4 Travel Influencer Business Success Stories [2025]
Travel influencers create content about travel, tourism, and culture and share their experiences via social media or personal blogs.
If you love exploring new places and are interested in earning a side income, consider becoming a travel influencer. Your role will be to document places you have visited and feature unique formations, cultures, and landscapes.
Share your content via social media channels and include relevant hashtags. Travel influencers earn income through partnerships with travel and tour companies and advertisement revenue based on their niche.
In this list, you'll find real-world travel influencer business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a travel influencer business that makes money.
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1. CuddlyNest ($2.8M/year)
Ritesh Raj, the co-founder and COO of CuddlyNest, came up with the idea for the accommodation booking platform after years of traveling to over 100 countries and realizing the pain points of finding diverse types of accommodations. Alongside his co-founder, they decided to create a centralized platform that offers all kinds of properties for all types of travelers. Since its launch, CuddlyNest has raised over $14 million in funding and has plans for continued growth and expansion.
How much money it makes: $2.8M/year
How many people on the team: 72
CuddlyNest has become the only online travel agency that offers all types of accommodations in one platform, with inventory currently including over 4 million properties of all types in 80k+ cities, and is expecting to hire more than fifty new employees in the coming months.
2. ANTHONYKDO INC ($120K/year)
Anthony's passion for filming and moving led him to create films that were appreciated by his audience. As he gained more recognition, he started receiving requests to create films for others. After his first successful client project, he was convinced of his entrepreneurial potential.
How much money it makes: $120K/year
How many people on the team: 0
A nomadic Canadian filmmaker started their creative business six years ago and now has over two dozen loyal clients scattered across six different countries, earning between $7000-15000/month, with a website built on WIX and no traditional marketing approach, relying on word of mouth and social media, they operate like an agency these days aiming for more meaningful work.
3. PubClub.com ($24K/year)
Kevin Wilkerson came up with the idea for PubClub.com while in Amsterdam with a friend, realizing the importance of knowing not just where to go in a city, but when to be there. He started the lifestyle website to provide information on travel, nightlife, food and drink, festivals, and sports, and has since expanded it to generate approximately $2,000 a month from advertising with around 25k users per month. Through his background in journalism and PR, he has been able to publish quality content and attract partnerships with tourism boards.
How much money it makes: $24K/year
How many people on the team: 1
PubClub.com, a lifestyle website with information on travel, nightlife, food and drink, festivals, and sports around the world, generates approximately $2,000 a month from advertising and has approximately 25k users/month to its website, with founder Kevin Wilkerson starting the company in order to provide a unique concept for a tourism guide site.
4. Planit ($600/year)
Billy, a 20-year-old math student from Brisbane, Australia, came up with the idea for PlanIt after struggling to plan adventures in the physical world. Drawing on his experiences in designing cutting-edge recommender systems at venture-funded startup Atmos, he applied his knowledge to create a seamless travel search and planning experience. PlanIt has since expanded its database coverage and user growth, positioning itself as a platform for travel and lifestyle businesses to list their details and generate revenue.
How much money it makes: $600/year
How much did it cost to start: $1.5K
How many people on the team: 0
PlanIt is a travel recommendation and planning platform that has seen compelling growth in database coverage and user growth, covering every country in the world with several thousand users and a large SEO focus as well as a growing interest from travel and lifestyle businesses to list their details.
