The Travel Writer's Life is a web site managed by the Great Escape Publishing. Editors want material to show readers “how to enjoy a life of travel, adventure, creativity and freedom – and earn a good living.” They do not publish traditional travel pieces but look for articles on “the craft of getting paid to travel” through different venues (e.g., photography, writing, or leading tours). Regular contributors are professional writers/photographers making a living by selling their travel articles and/or photos. Editors buy all rights to articles and non-exclusive unlimited use rights to images. They also retain the right to publish articles or photos in any of their affiliated publications and online. Payment is $50-$75 for assigned articles for the website, $100-$150 for interviews and personal stories, and $150-$200 for articles with specific income advice. To learn more, read writers’ guidelines: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/writers-guidelines/.
Verge Magazine is a magazine that explores opportunities to volunteer, study and work overseas. They prefer articles that inspire people to travel and explore. They pay first-time contributors a rate of $0.10 (Canadian dollar) per word. Regular contributors may be paid more. To learn more, refer to their contributor guidelines.
Let’s Travel is a bi-monthly travel magazine that focuses on “articles with a twist that offer first person accounts of travel in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific Islands.” They also publish a few stories from far flung places like, South East Asia, Europe and Americas. Their “readership demographics is luxury”, so if the pitch is about getting by on a few dollars, they would probably not be interested in it. Their feature articles are of 800 to 1,200 words. They pay a flat fee of NZ$300 per story to unpublished writers. While, to previously published writers, they pay NZ$500. To find out more, refer to this page.
Hana Hou! is the magazine of Hawaiian Airlines. They "fresh, insightful views of the people, places and cultures that make our island home so special." They pay 40 cents per word for features and department articles. They are very difficult to break into. You can contact their editors here.
Journeywoman accepts articles about female-centric travel experiences. They want articles written from a woman’s point of view which contain information of interest to women travelers, up to 900 words in length. Journeywoman pays a flat $35 per accepted article for some of the articles they publsih. To learn more, read their contributor guidelines.
Smarter Travel publishes slideshows and feature length stories on a"range of consumer travel topics, including booking strategies, saving money, avoiding scams, packing tips, best places to go, travel
tech, travel trends, and travel tips that represent all kinds of travelers and travel experiences." They pay $500 for long-form articles and $100 to $250 for shorter posts. To contact them, visit this page.
Hawaii Magazine is a regional travel magazine with a readership of more than a 250,000 per issue. It’s for “people who love Hawaii and visit often.” They use freelance writers for “travel stories, personality
profiles, stories on activities, history, culture, music, food and environmental sustainability.” To learn more, read their freelance guidelines.
WestJet Magazine. WestJet is one of Canada's major airlines. They fly to more than 90 destinations, with a focus on Canada, the US, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. Here are their submission
guidelines.
Wanderlust is a British travel magazine. They accept pitches from freelance writers. They pay £220 per 1,000 published words for feature articles. They accept submissions to their website as well as their print magazine. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Travel + Leisure Magazine pays a flat rate per story. They previously paid $1 per word. According to payment reports, they now pay $0.20 to $0.75 per word. They publish "stories from around the world: stories that are big or small, visually driven or essayistic, first-person or as-told-to or service-oriented." They have a very detailed and helpful guide for potential freelancers. To learn more, read their pitching guidelines.