If you are someone who is thinking of creating a travel blog, the one question that must have crossed your mind at one point would have been how profitable can travel blogging be, and is it even profitable at all?

Earning money is a big part of starting a travel blog. After all, who wouldn’t want to live their dream life of traveling to beautiful destinations, staying at luxury resorts, and getting paid for doing all of it?

Travel has become a popular niche for many people. Technology has made travel really easy and convenient. It is much easier to travel now than it was a decade ago, thanks to convenient booking apps that let you book anything from flights to overnight stays literally anywhere in the world within minutes. 

So, it comes as no surprise that more and more people are traveling now. And with more people traveling, travel blogging is becoming more popular than ever. 

People want to record their experiences and share them with the world, whether it is in written form or in video format. This inspires even more people to travel and explore the world. 

Needless to say, travel blogging has become an extremely popular niche in the past few years. But with so much saturation, more questions arise. 

As a new travel blogger, there will be a plethora of questions running through your mind. In this article, I am going to address many of these questions and provide answers to some of the most common questions aspiring travel bloggers have. 

What Does it Take to Be a Profitable Travel Blogger?

The first question that pops into the head of a new travel blogger is what does it take to turn your travel blog into a profitable business.

The truth is, how profitable your blog is going to be depends on how much work, time, and investment you put into it.

If it is just a hobby, that’s fine.

But if you want your travel blog to be profitable, you need to treat it like a business for it to act like a business and provide you with an income.

Travel blogging requires a lot of effort and most bloggers don’t earn their income directly from the blog. They earn through diversified sources of income – both active and passive means. 

Once you put in the blood, sweat, and tears required to make a blog work, you will realize that the sky is the limit when it comes to making a profit through travel blogging. 

You would have to work on both the technical and non-technical aspects of your travel blog. Technical aspects include things such as:

• Buying a domain name
• Setting up hosting for your travel blog 
• Tracking analytics and insights 
• Downloading security plugins
• Downloading the right themes
• Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques throughout your travel blog
• Setting up ads on your travel blog’s web pages
• Earn through affiliate marketing 
• Using social media platforms to promote your blog content

And so much more!

One of the most reliable ways to make money as a travel blogger is through displaying advertising on your blog’s web pages. This pays based on the views those ads get so you would need to have a little bit of a following if you want to make any substantial money from it. However, it is still worth a mention here because it is a great source of passive income once you have got regular visitors to your website.

Popular ad networks that you can use for your earning pursuits include:

• Google AdSense – $2 to $3 for every 1000 impressions 
• Entry-level private ad networks – $5 to $15 for every 1000 impressions
• Premium ad networks – $20 to $30 for every 1000 impressions

Here, Google AdSense does not have any entry-level requirements. You can set it up even if your travel blog is new and has not gained many followers as of yet. 

Then there are entry-level private ad networks that pay more than Google AdSense. They do have some minimum page view requirements but mostly that number is not too huge and something that you can do if you have a couple of hundred or thousand visitors. 

Then the premium networks come in. These pay really well. However, they have an entry threshold and require a minimum of 25,000 to 100,000 page views per month. 

How Much Money Can a Travel Blog Really Make?

Travel bloggers usually make their income from a diversified set of streams once their blog is established. 

Once your travel blog gets going, it earns anywhere from $3000 to $10,000 on a monthly basis just from the blog itself.

But this number can increase significantly if you have multiple streams of income such as:

• Freelance content writing
• Content creating
• Virtual assistant duties
• Social media marketing
• Consulting and mentoring
• Selling services and products

And a lot more. 

There are many options to choose from to earn money and the final choice is up to you to make depending on what suits you best. 

There are thousands of bloggers that earn from their travel blogs and make a comfortable living from it. While there are others who make enough to cover day-to-day expenses only. 

It all comes down to how much time you can dedicate to the travel blog and make it grow. 

How Long Does It Take to Start Earning Money from Travel Blogging?

This question does not have a definite answer. How long it is going to take you to start making money from your travel blog depends on your unique situation. 

Everyone has different experiences with their blog and how it grows. We all make different mistakes and learn in different ways. 

Some travel bloggers start earning an income after only a few months of blogging while for some it takes years to take off. 

