Media Fams

Anyone can take any of our trips any time and pay full costs, but for certain relationships we are willing to partially subsidize the experience because there is mutual benefit to be gained from both sides. The three most obvious categories where this logic applies are travel agents, writers and suppliers.

In general, we offer credible freelance writers an automatic 20% off the cost of a Horizon trip. Their companions are entitled to a further 15% reduction. In both cases, the reduction only applies if the bookings are direct with Horizon (i.e. no third party agents or retailers) and there is a reasonable likelihood of story placement. We reserve the right to decide the interpretation of "credible", but we also promise to interpret the concept generously.

• Adding Writers to Existing Trips - Most writers prefer to be added onto an existing trip in order to provide them with a context and characters for their articles. This is also our preference, and we work with the writers to ensure that they get the story that they are looking for while at the same time minimizing the impact on the group of paying travellers.
• Offering Media-specific Fam trips - In some case we are able to work with Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO's) and suppliers to offer media-specific fams. These trips are usually an abbreviated version of the public departures, and often have a small charge associated with them to cover costs. These trips are obviously structured exclusively for the participation of media. We announce these from time to time and solicit interest from our existing media list.

• If you have a firm commitment for publication of an article, then we will start to look at finding ways to reduce the cost below the standard 20% reduction. The extent of the reduction depends on the quality of the publication, the length of the article and the breadth of the media platform (i.e. a front page article in Travel & Leisure is obviously worth more than a mention in a community newspaper.). The greater the reach and the more prestigious the publication, the more we can work with our partners (including DMO's & suppliers) to reduce costs.
• In the right circumstances, we are able to reduce the cost to almost nothing, although generally speaking we can't help with flights, and we rely upon the journalists to work directly with airlines or DMO's to secure support for their flights.

For all of the above, we ask that writers provide us with details about their contact details, background, special interests and publication outlets (both past and current). If you have a firm commitment for publication and are seeking the reduced rate, we also need details about the publication and the nature of the commitment.

Please send your details to media@horizon-co.com.

Thanks for coming out, and we hope to see you (and your article) soon!