What’s it like to attend WITS, Travel Creator Summit

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My first encounter with Wanderful was during the pandemic when we all joined some video calls to travel around the world, virtually. Even during that, odd experience I sensed a connection to a community and signed up for the membership*. A year or so later I met some of the members in Mexico City, where we had tacos, drank fancy cocktails, and cheered for Lucho Libres. 2024 WITS in Puerto Rico gave me some serious FOMO so I got an early bird ticket and headed to Utah a year later. I had quite a few questions before the summit so let’s get into them so you can be prepared for all the hustle and excitement. 

The first thing to note is the conference does change year to year depending on the sponsor destination. However, from what I’ve seen and heard at #WITSUtah, it is only getting better. 

Professional & Personal Connections 

Some of the women I’ve met in Mexico City, some of them I’ve met online, and connecting with them throughout this week was really fun.  One thing I heard from the event participants constantly is that their favourite part of the summit is meeting other women and learning from each other. Friendships are made fast in these environments and they come with longevity tied to community*.

The second aspect is all the professional connections you are able to make with destination representatives, travel businesses, and other incredibly successful women. You can also book mentor meetings with creators and writers of your choice to learn 1-on-1. Some of the connections I made during the virtual visits back during the dark days have actually led to collaborations (see Québec Maritimes for example). This year we had an active media marketplace of travel industry vendors who took 1-on-1 meetings with creators. Having attended a few meetings I cannot wait to see what grows out of these relationships.

The Conference

The conference itself is 3 days of talks and group activities. There is a separate stream for beginners where aspiring creators and bloggers can learn from the industry’s best. The rest of the talks ranged from learning to inspiring and everything in between. We talked about financial stability, dove into taxes, went in-depth on the difficult topics about travel, ethics, and diversity, learned how to be better writers, and better photographers, and how to turn all those no’s into yes’s. 

This year the destination partners, Visit Utah and Park City, chose to spend one of the days in Park City where the entire group of (400+) attendees got to select activities in the region and then came together for a massive celebration dinner. It was a spectacular event hosted by Empire Canyon Lodge high up in the snowy Utah mountains. 

All the Fun Celebrations & Opportunities to Create

We had a Gala for the Bessie Awards, we had an opening party, we had beers on the rooftop, group meals and excursions, and chose to hang out with one another after official events. For the opening party this year the group was bussed out to the Natural History Museum of Utah for cocktails, food, and live music. Parts of the museum were open for exploration as well. With opportunities like these, the summit offers a lot of room for fun and photography and all of us left Utah with plenty of reels, images, and stories to tell. I have a few posts and many stories and still much more to share.

FAM trips & Day Trips

The summit is attended by travelers, travel creators, business owners, and members of destination marketing groups. All WITS attendees are invited to participate in a range of day trips and excursions. These are offered on a first-come basis, no need to be a creator, though you might be inspired to become one. There were walking tours, hiking tours, skiing tours, sake and whisky tasting tours, active tours, and chocolate-making activities, and some attendees even drove out to the Salt Flats for a photoshoot! 

The creators are invited to apply for a range of overnight FAM trips (familiarization trips). Those accepted, join other creators on small guided group tours fully financed by the destination. I was able to participate in two trips, one before and one after the summit. These trips were themed and expertly guided. We saw a lot of the state, tasted amazing food, stayed in exciting hotels, and connected with other creators.

As mentioned, the FAM trips and excursions take place before and after the summit, so the event is not just 3 days. My trip inclusive of all excursions was 10 days. That of course, was also my choice. 

Above: tasking with Tsuki Sake, a woman-run Salt Lake City sake company.
Below: tour, tasting, and lunch at High West Distillery, was so happy to do this one! Learned a lot about their production method and the hearty lunch.

Opportunities to Win

Personal wins are of course plenty but you can also win tangible gifts. The 2024 summit had 3 contests: 

• Salt Lake City airport social media challenge where the winner got a free Creator Ticket to WITS 2025 ($444 value) + a swag goodie bag from SLC International Airport.
• Park City scavenger hunt the winner of which wins a free trip to Park City.
• Sponsor prize from Influencer Kit that included a $250 Amazon Gift Card, a free ticket to WITS 2025, a lifetime Wanderful Creator Membership, and a lifetime InfluenceKit Grow. It was a raffle and I won, which honestly I am very excited about!

A Few Tips & Considerations:

1. Book your hotel rooms in advance and take advantage of the host hotel rate, it was quite significant. If you change your mind the rooms are typically refundable until quite close to the event date. 
2. Book flights ahead of time, and if you can book flex in case you need to change the dates.
3. FAM trips get announced about two months before so the above pre-planning is important if you are trying to save money on travel.
4. Stay on top of the tours and excursions schedule, they can book up fast.
5. Check the media marketplace listings a few times, they are not all added at once. 
6. Add an extra day or two to explore the host city on your own time.
7. Join the Wanderful* network in the meantime to continue learning and networking throughout the year. 

WITS 2025 will be held in Downtown NYC from May 16th to 18th, get more info and tickets at witsummit.com/downtownnyc.

In the gear bag: Fujifilm X-H2S with an XF50mmF2 R WR lens* and Fuji XF 23MM F2 R WR lens*.