Is the end of the era of influencers approaching?

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(CNN) - Amy Seder is not used to having her door shut in her face. His ingenious Instagram posts about a glamorous life, in glamorous destinations, have earned him an army of online fans, which the travel industry is generally eager to adopt.

But when he recently contacted a hotel in Italy, hoping for a free stay in exchange for social media exposure, he was rejected bluntly.

“Blogger infestation. We are not interested, ”was the short answer.

The so-called “influencers” of trips like Seder make a living sharing their experiences of globetrotters in social networks and personal blogs. They receive gifts, discounts or payments for promoting places, products and experiences through their accounts.

The last few years have seen a relative explosion in the number of people who are apparently working on this route. The many travelers who now plan their vacations based on what they have seen on social networks make it a viable proposal.

But it is a trend that, as Seder discovered, may now have reached a point of saturation with some hotels and other travel industry organizations increasingly tired of the demands that influencers demand and increasingly doubtful of commercial benefits. .

Inspiring or disgusting?

In part, the guilt of disappointment is a large number of recent headlines about inappropriate behaviors that have exposed the thin line between inspiring the online community and incurring their unbridled anger.

Gianluca Casaccia, owner of a beach club in the Philippines, visited Facebook in April to criticize the “parasites” who, he said, were plaguing his establishment with requests for free food, drinks and lodging.

In another case, a Czech couple traveling in Bali got angry after apparently splashing with holy water in a temple and posting images on an Instagram account with tens of thousands of followers.

These incidents, while not representative of the many influencers who stay away from the controversy, have helped highlight a side of the travel industry that many people might not be aware of, which highlights part of the reality hidden beneath the surface of dream landscapes on Instagram.

They also raise questions about the sustainability of agreements between influencers and the travel industry and the lifestyles they support in a rapidly changing industrial environment.

While travel blogs are a relatively young phenomenon, it has already become a mature and sophisticated business model, with participants from both sides working hard to protect and promote their brands.

A working relationship

Those on the industry side say there is a tangible business benefit, provided that the influencers are examined carefully.

"If people like and actively comment on influencer posts, it shows they are inspired by the destination," Keiko Mastura, a Public Relations specialist at the National Tourism Organization of Japan, told CNN.

“We monitor comments and observe when users tag other accounts or comment on the destination, suggesting that they add it to their virtual travel lists. Someone is influential if they have a participation rate greater than 3.5%. ”

For some tourist media, bloggers offer a way to promote products that could go unnoticed for more conventional channels. Even those with only 40,000 followers can make a difference.

Kimron Corion, Communications Manager of the Tourism Authority of Granada, says his organization "has been very successful in interacting with micro-influencers who effectively exposed some of our most specific offers."

However, such a commitment is not cheap.

All expenses paid

Travel or gifts often cover luxurious experiences, which means a considerable outlay for the hotel or tourism agency involved.

One night at the Serenity Club Junior Suite Ocean Front at Haven Resort in Cancun, Mexico, costs between $ 500 and $ 900 depending on the season. The famous Marina Bay Sands, in Singapore, can cost more than $ 720 per night.

That means additional pressure to find the right influencer to convey the relevant message, particularly when the goal is to offer a real-time social media exposure.

“We analyze each profile to make sure they fit properly,” says Florencia Grossi, director of International Promotion of Visit Argentina. "We are looking for content with dynamic and interesting stories that invite followers to live the experience."

A challenge is to eliminate false influencers, a job that is generally done by manually scrutinizing the comments of the audience for answers that betray automated followers. Fake bloggers are another reason why the market is becoming increasingly cautious.

"If the comments are just emojis or slightly out of context, it indicates that they are bots," says Anne Pedersen, director of Public Relations for the French travel website Atout France. "If all the comments come from the same country, they could be false accounts."

While some companies and organizations may be turning their backs on influencers, many still find it profitable to participate.

Seder - who began to be an influencer after she and her fiance, Brandon Burkley, quit their jobs in New York, to travel full time - soon found an alternative Italian place willing to reach an agreement, despite his rejection of the first hotel “infested with bloggers”.

Such challenges are part of a profession that, according to those who make a living like this, is much more difficult than what Instagram photos bathed in the sun make you believe.

