Tourism Journalist
As a tourism journalist you may write and edit copy for websites, press releases, newsletters or magazines. You might be lucky enough to travel to destinations for a firsthand experience of what you are writing about.
What the job looks like
Salary expectation
starts at $36,090 up to $71,416+
The good
- Travelling around the country or the world
- Learning about different cultures and experiences
- Meeting lots of different and interesting people
- Having your work published and seeing your name in the byline
- Being able to write creatively and tell a story
- Doing different things every day
The not so good
- Getting writer's block
- Rewriting copy over and over again
- Working to strict deadlines
- Waiting on people for quotes
If your dream job involves being paid to travel then a career as a tourism journalist is one way to do it.
It will be your job to provide information on travel destinations, news and experiences for a particular audience. You need excellent communication skills as you will constantly talking to people and asking lots of questions either on the phone or face-to-face.
Being a journalist means having an excellent understanding of English and grammar. Your writing needs to be factual and free of grammatical errors otherwise your credibility as a reliable journalist could be questioned. You will also be working to tight deadlines so need to have great time management skills and be able to work under pressure.
A journalist now has to be multiskilled as you will find yourself looking after websites, monitoring social media accounts and taking photos for stories on top of writing them.
Being able to interpret data or graphs is also important so maths skills will be useful. A lot of stories often come from the results of a survey and you need to accurately report about them.
If you are passionate about the travel industry, love writing and have excellent communication skills, then a career as a tourism journalist could be for you.
The great thing about my job is that it changes everyday, I could be doing anything. I’ve also met some wonderful characters.
Pathways to this career
Subject suggestions for the HSC
Choosing your HSC subjects from this list could really help with your career. Think carefully about what you want to study after school as you might need to choose specific HSC subjects for that course and to count towards your ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). An ATAR is your academic rank in relation to other HSC students and helps with University admission.
HSC subjects
Some subjects will count towards your ATAR, others will not. Check with your career advisor before making subject selections.
- English (Advanced or higher)
- Mathematics (General 2 or higher)
- Geography
- Ancient or Modern History
- VET Tourism and Events
What can I do after I have finished school?
University degrees
Studying one of these degrees can help with your career.
- Bachelor of Communication
- Bachelor of Arts (Journalism)
Suggestions
Get some experience in the tourism industry - Most towns and councils have tourism departments so start by asking people who work there
- Get writing experience anywhere you can - your local paper, magazines, online
- Read lots of travel articles
- Try and get some of your own stories published
- Keep an eye out for competitions you can enter
- Save a copy of any stories that you have published
- Brush up on your photography and digital skills
- Go to career expos and events like university Open Days for information about what you will study