How well your blog does is going to depend largely on your personal effort plus other factors such as your demographic, niche, skillset, marketing channels, location, etc. 

One thing that holds true for every travel blogger, though, is that your blog is never going to experience overnight success. It is not a shortcut to living the life of your dreams. It is a lot of hard work and late nights that finally start amounting to something after a long time. 

If you were to start a travel blog today and go at it really hard and give it your all every single day of the week, then there is no reason why you couldn’t be one of the bloggers out there who make a living out of it. As a ballpark, you can earn up to $500 within your first 6 months if you tried hard enough. For a beginner blogger, $500 is a good chunk of money. 

If you go on putting the same effort and keep on working hard at making your travel blog a success, you can then double, triple, or even quadruple your income in the years to come.

The key here is to never give up and keep on chugging forward even on days where it may feel like you are working towards nothing. 

Keep in mind that all these numbers would vary according to your circumstances and how well you are able to optimize your travel blog and its marketing channels. 

Is Travel Blogging Dead?

One thing that got badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic was traveling. Flights were canceled, borders closed off, and many people found themselves stranded away from their homes.

It may be that you wanted to start a travel blog and then the pandemic hitting, crushing all your dreams and hopes of living the life of your dreams. 

While there is no denying that the travel industry as a whole took a hit due to the pandemic but travel blogging is still very much alive. 

The COVID-19 pandemic did alter the way we are going to live and move from here on out. But it has not stopped people’s sense of wanderlust. Travel bloggers are still effectively finding ways to make the best of their situation and find alternate ways to bring you travel content that is relevant to today’s situation. 

Travel bloggers are nothing is not creative and resourceful. They know the difference between impossible and challenging. So, the face of travel may look a lot different in today’s world, it definitely has not stopped for anyone. 

For instance, instead of writing about your experience in Iceland, you may only write about what you planned on doing on the trip and how you dealt with the disappointment of not going. Many people are going to relate to canceled travel stories and would want to find how to cope with stress in such an uncertain time. 

Is the Travel Blogging Niche Too Saturated Today?

It would be a lie to say that there aren’t too many travel blogs on the web now. There are millions of them and there is rampant data online to show that. 

While it is true that there weren’t as many travel blogs a decade ago than there are now, you have to realize that most of these blogs never amount to anything because of half-hearted efforts. 

There is still ample opportunity out there for travel bloggers to thrive and grow in the internet space. However, unlike before, you can’t just make a general travel blog that encompasses all travel aspects.

You now have to focus on a specific niche within the travel industry to cater to a certain set of people so that you can establish yourself as an expert in that area and earn an income from it. 

For instance, instead of just starting a simple travel blog, you can start one about a certain region of the world that you travel more to. Or you may start a travel blog for solo female travelers. 

Whatever it is, you need to follow a straight trajectory: pick a narrow niche, become an authority in said niche, and establish your travel blogging brand. 

Don’t let the competition that is out there stop you from going after your dreams. If you make efforts in the right direction, you will get what you are looking for. 

Can You Make a Career in Travel Blogging?

It is difficult but yes, it is definitely possible to make a career in travel blogging. 

There are many content creators and travel bloggers out there who make a full-time living solely from travel writing on their websites and you can too. 

While there are many travel bloggers out there that earn from their blog, the money required to live a comfortable living and make a career out of a travel blog is something not many of them do. Even then, it took them years to get where they did.

But that should not discourage you.

If anything, it should serve as motivation that if you keep going at something year after year, you will achieve what you want and live the life of your dreams. 

Travel bloggers know how to incentivize and use different ways of earning an income. They diversify their sources of generating revenue and build a security net as time goes by because they know they need it. 

So, it all comes down to how you market yourself and your brand along with any other means of income that you can find to earn money.

It is entirely possible to turn your travel blog into a successful business. But it takes time and effort. if you are patient, disciplined, and show perseverance, then you can make it in the world of travel blogging. 

The Bottom Line 

Contrary to what many people might think nowadays, travel blogging is profitable in many ways. If it is something you are passionate about, you won’t mind the hard work that goes into it. It can be a great source of income and the only regret you will have is not starting it sooner rather than later.