The most successful influencers spend most of their time working to increase their audience and develop content, often with a team of dedicated employees.

They also spend a good amount of time searching for gifts in exchange for Instagram posts, brand tweets, YouTube videos and more.

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A post shared by AWAY LANDS ☼ Travel + Style (@amyseder) on Aug 4, 2019 at 9:13 pm PDT

Publications are generally valued, depending on the location of the audience, at around $ 1,000 per 100,000 followers. Some top-level travel influencers also charge a daily or delivery fee.

Seder earns money working with tourist brands that pay for sponsored Instagram posts and blogs. Additional earnings come from your professional photography and affiliate marketing.

She says her work often becomes more complicated by the fact that influencers often group up with traditional travel journalists on regulated press trips that do not take into account their need to constantly connect with their audience.

“There were times when I was forced to get up in the middle of the night to meet my contracted deliveries because there was absolutely no time to do it during the day,” she says.

"The best press trips are those with a good balance of activities and filming time, a mix of authentic local and famous destinations, and arrangements with popular sites before or after hours, to avoid crowds."

Valeria Hinojosa, a private Bolivian banker who has become an influencer with 129,000 Instagram followers, specializes in promoting green hotels around the world, so she charges more than $ 3,000.

"My goal is to show that each destination has a story," she says. "From sustainable hotels, the friendliness of the locals, the exotic taste and aroma of food and the connection with nature."

Hinojosa says he doesn't get too obsessed with audience numbers.

"If I reach the souls of my readers through my words, then I have succeeded," she says. "The overflow of love that I receive from the people who follow me and the brands I work with is a good measure."

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Dimag Ozgum, based in San Francisco (539,000 followers) says he measures its impact based on how often his photos are replicated and how many Instagrammers use the hashtag of his community, #VacationWolf.

"After visiting a region and sharing it, a lot of influential people are influenced and end up traveling there," he says.

Walter DeMirci, US manager UU. at the Qatar National Tourism Council, he recognizes the limitations of the use of influencers, even if his organization is still willing to use them.

"While creating beautiful content is part of the requirement, having a successful partnership also means being an organic brand ambassador, sharing your positive experience with friends and family outside of social networks," he says.

In other words, tourism boards try to identify the good influencers who will create educational publications about their destinations that will then inspire travelers to book a trip.

Value proposal

This is where things can get difficult. Not all influencers are necessarily interested in the value that their publications lend to their audience, leading to scenes such as the Bali temple incident or outbursts like those of the Philippine club owner.

The owner of the Los Angeles ice cream truck, Joe Nicchi, is another who lost his temper with the constant requests for brochures. Earlier this year, he announced that he intended to charge the influencers twice.

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A post shared by DIMAG OZGUM ▵ TRAVEL (@vacationwolf) on Mar 25, 2019 at 9:00 am PDT

Tourism representatives, meanwhile, tell how to deal with tantrums when the demands were not met.

“One of our executives had an encounter with an influencer, who said he 'pays nothing, never' after she informed him that some of his meals were not going to be covered,” says Corion of the Granada Tourism Authority .

Many luxury properties in the Maldives have completed their influencer marketing programs after receiving countless requests from fraudulent influencers .

For well-intentioned influencers like Emilie Ristevski, who has more than a million followers on Instagram, the increase in " irresponsible influencers " is frustrating.

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A post shared by Hello Emilie (@helloemilie) on Jul 18, 2019 at 5:23 am PDT

"It is disappointing to hear that this is happening, it has extremely negative effects on the industry," she says. "It's a shame to see that self-acquired privilege and unethical work practices are a recurring theme for some influencers."

When the influencer and a tourism board fit together, the results can be pure gold of tourism marketing. Influencers bring new perspectives to destinations and reach a wide international audience.

DeMirci, from Qatar, says that influencers have been an asset in promoting their destiny.

"With social networks on the rise in travel planning, we are taking advantage of the influence associations that allow us to show Qatar from a variety of perspectives," he says.

And, Ristevski says, in an era of runaway mass tourism, where travelers are often accused of damaging the places they visit when they arrive in large numbers, influencers can be a force for good, especially when less known destinations are promoted.

"Bringing sustainable tourism to remote areas supports smaller communities and their livelihoods," he adds, "in addition to helping offset over-tourism due to photographic locations."

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