Who to contact
Major UK media
From regional magazines with a niche angle, to broadsheet newspapers with a national audience – which one works best for your story? Bigger isn’t always better: local and specialist publications often have a highly engaged readership. However, coverage in a prestigious newspaper or magazine can take your business – and bookings – to new heights.
Here is an overview of the UK’s many media outlets which produce travel content:
| Type: | Examples: | Audience: | Best contact: |
| National broadsheet newspaper | The Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail | Readers with money to spend, generally 30+ | Deputy Travel Editor (if one) or Travel Editor |
| National broadsheet website | Readers with money to spend, usually more millennial than the print version | Digital Travel Editor | |
| National tabloid newspaper | The Sun, The Daily Mirror | A wide readership and price range, with luxury less likely to feature | Travel Editor. (Note: The Express, Mirror and Star share editors) |
Regional newspaper (see below) | Evening Standard, Liverpool Daily Post | A wide readership and price range | Travel or Features Editor |
Regional magazine (see below) | Cornwall Life, Midlands Living, Round & About | Visiting tourists, local residents | Features or News Editor |
| Travel magazine | Wanderlust, Suitcase, Condé Nast Traveller, Coast | Regular, affluent or niche (for example adventure) travellers | Features Editor or Editorial Assistant |
| Lifestyle magazine | Psychologies, Prima, Sainsbury’s Magazine, Absolutely Mama | A wide range aged 30+, foodies, mothers and more | Travel (if one) or Features Editor |
| Other niche-sector magazine | Horse & Rider, Cyclist, Breathe, The World of Interiors | Hobbyists or devotees of a specific activity, art, science or practice | Features (if one) or News Editor |
| Travel-trade magazine | Travel Trade Gazette, Travel Weekly | Travel agents (including shops and online) | Deputy News Editor |
| Travel website | Adventure.com, Mummy Travels, LoveExploring | Avid travellers or niche travellers | Features Editor (if one) or Editor |
| Lifestyle website | Stylist.co.uk, MarieClaire.co.uk | A wide readership, typically more millennial | Travel (if one) or Features Editor |
| Regional radio station | Island FM, KMFM (Kent), Lincs FM | Affluent, mostly 50+ local residents | News team |
| Travel podcast | UK Travel Planning, Travel Goals | Travel fanatics of all ages, sometimes niche | Usually the podcasters |
| Travel TV show | BBC World Service’s The Travel Show | Travel fanatics, usually 50+ and affluent | Series Producer |
| Local TV channel | BBC London, East Midlands Today | Local residents, usually aged 40+ | News Editor |
quote
View from the media
To me, the best PR pitches are the ones which ‘get’ the publication and the readership, sum up the idea in a snappy subject header and then expand – briefly – on the idea in a subsequent paragraph. They’ll explain why it’s newsy, and why it is a great fit for Metro.
– Laura Millar, Travel Editor of Metro
Regional newspapers
As this is such a practical target area for award-winners, we’ve listed the main regional newspaper publishers – although please be aware that this isn’t an exhaustive list, and some of your biggest local papers may be published by other companies:
| Media group: | Examples of titles: | Website: |
| Reach (formerly Trinity Mirror) | Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Daily Post (Wales), Birmingham Mail | reachplc.com/about-us/our-brands |
| Newsquest (including former Archant titles) | Dorset Echo, The Argus, Oxford Mail, Ham & High | newsquest.co.uk/news-brands |
| National World | Lancashire Evening Post, The Scotsman, Express & Star, The (Sheffield) Star | lep.co.uk, scotsman.com, expressandstar.com, thestar.co.uk |
| Tindle Newspapers | Cornish Times, Mid-Devon Advertiser, The Forester |
Regional publishing companies
Find as many local magazines as you can, trawling the staff page to learn who publishes it and, hopefully, their contact details.
| Media group: | Examples of titles: | Website: |
| Newsquest | The Living (for example Hampshire Living) and ex-Archant titles including The Life (e.g. Cornwall Life) series | |
| Midland News Association (MNA) | Select Magazine, Shropshire Magazine, Gourmet Shropshire | |
Other smaller, independent publishers (print) | Pride Magazines, Lincolnshire; Engine House Media, Cornwall; Loop, Yorkshire & Lancashire; RMC Media, Yorkshire; The Yorkshire Dalesman, Yorkshire; Round & About, southern England | |
| Other regional lifestyle magazines (online) | Index Digital, SE England; VIVA, Manchester |
Choosing targets
That is a lot of options, right? Don’t be overwhelmed; the important thing here is to select your key targets.
Which newspapers, magazines and podcasts is your typical customer – or the customer segment you want to reach – most likely to follow? Those are the ones you should target. Rather than trying a vague catch-all tack, make personalised approaches to five or ten relevant, viable outlets. This approach is most effective and will take you less time.
Bear in mind that national newspapers and lifestyle magazines will be the fussiest (and most besieged!), so you’ll need something truly compelling and unusual to interest them. But we’ll discuss this later, in the What to say section.
Useful links
This guide to audience data from Press Gazette lists recent circulation figures of newspapers which publish them.
Rajar.co.uk has useful radio-station statistics, including local stations.
The research section of our website has an overview of the main domestic tourism consumer segments as defined by VisitEngland.
Top tips: tracking down contacts
1. Google the name of an outlet plus the relevant job title, for example ‘The Times’ + ‘Travel Editor’. Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram can then help you check whether the information is up to date.
2. Read or listen to the travel section, magazine or show, and see what names come up.
3. To get an email address, phone the outlet’s switchboard and ask nicely. Note that you may simply be connected, so have your idea ready to pitch orally (see the What to say section).
4. Are there travel writers who regularly cover stories about your niche (for example a family-travel specialist)? If so, try them. There’s a good chance that they’re a freelancer with a website featuring their email address.
5. Your accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnership or LEP Growth Hub may have regional contacts.
Find local support
Case Study: Charlotte Daniel, co-founder, Secret Meadows, Suffolk
Visit the Secret Meadows website.
Award: Gold for Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year, 2022 – VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.
How did you promote your award? I firmly believe that winning awards, whether local or nationally, is very important to standing out as a business. Our VisitEngland award has attracted the most attention by far, and saw us earn lots of column inches in our regional newspapers. We’re sure that high-quality photography has played an important part in attracting this, and in various instances of national press coverage, over the years.
To ensure that our images are high-quality, we’ve invested in professional photographers having first checked their case studies. Fees can vary widely but I have been lucky to unearth local ones with very reasonable rates. In our early years, when funds were much more limited, we also arranged a free stay for two photographers in exchange for their images.
Top tip: Connecting with online promotional listing sites (in your sector) can help to generate editorial, as some of these include press-targeting marketing efforts as part of their packages. Having never outsourced any marketing, we’ve learned a lot through our own research – although we may explore working with a specialist for specific projects in the future.
