Travel 'Influencers' Under Scrutiny

You know the way the internet works. News, rumors, innuendo, deaths, sports scores … they all travel at the speed of light, or at the very least the speed of your internet provider.

So when travel influencer Noah Lang, who posts as @noahawaii on Instagram, made an entry on Jan. 21 blasting the northern California seaside towns of Eureka and Arcata, it blew up.

Lang wrote they were “horrible disgusting towns that surround such a beautiful area.” The backlash was immediate and intense, according to the San Francisco digital publication sfgate.com

The outlet wrote that Lang admittedly was just passing through en route elsewhere, but posted that Eureka and Arcata were “horrible disgusting towns that surround such a beautiful area.”

And therein lies the problem with ‘influencers.’ Some – not all, but some – either take advantage of their stature and their following or, in this case, post something that is disingenuous, not well-researched, irresponsible, or a combination thereof.

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On his Instagram posts, SFGate noted that Lang normally receives 10-30 comments. On this one ripping the two towns, he received 1,600.

“Respect the places you travel through,” wrote user jacquelinecallaway. “Not fair for you to speak so poorly on a place you didn’t spend any time in.”

“Rolling through a town on a journey to create content and deciding these towns are horrible and disgusting based off a drive through is a slap in the face,” wrote a user by the name of mettatation. “How would you feel if someone said such things about your home?”

As with anything, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. And as with anything, you get both sides.

I have heard from countless public relations people in the travel industry who represent hotels and destinations who have raved about working with social media influencers. And I have heard from countless PR folks who have told the nightmare stories, about so-called ‘influencers’ who are looking to trade a story or a mention on their respective platform in exchange for free hotel nights, free meals, free museum tickets, etc., sometimes worth in the thousands of dollars.

Look, let’s be clear. This isn’t a condemnation of social media influencers of any kind, be it travel or fashion or anything else. There is most definitely a place for influencers – it’s the new word of mouth, and I believe strongly in non-traditional advertising such as word-of-mouth and guerilla marketing.

But you know what Uncle Ben said to Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

In fairness, when SFGATE reached out to Lang he said that his comment had been inspired by his bad stay at a local motel. He said that he and his girlfriend, who was traveling with him, didn’t feel that their belongings were safe, and that sex workers showed up at their door uninvited at two in the morning. He also claimed that he witnessed a theft at a grocery store.

Lang and his Instagram account are bearing the brunt of the backlash at the moment, which isn’t fair of course, but what happened has become something of an example. There are other examples, with far more notoriety. The Kardashians come to mind with their excessive travel in the middle of a pandemic as well as their extravagant birthday celebrations.

Still, it makes me think that there is only one, true, authentic travel influencer.

The travel advisor.

Before you even say it, yes, there are unscrupulous travel advisors. But for the most part, you’re talking about a select group with a professional background and standards to adhere to. The quid pro quo – Latin for ‘something for something’ – is not as prevalent among agents as it might be for influencers. That is not to impugn their integrity, but the pressure to write a glowing review and to convince thousands and thousands of followers that a place is worthy of their visit can sometimes weigh heavily.

Travel advisors certainly receive their own fair share of FAM trips, but with an advisor, there’s an expectation of unbiased opinion – even in a negative review.

All in all, I’m just not sure the same exists with travel influencers who are dependent on ‘likes’ to draw in more sponsors and relationships.