Industry veterans launch Nfluenc, world’s first insider guide for travel’s burgeoning influencer distribution channel

Nfluenc helps travel brands and influencers navigate fast-growing marketplace

Responding to the dramatic rise in opportunity that influencers are bringing to the global travel marketplace, a group of industry veterans launched Nfluenc, the world’s first news source aimed at helping travel creators and experience providers unlock new opportunities in this burgeoning distribution channel.

“Nfluenc” represents an innovative collaboration between the travel journalism media venture Travel Essential, co-founded by Jeri Clausing and Barbara DeLollis, and Jerne, the leading marketplace connecting travel creators and experience providers, co-founded by Tim Morgan and Ryan McElroy. Their combined expertise allows them to present unrivaled insights into this fast-growing and inclusive business.

Most commonly associated with “social media influencers”, the fast-growing creator economy also includes photographers, writers, bloggers – anyone who creates and shares marketing content for the purpose of selling a good or service. The creator economy is just 12 years old and yet already is an estimated $100 billion industry with, according to Adobe, 303 million people producing all types of marketing content for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms. Travel industry marketers are increasingly seeking to join forces with creators to engage consumers across the travel journey – especially now that the world is emerging from COVID-era isolation.

Nielsen, in its recent Annual Marketing Report, found that global marketing social media spend will increase by 53% in 2022 – more than any other channel – and that 71% of consumers trust advertising opinions and product placement from content creators.

In another recently-released report, Stelico Consulting Group found that 76% of luxury travelers with a household income of $100,000 or more selected their hotel brand, cruise line or airline based on social media, while 60% said they have purchased travel based on a social media post by a celebrity or influencer.

ABOUT TRAVEL ESSENTIAL
www.travelessentialnews.com

Travel Essential is the independent, member-based travel news community co-founded by authoritative travel journalists Barbara DeLollis and Jeri Clausing to help travelers navigate travel-making decisions in pandemic times and beyond. They have a combined 50 years in journalism and communications. Clausing, a former senior editor for Travel Weekly and an ongoing contributor to both trade- and consumer-focused travel outlets, is a veteran journalist who has also worked for The Associated Press, The New York Times and other daily newspapers. Before becoming a communications executive at Marriott International, DeLollis covered travel for USA Today for 12 years, regularly interviewing travel industry CEOs, change makers and brand leaders, and was a frequent speaker at industry events.

ABOUT JERNE
www.jerne.com

Jerne is the world’s leading platform connecting thousands of influential travel creators and experience providers – hotels, cruise lines, restaurants, spas, and every travel and tourism-related product in between. Jerne was co-founded by Tim Morgan and Ryan McElroy who have a combined 35 years of travel industry experience, both having served on advisory boards for some of the world’s leading travel companies. Formerly overseeing Canada & EMEA for Virtuoso, Morgan also co-founded The 1000, a $2B club for the world’s most influential travel advisors. McElroy, previously with Collette and others, also founded Travel Agency Tribes, a provider of B2B2C travel marketing technologies used by thousands of travel advisors, agencies, and consumers. Jerne, like Nfluenc, is owned by Nfluenc Group Inc.