Collaborate with a DMC
Travel influencer collaborations, hosted on the ground
Explera is a destination management company that hosts travel creators in Thailand, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. We provide the hotel, transfers and activities on the ground; you publish honest, disclosed coverage. It is an exchange, not paid work, and we never provide flights, cash fees, visas or travel insurance. Creators of any nationality can apply.
What is a travel influencer collaboration?
A travel influencer collaboration is an agreement in which a travel business hosts or pays a creator in return for coverage of a place, a stay or an experience. With Explera it means hospitality on the ground in exchange for coverage you write yourself and disclose clearly. Nobody pays you a fee, and nobody scripts what you say.
How do travel influencers get hosted trips?
Travel influencers get hosted trips by applying to a business that runs a creator programme, showing a real and verifiable audience, and agreeing in writing what they will publish. Cold pitches to hotels sometimes work, but a structured programme gives you a clear answer, a written agreement and an itinerary someone is responsible for on the ground. With Explera it runs like this:
- Apply with your channels, your blog or website, your preferred destination and your dates.
- Review. A reviewer for that market checks your reach, engagement quality, audience geography and past travel work.
- Agreement. If you are approved, you sign in the portal. The agreement sets out your tier, the itinerary basis, the deliverables and the exact disclosure wording.
- Announce, travel, publish. You post a pre-trip announcement, travel on the agreed dates and publish your coverage within the agreed window.
What is Explera, and why does a DMC host creators?
Explera is a B2B destination management company (DMC): it arranges hotels, transfers and activities for travel trade partners in Thailand, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, with group headquarters in Hong Kong. Hosting creators uses the same operation and the same local teams. Your coverage shows real audiences what these places are like, and we would rather it be honest than polished. There is more on the about page.
How is this different from a brand deal, a press trip or an agency?
It differs from a brand deal because there is no fee, from a tourism-board press trip because you are not on a fixed group schedule, and from an agency because nobody takes a commission or sits between you and the people hosting you.
- Brand deal. A brand pays a fee for content it usually briefs and approves. Explera pays no fee and never scripts or pre-approves your editorial content; we check only the agreed tags, links and disclosure, and may ask for a factual correction such as a price or a safety detail.
- Press trip or FAM trip. A tourism board or hotel group typically invites several journalists or creators on a set programme. An Explera trip is planned for one creator, around your niche, your season and the destination's catalogue.
- Influencer agency. An agency represents creators or brands and takes a cut. Here you apply directly, deal with the team that runs the ground operation, and keep every message in one portal.
Paid campaigns and commissioned content do exist, but they run through a separate brand-collaboration desk, not through this programme.
Is a hosted trip the same as a free trip?
No. A hosted trip is an exchange: Explera covers agreed parts of your time on the ground, and you commit to agreed, disclosed coverage. In most audience markets that hospitality counts as a material connection, so your posts must say you were hosted. You still pay for your flights, insurance, visa and personal extras.
What does Explera provide, and what does it never provide?
Explera provides hospitality on the ground: hotel, transfers and activities, depending on your tier. It never provides flights (international, domestic or between countries), cash fees, visas or travel insurance. Insurance is mandatory and yours to arrange, and personal extras such as additional drinks, spa add-ons or unagreed upgrades are yours to pay. The exact inclusions for each tier are on the programme page.
Do I need a minimum number of followers?
Yes, for a hosted stay. Hosted tiers start at a follower threshold on your primary channel, set out on the programme page, and the count on that one channel decides your tier. Below the threshold, the Spotlight tier is considered case by case and normally covers a single activity or tour, with no hotel. Engagement quality and audience geography matter as much as the headline number.
Can creators from any country apply?
Yes. Creators of any nationality, living anywhere, can apply, provided they own a blog or website and their audience can be verified. Nationality is not a selection criterion; your audience and your work are. Where you live does affect your flights, your visa and the disclosure rules for your audience, and checking those is your responsibility.
Which countries can I be hosted in?
You can be hosted in Thailand, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. Each country has its own creator site with its own experience catalogue, seasons and filming rules, and the destinations overview compares them. Creators in the Signature tier and above can combine two or more countries on one multi-destination trip.
- Thailand: islands, temples, street food and nightlife, on travelcreators.explera.co.th.
- Japan: seasonal culture, food and design, with strict etiquette, on travelcreators.explera.jp.
- South Korea: palaces, markets, beauty and city nights, on travelcreators.explera.kr.
- New Zealand: mountains, lakes, fiords and road trips, on travelcreators.explera.co.nz.
What do I have to post?
You publish the coverage written into your agreement: a pre-trip announcement on social media and on your blog before you travel, then a blog post and social posts after the trip that tag @expleradmc where the platform has an Explera account. Each one is submitted in the portal with its live link and at least one screenshot. The full list is on the deliverables page.
How do I disclose a hosted trip?
Disclose it clearly and up front in every post, in words your audience understands, and use the platform's branded-content label where your agreement asks for it. The rules follow your audience's market, not the destination's: FTC guidance for a mainly US audience, ASA and CAP Code rules for the UK, and local rules elsewhere. Your agreement gives the exact wording.
Who is the programme for?
It is for working travel creators who publish regularly, own a blog or website as well as their main social channel, and want to cover a destination properly rather than collect a free night. Reviewers look at reach, engagement quality, audience geography, niche fit and past travel work. Bought followers, engagement pods and undisclosed past sponsorships end the conversation.
There are platform guides for Instagram creators, YouTubers, TikTok creators and travel bloggers.
How do I apply?
Apply through the application form, well ahead of your travel dates. You give your channels, your blog or website, the destination and dates you want, and the passport details that go on the agreement. A reviewer for that market replies within the time set out on the how-it-works page, and the clock pauses while we wait on you.