Interview With A Travel Journalist

Roy Heale

This week I interviewed Roy Heale, a freelance travel journalist and photographer that frequently travels between Calgary, Argentina, Canada and Buenos Aires.  He was born and raised and educated in London, England but has spent the last forty years in Canada. He is an active member of the Travel Media Association of Canada, IGLTA and Travelwriters.com. He has stories published around the globe. He has 35 years of experience in marketing/public relations and was the founder and publisher of Outlooks Magazine in Canada for over 11 years. He owned a marketing agency called SuperMarketing for twenty-five years. He also spent four years as the Promotion Manager for an independent television station in Canada.

 He has done work for: Outlooks Magazine, Windy City Times, Resorts Magazine, Condo Living, conxity.com, IGLTA.org, gaytravel.org, ViaG Magazine Brazil, GMAPS360 Buenos Aires and LAN Airlines Diversity website

Here is the link to his blog:www.royheale.blogspot.com

I asked Roy about project managing and how it is used in travel journalism.

 1. How do you plan your trips and journalism? And where do you get your points of interest?

I now live in Buenos Aires so I focus mostly on South America and Central America. Most of my research is done at Travel Fairs and online.

2. How do you budget your trips? How do you know how much your material is worth?

Most of my expenses are covered by the Tourism Department of the city I am going to visit. Unfortunately the material is only worth what somebody else is willing to pay! It is very competitive and clients pay very little for the material these days.

3. How do you execute your trips and content?

I am semi-retired so I only travel when I want to and submit stories, which do not require deadlines.

4. How do you control your project?

I manage each project individually depending on where I am hoping to sell the story.

5. What are the managing stakeholders?

I am freelance so there are no stakeholders in my projects.

Roy is a text travel journalist, which is similar to what I aspire to do, except, I hope to have a series of shows dedicated to my dream of revealing the connection between food and culture.

*Source: Roy Heale