Welcome! This page explains some ways in which you might like to work with the British Guild of Travel Writers

About the Guild

The British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW) is recognised as Britain's leading professional body for those working in the fields of travel writing, photography, editing and broadcasting. Today's members are blogging, twittering and writing for the web as well as for more traditional national and international print and broadcast outlets. Says Chairman Melissa Shales: "There is virtually nowhere in the world that has not been covered by one of our members, virtually no publication - in print, on the airwaves or online, in the UK and abroad as well - in which our work is not represented on a regular basis."

Membership of the BGTW is seen as an industry seal of quality while members benefit from networking opportunities and professional support and development. The Guild has more than 270 professional members including many distinguished industry names such as the publisher and founder of the Bradt travel guide empire Hilary Bradt, veteran broadcasters Judith Chalmers (ITV's Wish You Were Here) and John Carter (BBC TV's Holiday programme) and BBC travel presenter Sankha Guha. Past members have included gastronome Egon Ronay, best-selling author Maeve Binchy and pioneering publisher Alastair Sawday.

2010: Celebrating our 50th Anniversary

The last five decades have been momentous in the history of the development of travel and the BGTW has been at its forefront. The year 2010 will be a landmark one for the British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW) as it celebrates its 50th anniversary year with a line-up of commemorative events and production of a publication chronicling the last half century of the tourism industry - find out more here.

The culmination will be the 50th Anniversary Awards Gala Dinner which will be held in November on the eve of the World Travel Market at London's iconic Savoy Hotel.

BGTW opportunities

Sponsorship

The Guild holds three major events a year, the Awards Gala Dinner in November (held in a major London hotel on the eve of the World Travel Market), the Annual General Meeting (in late January - read about it here) and the Yearbook Launch (in late February (More here).

Please do come our Awards Gala Dinner and make the most of this exceptional networking opportunity by bringing your clients as well. Tickets are £150 + VAT each. In 2010, an additional party will be held in mid-summer to celebrate the BGTW 50th anniversary.

Main sponsors are invited for each of the major events and those upcoming are the Awards Gala Dinner 2010 and AGM 2011 (to be held either in the UK or overseas). Presentation documents for sponsorship opportunities for these events are available to interested clients and companies. Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

In addition to the major sponsors, you may like to gain exposure by offering prizes for our charity prize draw or the prize bags given to attendees at both the Awards Gala Dinner and the Yearbook Launch. The Guild also requires companies and organisations to sponsor its annual Guild Awards marking members' journalistic excellence (find out more here), all of which offer an excellent opportunity for exposure at relatively small cost.

For events, contact Melissa Shales ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ), or Mary-Anne Evans (vice This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Dinner tickets are sold by the Guild Secretariat ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or via the website.

The BGTW Yearbook

The British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW) kicked off its 50th anniversary year in style with the launch of its famous Yearbook at a stylish party enjoyed by more than 350 of the UK's top travel media and industry professionals at London's uber-modern hotel, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge. Considered a 'bible' and must-have resource for media planning within the travel industry, this celebratory gold-embossed issue is expected to become a collector's item.

The 2010 BGTW Yearbook is one of the most valuable tools for anyone looking to promote their international destination to the British press or working in the public relations worlds. So what does it offer? It's not what you know but who you know - and it's who you know who knows what…

The Yearbook contains biographies and contact information for all the UK's top travel journalists, guidebook and narrative writers; photographers; broadcasters and TV presenters and a comprehensive directory of over 2,700 specialist PR companies, publications, broadcast media, tourist offices in the UK and worldwide, tour and transport operators and other useful companies and organisations operating in the UK travel and tourism industry.

It is designed to assist with all travel PR requirements - from media contact targeting to list building; from news release distribution to campaign planning.

Purchasers of the 290-page Yearbook receive immediate access to the BGTW's search-engine optimised online database, event listings and breaking travel news feeds. The Yearbook 2010 and online database access costs £95. Visit the shop to order your copy here or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Get listed

Would you like to draw attention to yourself and get noticed by Britain's top journalists? Make sure that we have up-to-date details for you and your clients in our Yearbook and online database. The Contact Book, the thousands of industry contacts we maintain on our website and in the BGTW Yearbook have been painstakingly pieced together as a valuable working resource for the travel media. We want to be able to find you when we need you for a story we are working on, not just when you want to put out a press release.

For companies from abroad, a listing offers incredible exposure within the UK market as the Contact Book is used by Guild members, all commissioning travel editors in the UK and many other serious industry players. We offer a straightforward name and address contact listing free (not everybody makes it into the book for space reasons, but they are all on the website). The print version of the Yearbook is updated annually but the online database is updated throughout the year.

Mini-Advertorials

As well as a basic listing in our Yearbook database, we can also offer you a short advertorial on our website. These 'mini-advertorials' are extended entries with a logo, images, up to 300 words of text, hot links to websites and direct email links to individual account directors etc. The whole text is fully searchable so that if a BGTW journalist happens to be looking for information on "spas" and "Croatia" and this is your field of expertise, your details will be highlighted. The cost is £85 + VAT per mini-advertorial per year. PRs may be interested to know that we offer the option of 5 client mini-ads for 5 clients, with one free for yourself or another client. For more information, contact Roger Bray: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advertising

There are opportunities to advertise in the Guild Yearbook and on the website. The Yearbook is circulated not only to all Guild members but all commissioning travel editors in the UK, to an increasing number of commissioning travel editors abroad and to many influential travel trade people as well. Advertising sales are handled for the Guild by Maggie McPhee ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Tel/Fax: 00 44 (0) 20 7586 2162 Mob: 00 44 (0) 7738 377444)