COVID-19 has brought the world to its knees and so many changes are happening around us as we speak. The travel industry is feeling the pinch. In this blog post, I talk about my thoughts on the future of travel blogging.

1st of January rolled around.

We were all happy and excited for the New Years. Some of us (including Yours Truly) wrote down a list of New Years Resolutions.

One of these resolutions was to keep growing this blog. My traffic grew by 400% in a year (yes, 400%!) I was excited, happy and hopeful that I’ll be able to start making a living from blogging.

I worked hard, created new pins every day, wrote blog posts well in advance.

March rolled around and my views started plummeting. I thought there was another algorithm update on Pinterest (my main source of traffic is Pinterest) that I missed so I did some research. Nothing changed.

Then I thought Google changed things up again. Nope, things were still the same on Google.

And then it hit me!

It was COVID-19.

COVID-19 shook the travel industry to its very core. Including travel blogging and travel influencers.

I was, and still am, kind of bummed about the number of visitors disappearing every day. However, I do understand that people are simply not searching for travel-related content.

This got me thinking about the future of my blog.

On this blog, I mainly talk about travel and write a blog post about blogging tips here and there. But now it got me thinking about what’s going to happen with my blog.

Many experts are saying that this will pass by summertime. I believe that but I also believe that it will take a while for things to go back the way they used to be. A part of me thinks that things will not go to pre-COVID days.

It will take time for people to feel comfortable with going out again and travel. It will take some time for economies to bounce back, airlines to start operating again, airports to open again.

Just because one country is showing signs of improvement, doesn’t mean that the problem is gone.

And even if the travel bans and restrictions are lifted, we will see a cluster of cases pop up here and there.

My hope is that a cure for this virus is found.

All bloggers (especially travel bloggers) felt the impact of this virus and it got me thinking about the future of travel blogging.

I certainly don’t want to give up on this blog because the amount of happiness and motivation this blog gives me cannot be put into words.

But I think the time has come to be creative. Unfortunately, I don’t have 10k followers on Instagram where I can use the swipe up feature for my blog posts.

In times like these, we have to get creative and think outside of the travel blogger/travel influencer box.

We have to be creative with our marketing strategy right now. For instance, on Instagram, I used to share nothing but my travel pictures. Now, I’m sharing pictures of my day to day life and that brings me the same amount of happiness as sharing travel-related photos!

If you’re a small travel blogger right now and you’re struggling, you’re not alone.

In moments like these, you have to be creative. Think outside the box.

Write about your other passions in life. Do you enjoy cooking and eating?

Share some of your recipes!

Do you enjoy working out?

Share you best workout tips or better yet, film an at-home workout!

In conclusion, I don’t think that travel blogging is dead but I do think that travel blogging is going to change.

None of us knows when we are able to travel again and produce more content. And even when we are out of the crisis we are in, I strongly believe that things will not go back to “normal”.

Anywho, I felt like I needed to get things off my chest and write a blog post about it!

Let me know what you think in the comments below or email me at rebecca@yourstrulyrebecca.com

Until the next one.

Remember to wash your hands,

Rebecca.