The Travel Media Awards Step Up internship programme is well underway for 2026, with most of this year’s cohort nearing the end of the first of two four-week placements across the travel media industry. 

Since joining the programme in June, the five interns have been working with leading publishers, travel brands and PR agencies, gaining practical experience across editorial, journalism, marketing and communications.  

Read what the interns have been up to so far: 

Ayşe Avan is interning first at Food and Travel  

In her first week, Ayşe worked across the editorial, production and social teams at Food and Travel. She’s settled in well and has loved listening to everyone explain their different roles, helping her gain a wider understanding of how closely the teams collaborate on the publishing process. Three weeks in, she’s been supporting the production and editorial teams, as well as learning more about the research, copywriting and editing processes, while she writes a feature for the magazine. 

Ayşe said: “My first few weeks here have been so fun! Everyone is so friendly and talented at their roles, and I’ve loved getting to see the behind the scenes of publishing the next issue. I really feel like I’m contributing to the day-to-day here and the support from the team allows me to always be improving my editorial and administrative skills.” 

Dharshinee Krishna Naidu is interning first at FINN Partners 

Dharshinee has dived straight into the world of travel media, supporting a range of clients at FINN Partners including Visit Malta, Korean Air, AmaWaterways and CV Villas. She’s been interested to see how PR and the world of travel writing intersect with each other and has learnt about the finer details of a successful pitch. She’s even got involved with media gifting, which has given great insight into how working in PR can change day to day and highlighted the essential skill of being adaptable. 

Dharshinee said: “The weeks have flown by! For the last week I refined my skills in writing pitches and I even landed coverage in The Sun. It was great to see what makes a successful pitch and, of course, I had to save the clipping! A highlight of my time at FINN Partners was attending the summer party, where there was glitter, music and dancing — what a fun event!” 

Kavarna Spence is interning first at TTG Media 

In her first week, Kavarna was working with TTG’s senior editor, Katherine Masters, on an article involving a Jet2Holiday familiarisation (fam) trip alongside an article on the fan zones across the US and Canada for the FIFA World Cup 2026. The key takeaway she took from this was understanding the audience within travel trade and how it differs from consumer-focused journalism. In her third week, she attended a Grifco PR event where she got the opportunity to improve her networking skills and talk to PRs. She also spent time working with TTG’s luxury writer, Emma Dooney, learning all about luxury news writing, specifically how a professional writing style differs from her writing in university. 

Kavarna said: “In the first five days, I feel like I gained so much valuable knowledge of the wider industry and how to communicate specifically within travel trade. Working with the partner content team was really fun, too, as I got to write about overlooked locations in Europe, small group adventures and a new platform targeted towards travel agents.” 

Nasreen Gordon is interning first at Intrepid Travel  

Nasreen’s first week was mainly focused on getting to know the team, understanding how PR works at Intrepid and learning about the different roles within the department. She assisted with copywriting for media requests and had 1-2-1s with each member of the PR team, finding out about their different roles and how their work overlaps. 

Her second week focused on building media relations skills. She assisted the UK PR manager (consumer), Emme Mckay, discovering more about the consumer side of PR at Intrepid. She learnt how to build media lists, find people of influence who would be a good fit for future campaigns and created a PR calendar for upcoming events in the travel industry. 

Nasreen said: “I’ve really enjoyed my first couple of weeks at Intrepid. I’ve learnt how the consumer side of PR works in the business and how its relationship to Time Out magazine and Stylist are important for its discoverability, reputation and digital engagement.” 

Rutalee Buch starts interning at APL Media on 6 July. Her updates will be shared in the coming weeks. 

The interns will shortly begin the second half of the programme as they move to their next placement, where they’ll continue to build on the experience gained so far and further develop their skills across a different area of the travel media landscape. 

Stay tuned for more updates from this year’s interns as they make their first steps in the travel media industry. 

Subscribe to the TMA Step Up newsletter for updates on the 2027 programme and applications, which open later this year. 

https://travelmediaawards.com/travelmediaawards2026/en/page/step-up

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About APL Media     
APL Media is a multi-award-winning content marketing agency and publisher, creating 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 since 2010, alongside brand extensions including guides, events and digital platforms. Its portfolio includes Living360, a digital lifestyle brand spanning wellness, travel, food, sustainability and culture.      

APL Media delivers custom content, branded campaigns and editorial consultancy, internship schemes including Step Up and produces leading events such as the Travel Media Awards. It is also a leading reseller of advertising for national newspapers, with content created for national newspapers, too. Its trade titles include Postcards and the ASTA Worldwide Destination Guide. aplmedia.co.uk