryId=208816807&lineupId=412469894

Travel – Related Sites

http://www.turnhere.com/ourwork_travel.html
This site creates high quality online travel videos for clients such as Travelocity and Intercontinental Hotels but also distributes their finished videos through sites such as Google and YouTube.

http://www.travelocity.com/
One of many online ticket-booking sites, which take into account a lot more than just the flight. There are also cruises, cars, and activities, just to name a few.

Blogs, Video/Photo-Sharing sites

http://www.travelblog.org/
A mind-boggling amount of journals with photos, videos, etc. all categorized by areas of the world, blogger names, and the latest updated journals.

http://www.travelblog.org/Videos/latest-videos.html
Here are the latest updated videos.

Here’s a link to someone’s blog:
http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-161439.html

In addition to being a collection of blogs, this site also takes into account social networking sites such as Facebook by creating applications for the site:
http://www.travelpod.com/

What’s Next?

The Internet has definitely made travel a whole lot easier. People all over the world are connected to the Internet and have greater access to planes, trains, and other modes of transportation. With a ticket, a form of transportation, a video camera, and an Internet connection, it’s not just the television hosts who can share their traveling experiences but pretty much anybody. Travel used to be an activity enjoyed by a privileged (financially loaded) few but that’s clearly no longer the case.

Increased access to the Internet and traveling means more areas of the world will be shared by an increasingly diverse group of people. With this amazing ability to share one’s travels, maybe more and more people will turn to the Internet for finding out about other parts of the world. In spite of the countless travel show websites out there, I believe that we still rely a lot on friends, family and people we know well for our traveling ideas. Social networking sites are an example of how the Internet can provide a great way for friends to communicate and get ideas for their next trip.