Is It Possible to Earn Money While Traveling?
Since 2020, remote work has become much more common, so it’s hardly a secret that you can work from anywhere. Nevertheless, for those who have never tried it, the question of whether it is possible to make money while traveling may come to mind.
This question is best answered by sharing real examples of people who earn and travel at the same time. Popular travel bloggers earn over $10,000 monthly. For example:
Among people who earn money while traveling, there are also freelancers who work in the field of digital marketing. For such work, often only a computer and Internet access are necessary. Estimated income can be calculated from average hourly rates (for example, on Upwork).
These examples don’t cover all the options for making money while traveling but demonstrate that you can indeed travel and earn money at the same time. Below, you will find the best ways to make money while traveling
How to Travel the World and Make Money
It is hard to single out the best and worst ways to make money while traveling, as the ideal method depends on each individual case. With that said, explore all the below methods to find the best approach for you. Some methods can even be combined to generate even higher income. For example, travel blogging and selling your own travel photos.
1. Travel Blogging
Your dream to travel the world and make money should ideally be combined with the opportunities that travel provides. For example, you can share your stories and travel expertise with people and earn money through advertising or affiliate marketing (by selling services or recommending hotels). For this, you will need to:
- Create a Website: It’s not as difficult as it seems. There are plenty of courses and instructions. As an alternative solution, you can hire a freelancer. For example, on Fiverr, a basic travel website can cost $150 to $200.
- Create Content: This is an ongoing process. You must write articles that will drive traffic from Google or other traffic sources. Ideally, you should take into account the interests of users when choosing topics. Check out a free course on this topic.
- Monetize Your Traffic: Once you create content and attract visitors, you can monetize that traffic.
There are even more ways to earn on travel blogs, such as selling guest posts. Regardless of which approach you choose, travel blogs often start to generate a solid income, but not on the first day. You will need to create content that attracts people to your blog and it takes time for Google to value the quality of your content and start recommending your blog to potential audiences.
How to Make Money on a Travel Blog
Advertising is the main method of earning money for most travel bloggers. This can be either in the format of contextual ads (for example, through Mediavine) or recommendations (when you receive a commission for the sale). The latter is called “affiliate marketing” and can become your main source of income. For example, let’s say:
- You have visited Barcelona and are familiar with some good hotels. Recommend them to your audience, add a link to those hotels on Booking.com or Trivago, and receive a 4% commission on each booking
- You know which tour to take in Washington DC and which not to take. Help your audience by recommending an online booking on GetYourGuide or Viator and earn a 8-10% commission from each booking
This will allow you to provide a lot of benefits to your audience, while earning solid money. In this case, the income is a one-time thing. You will earn as long as an audience interested in traveling comes to your blog every month. Moreover, as the number of articles on your site increases, your income will certainly grow as well.
On the Travelpayouts Partnership Platform, you will find over 100 travel affiliate programs of such brands as WayAway, GetYourGuide, or TripAdvisor, and will be able to make money on a travel blog by recommending various travel services to your audience, including flights, hotels, excursions, car rentals, etc.
Join the Travelpayouts Partnership Platform
Access exclusive tools and the best travel partner programs, including flights, hotels, car rental, insurance, tours and activities, all in one place.
Join TodayTravel blogging is not a hackneyed idea. Even if you have never blogged before, in 2024, you can still start your own travel blog that will generate a solid income.
For inspiration, read the stories of travel bloggers, some of whom created a blog less than two years ago and are already making over $1,000 per month. In addition, consider the option of a blog in the form of a YouTube channel or Instagram account (or any other social media account), which does not require you to create your own website.
2. Sell Photos on Photo Stocks
You are already on a journey, which means that there are many places around you, photos of which may come in handy to other people. Of course, you can post these photos on your Instagram and receive likes, but you can also choose to sell them to other people for their business purposes.
You do not need to personally look for customers on the market, if you use platforms where sellers and buyers meet, such as:
Before making money on stocks from travel photos, study the rules of a particular photo stock. For example, such platforms often require high-resolution photos, the absence of recognizable faces in photos, extra permission to use the names of brands, and so on.
The quality of your pictures is also important, but thanks to modern technologies, even on an iPhone, you can take a photo that will not only be accepted by photo stocks, but will successfully sell many times. Of course, professional photo cameras can significantly increase the quality of your photos, and with that, your chances of generating good earnings. However, your unique travel location is still more important.
One of the biggest challenges in making money from photography is the high competition level. You can check the request you are interested in on photo stocks as well as how many photos are already available for said request. For example:
Don’t expect your photos to be bought in bulk and immediately establish a solid income stream for you. You may need to focus on a specific niche (i.e., food, transportation) or take an additional photo stock course to earn more:
As with travel blogging, selling photos takes time to generate a solid income. You need to collect a portfolio, fill in all the details to optimize your offers, and, possibly, try other methods of promotion.
Selling photos on photo stocks can become your main source of income and cover all your travel expenses. Moreover, if you decide to become a travel blogger at the same time, you will certainly need photos for your blog too. Thus, these methods can easily be combined.
