Growing Pains for Influencer Marketing Raise Questions for Travel Brands

Social media influencers are increasingly hot commodities in the travel industry for their voices and large audiences. But as influencer marketing grows up, it’s also going through some growing pains and more governments are stepping in to ensure that influencers label the content they were paid to create.
Many travel brands want to work with influencers but aren’t sure how to measure return on investment or justify spending thousands — or even millions — of dollars on untested partnerships that may fail.
More than 60 percent of U.S. travelers use platforms like Facebook and Instagram to get inspired about where to go and what to do when they get there, according to Facebook, and influencers on those platforms play a role in that inspiration. Social media posts by friends and family and word of mouth are also a large part of trip planning and inspiration.