International Food, Wine & Travel Writers AssnTM (CALIFORNIA CORPORATION), DBA International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association, also known as “IFWTWA”, is a 501(c)(6) organization. Contact Us.
IFWTWA Mission Statement
To be the organization of choice for food, wine, and travel writers. We create programs and services to enhance professional development and facilitate networking while creating a marketplace for destinations, brands, and media professionals to collaborate. We strive to meet the dynamic needs of our writers’ community making a lasting impact on the careers of our members.
Regular Members: Travel Writers and Content Creators
IFWTWA Regular Members are a global network of storytelling content creators: writers, bloggers, travel journalists, photojournalists, podcasters, videographers, radio and television hosts who report on the travel and hospitality industry. Many specialize solely in one area of food, wine or travel reporting. Others pursue niches reporting on communications, historic, cultural or other specialty topical areas of interest to the public.
Associate Members: DMOs and Hosts
Associate Members are industry professionals. They run hotels, public relations firms, theme attractions, convention and visitors bureaus, destination management organizations, and tourism boards. They contribute the regional and local area knowledge and expertise so vital to fulfilling the mission of our Association. Associate and regular members partner with one another through Association conferences, media trips, and regional events to ensure the global coverage of the industry.
Our Members: Diverse Backgrounds Ensure Robust Reporting
Our members bring diverse backgrounds to the Association. Many bring lengthy professional experience in the culinary arts and sciences, the wine growing and production, hotel and hospitality management, and public relations disciplines. Other members bring credentials with them from previous careers that enrich their perspective and skill sets to provide them with enormous insight that permeates their investigative reporting.
As of mid-2019, our members reside around the globe: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and across the United States of America.
Strict Membership Standards
Regular membership requires applicants provide a evidence by URL reference or digital copy of stories that demonstrate the applicant is actively publishing about the industry for the most recent two years prior to submission of their application. A book link with an ISBN for regular journalists or photographers may serve as a substitute at the discretion of our board of directors. We accept bloggers who write on blog topic a minimum of one-year with a good following.
We enforce a code of professional conduct and request when members renew they update their profile to reflect current publication outlets.
IFWTWA Purpose Statement
Specific Purpose: The specific purposes of IFWTWA shall include, without limitation: To provide a gathering point and resource base for an active membership composed of professionals engaged in the food, wine, travel, and hospitality industries; To utilize local, national, and international media in providing knowledge and constructive evaluations that serve the public interest in food, wine, travel, and hospitality; To sustain a prestigious outlet for recognition of achievement through such Awards and Certificates as the Corporation may authorize; and To enhance the growth of professionalism by providing seminars, conferences and workshops related to food, wine and travel journalism, and by awarding scholarships or supporting research and professional development within the food, wine, and hospitality industries.
Annual Conference
The association organizes professional development conferences, regional meetings, and press/media trips with Associate Members and other destination management host professionals to provide our members with story opportunities, information, and contacts essential to a successful career in the food, wine, and travel journalism. Correspondingly, these events ensure our Associate member get the topical area coverage they need for destinations in areas of their responsibility. Since 2008, our annual conference has included professional training workshops.
Member-Only Media Trips
We create Media | FAM | Press trips for our writers/content creators throughout each year. You’ll find summaries of our International and North America events on our website pages.
These events stem from collaboration with our Associate members and other partners in convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, public relations agencies, and marketing and communications personnel of airlines, cruise lines, resorts, hotels, and restaurants. These trips facilitate story opportunities for our members and access for our hosts to working journalists with substantial outlets and mass circulation.
Our content creators must send clips of their stories to the hosts of our press trips and to the Association after each trip. This is an Association policy we oversee and enforce. We realize the importance for return on investment for our sponsors and stress our “no clips, no future trips,” policy to our content creators.
Food, Wine, Travel Magazine
Our flagship Association publication Food, Wine, Travel Magazine is our online worldwide consumer magazine and gateway that showcases our members stories and presents their travel experiences to the world.