- 14 October 2024
- 4pm BST | 11am ET | 8am PT
- Zoom
- 1 hour
In Conversation with Simon Calder
We welcome travel media and PR professionals from across TravMedia’s global regions for a conversation with one of the world’s most highly regarded travel journalists and broadcasters, Simon Calder.
Tune in for a compelling interview with one of the best known names in travel, as we hear about Simon Calder’s travel reporting, filming and broadcasting journey (pun intended), and seek his predictions on how media are likely to source and cover travel news and features in the years ahead.
We’ll also consider how the role of a travel commentator is evolving in a world of rolling broadcast output and splintered traditional/digital news channels, as media groups endlessly rethink and rework their revenue models. For a 360 view on the travel media – and its relationship with travel communications pros – one thing is for sure: You’ll hear it as it is from Simon.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Simon Calder
Travel Journalist, Broadcaster, & Travel Commentator
Simon Calder is a UK travel journalist and broadcaster, recognised as Britain’s leading travel commentator.
He’s also known as “The Man Who Pays His Way” because he does not accept free travel.
Born within earshot of the runway at Gatwick airport, Simon began his travel career cleaning out planes, frisking people and working for Sir Freddie Laker’s revolutionary Skytrain operation.
He then combined a job as a sound engineer at the BBC with writing travel guidebooks. His global journeys led to books on Central & South America, Russia & the Republics, the USA & Canada. To this day, he is proud of writing the first guidebook to Cuba.
In the early 1990s Simon took a call from the Independent who asked him to be a travel correspondent. Since then he has covered every significant development in travel and transport: from the opening of Eurostar and the launch of easyJet to 9/11, the Icelandic volcano and the Covid pandemic.
He is a familiar face and voice on TV & radio, guesting on the BBC, ITV, CNN and Sky, interpreting the travel news, giving travel advice and advising on the best travel deals.
Simon has filmed for BBC TV travel series including The Travel Show, Departure Lounge, Perfect Holiday and the Holiday programme.
For BBC Radio 4, he crossed overland from Colombia to Panama in a series called Bridging the Gap, and tracked down the last refuge of the Inca empire in Looking for Vilcabamba.
He has reported for ITV’s Good Morning Britain live from Australia – straight after the first nonstop scheduled flight from the UK in 2018 – and for Sky News from a very empty Sydney in 2022 when the nation reopened to tourists after two years. Simon was also the first overseas journalist to enter the US after a 19-month Covid closure – achieving the feat by walking across the Rainbow Bridge as the clock approached midnight.
He has won countless awards. The one he is most proud of is the Hero Award from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, recognising his work on consumer issues and the help he gives to travellers in distress.
Follow Simon Calder on Twitter (@SimonCalder) for up to date travel news, views and opinion.
Henry Hemming (Interviewer)
Global Managing Director
TravMedia
Henry lives in East Sussex, is a keen photographer, nature lover and ardent Beatles fan (yeah, yeah, yeah).
What We’ll Cover
Join us on 14 October as top travel journalist, broadcaster and commentator Simon Calder offers his views on where travel content is heading, and discusses how he works with the travel industry on his output. We’ll cover everything from news to features, mainstream media to new channels. An unmissable opportunity to hear from one of the world’s travel media greats.
Core Topics
- The future of travel
- Overtourism
- How to work with a journalist who pays his way…
- What travel commentators want
- Destinations
- Transport
- Travel crises
- The evolving travel media landscape
- 14 October 2024
- 4pm BST | 11am ET | 8am PT
- Zoom
- 1 hour
Attending TravMedia Meets
TravMedia Meets webinars are free to TravMedia customers who have TravMedia Meets included in their subscription. For non-customers or customers who don’t have TravMedia Meets included in their subscription the cost to attend is £39pp per webinar*
*Non-customers may also be eligible for a free trial with TravMedia. Existing customers who do not have TravMedia Meets included in their subscription may upgrade. Contact Louise Napier for more information.
