FAQs

Strategic Communications

  • Our main focus for our media relations work—which is driven by client-partner priorities—is in the U.S. and Canada, but we also do outreach in the UK and Australia.

  • Bannikin works to secure coverage across a range of outlets, including:

    • Consumer travel and lifestyle media (print and digital)

    • Travel trade publications

    • Regional and national news outlets

    • Podcasts

    • Online travel platforms and niche interest media (adventure, sustainability, culture)

    • Coverage may take the form of feature stories, round-ups and mentions, expert commentary, or interviews.

  • Bannikin’s media relations stream specializes in tourism and travel-related organizations, including:

    • Tour operators and expedition companies

    • Destinations and tourism boards

    • Adventure travel brands

    • Cultural and experiential travel companies

    Our deep familiarity with the travel media landscape allows us to craft stories that resonate with travel editors and audiences.

  • A media relations program with Bannikin may include:

    • Strategic story development and messaging

    • Press release writing and distribution

    • Targeted media pitching

    • Media list development

    • Journalist relationship management

    • Media monitoring and reporting

    • Interview coordination and media training support

    • Press trip familiarization tour planning and support

    • Programs can be customized based on goals and timelines.

  • Yes. Bannikin can help design and coordinate press trips that give journalists firsthand experience of your destination or product. We handle media selection, outreach, itinerary input, and coordination with your team to ensure the trip supports strong editorial opportunities.

  • Media relations is a long-term investment. If you are just starting to work in this space, it can take time to the build momentum required before journalists immediately think of you for something they are working on. Some opportunities—such as digital coverage tied to timely news—can happen quickly. Others, especially print features or major travel stories, may take several months due to editorial planning cycles. Our focus is on building sustained visibility and long-term relationships that continue to generate opportunities over time.

  • Yes, absolutely. We frequently collaborate with in-house marketing or communications teams. Bannikin can serve as an external media relations partner, providing specialized expertise, industry contacts, and strategic storytelling to complement your existing efforts.

  • Yes. Bannikin’s client-partner roster is global – Canada, the U.S., the UK and Ireland, Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and beyond.

  • The best first step is a conversation. Bannikin will learn about your organization, goals, and target audiences to determine how media relations can support your broader strategies and goals.

Travel Trade Development

  • We work globally — with strength in North America, Latin America, Europe, and key adventure travel hubs worldwide. Our team delivers travel-trade activation for brands across continents, connecting you with the advisors, tour operators, consortia and media that matter most.

  • We measure success by the value we help create for you:

    • Quality buyer engagement

    • Advisor and operator connections that convert

    • Media visibility tied to opportunities

    • A growing pipeline of active leads and bookings

    We report regularly with clear metrics tailored to your goals and market context.

  • We’re flexible. Bannikin can support you on a retainer basis, through project-specific engagements, or a hybrid model. Our approach is always designed around your goals, budget and preferred level of support.

  • We take a strategic, data-informed approach. We align with your product strengths, desired markets and ideal traveler profiles, and then identify the buyers — advisors, operators and consortia — whose interests and booking behavior best match your offering. Our long-standing relationships help us craft introductions that matter.

  • To begin, we need:

    • A clear sense of your goals and priorities

    • Your target markets and key selling points

    • Access to your product details, visuals and positioning

    • An initial conversation to align expectations

    From there, we build a tailored plan that aligns with your timeline and desired outcomes.

Strategy and Development

  • Our work is wide-ranging, but common projects include visitor experience assessments, tourism and destination strategy and planning, resident and business engagement, and research to inform policy or development decisions (e.g., Municipal Accommodation Taxes and hotel levies, Bylaw review, solutions scanning). If you have a tourism-related challenge or question that you’re looking into, we would love to explore how we can support you with this. Al our projects result in clear data and actionable strategies.

  • Yes! Strategic planning involves systems thinking and meaningful conversations, which pulls on our expertise in direct engagement and facilitation as well as experience in research design and analysis. We lead the research planning and help facilitate the conversations and prepare you to respond to risks and seize opportunities.

  • We support client-partners with the delivery of specific strategic initiatives in several ways. For example, by delivering workshops, taking on research and reporting, and working with tourism staff to develop custom tools and work plans. We can also provide advisory support to guide implementation after your strategy project wraps up.

  • We tailor each project to your unique context. We do not use templated methodologies for our work. Most projects begin with a conversation to understand context, goals, constraints, and opportunities. From there, we co‑design an approach that fits the situation. We take a collaborative, capacity-building approach to our work. We work very closely with our client-partners. Since you will be involved across any strategy development process, you’ll be able to immediately move forward with implementation.

  • Depending on the situation, we undertake primary and secondary research. Specific methods are always tailored to the context on the ground. You know your community best and while leveraging our experience we’ll also look to you for insights on what has worked well in the past. Examples include, workshops, community and business surveys, pop-ups, open houses, table talks, interviews, good practice reviews, policy and legislation reviews, analysis of visitation data, visitor experience assessments, etc.

  • Depending on the project, outputs may include research insight reports, engagement summaries, strategic priorities and related plans, or monitoring frameworks with custom KPIs to track progress. Regardless of the project, Bannikin deliverables are always actionable and support decision-making, helping you move forward with confidence.

Speaking and Facilitation

  • We deliver talks and workshops on a wide range of tourism topics, including storytelling, visitor experience, agritourism, stewardship, and systems‑based thinking.

  • We regularly facilitate board retreats, strategic planning sessions, workshops, and public engagement processes as part of our strategic planning services. If you need a dedicated session, we are happy to explore the potential approach.

Let’s connect.

We’re always happy to hop on a call to hear more about the work that you’re doing and to explore what collaboration could look like.

Contact us