A total of 24 winter sports experiences and articles from this year’s 2025-2026 Winter Sports guide — published alongside the Jan/Feb issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK) — featured throughout December. Each received its own door in a tailored digital advent calendar. 

In a festive celebration of the best of winter activities, from unsung ski resorts to thrilling alpine adventures, each experience was posted as a 24-hour story on National Geographic Traveller (UK)’s Instagram account.  

With this engaging approach, where users could tap that day’s numbered door in one post to reveal the spotlighted story in the next, interaction throughout the month saw a record high for the platform. This innovative strategy leveraged the holiday mood and fast-paced nature of social media in the festive period, with great results. 

The campaign was teased to newsletter subscribers in November before launching on 1 December and will be further supported by a dedicated newsletter in the new year. 

Karlina Valeiko, digital content editor, said: “An entirely novel content format, the advent calendar was a challenging but rewarding project to work on that saw successful collaboration between multiple teams. The result is not only a visually impactful, engaging and dynamic content package that was a creative way to promote the content from our Winter Sports guide but also brought a noticeable boost to our Instagram story engagement, too.” 

To open the remaining doors until Christmas Eve, follow National Geographic Traveller (UK) on Instagram. 
To subscribe to the National Geographic Traveller (UK) newsletter, click here . 

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About APL Media 
APL Media is a multi-award-winning content marketing agency and publisher, producing high-quality print, digital, and live media across the travel and lifestyle sectors. Since 1997, it has published National Geographic Traveller (UK) under licence from National Geographic Partners LLC, supported by brand extensions including guides, events, and digital platforms. The portfolio also features Living360, a digital lifestyle brand covering wellness, travel, food, sustainability, and culture, distributed via national media and its own platform. APL Media delivers custom content, branded campaigns, editorial consultancy, and leading events such as the Travel Media Awards and Step Up. Its trade titles include Postcards and the ASTA Worldwide Destination Guide, with content also produced for national newspapers. 
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