Travel Matters

In this special episode, Leslie Walker founder of Tourism Worx shares 15 things DMO's travel brands and content creators can do right now to help seem them through the Covid19 crisis.

She shares the example of how the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum used transparency and being human to gain tens of thousands of new followers when they put a security guard in charge of social media when the museum temporarily closed due to Covid19 restrictions.

Rick rants about how important it is for DMO's to work with local creators and Palle updates us on how long he has gone without wine during the lockdown.

We also discuss TBEX North America 2019 in Lafayette keynote speakers Brandy Evans and Jada Durden.

Leslie Walker has more than 20 years of experience in tourism. Having worked for IHG and Ramada hotels and the Huntsville CVB.

In this episode, we talk continue talking with several TBEX Europe attendees who still went to Catania Italy after TBEX Europe 2020 had been postponed.

We will hear about their impressions of Sicily and Catania; what it was like to be traveling when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entire country of Italy on March 10th; How they got home and how things are on the ground where they are now. Their stories give great context to how fast the Covid-19 Pandemic broke out of Wuhan China and quickly consumed the entire world.

Doro Staub is our first guest. Her blog is MissMove.ch where she writes about cycling in Italy. Doro is still in Sicily, staying in Aci Castello a neighboring seaside town to Catania.

Our next guest is long time travel writer Carla Rupp who is in New York City on lockdown and self-quarantine with her son Jason Rupp. She explains what it is like to be social distancing at home in the center of the Covid19 pandemic. Here is a recent example of Carla's writing at Jim Ferri's Never Stop Traveling Site.

Then we talk with full time nomads Nathan Sado and Sara Hughes of Live Dream Discover. They are currently sheltering in place in Budapest Hungary. Nathan and Sarah were two months into scheduled months long trip through Europe including six weeks in Sicily when the pandemic struck. They have a great post on their short time in Florence here and have lots more content coming about Sicily.

Then we talk with Alex Kalimanis publisher of Wanderlust Marriage from Washington DC. Alex has a great post here where he details what he went through to get home here.

Lastly, our co-host, Radio Vagabond Palle Bo is currently weathering the lockdown in Cape Town South Africa. While he isn't able to explore on this trip, In this episode he shares the Top Ten Things You Can See in Cape Town in a Week during normal times.

In this episode, we talk to several TBEX Europe attendees who still went to Catania after the event was postponed. They share their impressions of Sicily and Catania. They share what it was like to be traveling when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entire country of Italy. Little did anyone know this was just the second step in the CoronaVirus' march across the world. They also share how they got home and what it is like in their home countries or next destination.

We start this episode with Kemkem Casanelli who runs Next Bite of Life with her partner Frederico. KemKem joins us from Spain.

We then talk to Penny Zebula and Simon Lock from Six Legs Will Travel. Penny has a blog post about her thoughts on the Pandemic titled Blog post: Coronavirus, Europe, and "What the Hell Do We Do Now?"

YouTuber Jason Rupp joins us to explain how the CoronaVirus chased him around the world from Wuhan, to Catania and finally to New York where he is now in isolation with his mom and fellow travel writer Carla Rupp. This post give you a sense of the unique travel content on Jason's site:

"HAIRCUT on the BEACH by Transgender FEMALE BARBER "Nin" PATTAYA THAILAND"

Jason also shared a post with us from an American Expat YouTuber who claims to see where CoronaVirus actually originated. This YouTuber Laowhy86's research has not been repeated in several mainstream American media including the Washington Post. His normal content is simply about living in China as an expat and his view of Chinese people's perspectives on the world. Yet another example of the power of independent content creators. Lastly, here is a link to our co-host Palle Bo's The Radio Vagabond Podcast episode where speaks to bloggers, nomads and tour operators all over the world.

In this episode, we talk about COVID19's impact on the travel industry and our daily lives.

We start with how fast the pandemic spread in Italy, and our decision-making process to reschedule TBEX Europe 2020 in Catania Italy. We also talk about new dates for TBEX Europe 2020.

We then have an in-depth discussion with Angelo Carotenuto; Founder and CEO of LivItaly Tours. Angelo is joining us from Rome and his story gives you a glimpse into what a tour operator's business looks like and how COVID19 changed everything. We discuss how Covid-19 has impacted their business, the travel industry and daily life in Italy.

We also check in with our NEW Co-Conference Director for TBEX North America; Tomiko Harvey and TBEX Europe Conference Director Shane Dallas to hear about life on the ground in Murfreesboro Tennessee and Nairobi Kenya. Tomiko and Shane share some tips and suggestions that content creators work on while the world is standing still.

Palle talks about the current status in Cape Town, South Africa, and Rick shares what life is like Temecula California during the COVID19 Pandemic.

HOSTS: Rick Calvert, TBEX. Palle Bo, The Radio Vagabond. Produced by Radioguru.

In this episode we speak with Keith and Tina Paul from Retire Early And Travel. As they write on their about page, they are lovers of travel and wine.

Fueled by their passion for learning, experiencing other cultures, and meeting people, they want to see the world. They consider themselves forever students.

Keith and Tina have been together since they were 18. They believe in collecting memories and experiences, not things.

On TBEX North America in Billings, Keith and Tina Paul spoke about how they achieved 1 million site visitors in just 7 months.

CATANIA

We also speak with Mario from Catania, Sicily, Italy about what kind of place we can expect to visit when we go to TBEX Europe in 2020.

Hear the full Catania song by clicking here.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FEATURED ON TRAVEL MATTERS?

If you're going to World Travel Market (WTM) in London in the coming days, and would like to be featured here on Travel Matters, get in touch.

You can reach Rick on [email protected] and Palle Bo on [email protected].

In this episode of Travel Matters, Rick Calvert talks to Michael Collins from TravelMedia.ie.

TravelMedia.ie is a full service public relations, marketing, events, communications and travel trade representation company, founded in 2006, and managed by Michael Collins.

The company is one of Europe's leading travel media companies – specialising in PR, events, media buying, strategic advice, industry consultancy, digital communications and social media within the travel industry for both trade and consumer – delivering measurable results for clients.

Watch Michael's conversation with Sante J Achille about advanced SEO and structured data by clicking here.

Travel Matters is hosted by Rick Calvert, CEO of TBEX and Palle Bo, The Radio Vagabond and produced by RadioGuru.

This is the first episode of Travel Matters, the official podcast from TBEX.

Here we introduce the two hosts, Rick Calvert, CEO of TBEX and Palle Bo, The Radio Vagabond.

We also speak to Travel Camel, Shane Dallas, conference director of TBEX Europe about what is coming up on the conference in Catania, Sicily, Italy in March 2020.

And of course a bit about the upcoming event, TBEX North America in Billings Montana this week.

Travel Matters is produced by RadioGuru.