3. Sell Videos on the Stocks
The 2020s is the era of digital content. Many people already know about the first two formats: texts for blogs or photos for stocks. However, video is gaining popularity right now and is one of the best ways to make money while traveling.
Just like with photos, you can record videos and sell them on specialized platforms:
As with photos, there is also competition in the video niche as well, so study the market and search queries for which you are going to create videos. Your clients can include both companies and individuals, such as YouTubers who need a video for their project.
You will need to invest in equipment and learn at least minimal video-editing skills. As with photos, selling videos can be a primary or additional source of income for you while you travel.
4. Copywriting
You don’t have to create your own travel blog to write about your travels. Having problems in a new country and knowing how to solve them makes you an excellent source of information. If you improve your writing skills, you can earn great money. For example, you can take the following courses:
- Copywriting For Beginners
- Creative Writing Specialization
- SEO Copywriting Training
- How to Craft Contagious Content
- SEO Copywriting: Rank and Get the Click
The price for your work can vary greatly depending on the language. If you write in English, as a beginner copywriter, you can earn about 5 cents per word. As your skills improve, the rate can increase significantly. On average, travel content creators receive 10 cents per word.
Offer your articles not only to large companies, which often have full-time authors, but also to successful travel blogs. You can also offer your services in specialized groups on Facebook where travel bloggers gather (for example, in this group) as well as on Upwork or similar platforms.
One of the main benefits of this method is that you can start earning almost immediately. When you sell an article, you will make money on it. But there is a downside as well. This is a one-time payment. You will not receive income when someone clicks on an ad in your article or visits the Booking.com website to book a hotel. In these terms, your own blog is more profitable, as you create content once and then continue to get profit when your articles have traffic.
Creating blog posts for your own website takes the same time as creating content for someone else. But, in the long term, working on your own blog will probably be more profitable for you.
If you need money for travel urgently and love to create content, you can at least combine these two methods: create your own blog and write blogs for other people as a service. In addition, your own blog will serve as a perfect portfolio that will help you find more customers.
5. Freelance
Writing articles is just one type of freelancing work practiced by digital nomads. You can earn money while traveling and doing other online work, such as:
- Translations
- Data collection
- Graphic design
- And hundreds of other options
In this case, your trip does not even have to be related to work. For example, you can travel and work as a Data Analyst.
The advantage of this option is that you are not connected, in any way, to a particular place. Today, you can work from France, next week from England, and next month from the Philippines. Wherever you are, if you have a computer and Internet access, you can work.
You can search for clients using your own portfolio website or via online platforms, such as Fiverr and Upwork. Your income is limited by your free time, but in general, you can expect about $10 an hour for a simple job and $25-40 if you’re skilled at a narrow niche. You can check approximate rates for various jobs on this page.
6. Work in a Local Company
Even if you prefer the lifestyle of digital nomads, don’t limit yourself to online work. In some countries, you may work in local firms.
This way to make money while traveling is complicated in terms of documentation and regulations. As usual, an ordinary tourist needs additional permits to work in another country. Furthermore, if you’re in the country for a short period of time, business owners may be reluctant to hire you since they are often searching for full-time workers.
However, your experience and skills can be useful for local businesses and can help you earn extra money. Examples of such vacancies:
- Hotel Receptionist
- English Teacher (or other languages)
- Dance Instructor (or whatever skills you have)
- Low-paying jobs where there aren’t enough employees, like farm work
Working at a local business may not sound like a dream job; however, if you run out of money to continue traveling, you may be able to earn it right in the country where you are now. Just try your best not to violate the laws of the country where you are currently staying.
You can find work in specialized groups on social networks or offline through job advertisements. If your work while traveling is in no way related to your professional skills, then expect that your earnings will not differ much from the average in the region (and may be even lower).
To make good money, you can look for a job teaching English or in another language of which you are a native speaker. In many countries, people are willing to pay native speakers who will teach them the language.
7. Work on a Cruise Ship
One of the most popular travel jobs is working on a cruise ship. Cruise ship workers are actually traveling and working at the same time. Unlike flight crews, whose work is limited in time and location, it is possible to spend several weeks on a cruise, see many countries, and, depending on the terms of your contract, go into cities with passengers.
Cruise ships are not a dream work environment, of course. While guests are relaxing and enjoying themselves, you have to work. Some companies also do not allow staff to use entertainment facilities (pools, cinemas, etc.) Nevertheless, this is a great opportunity to get paid for traveling. On some cruises, you can earn more than $3,000 per month and see several countries at once.
You can learn more about working on a cruise ship from the following video:
8. Sell Digital Products
Selling digital products is a perfect way to travel and make money. One of the most popular options is selling courses online.
For example, you can create a course about solo travel or another topic that you understand deeply and post it on Udemy or any other online course platforms. The creators of all these courses get paid every time someone buys their courses:
Your income depends entirely on your number of sales. No one will pay you to create a course, people will pay to access it. Therefore, you definitely have to think about how you will promote the course and boost your personal brand.
If you set things up correctly, then selling digital products may even help you grow an online business. With a full-fledged online business, you would not need to save money anymore and could travel as much as you want.
9. Passive Income Online
If traveling long term or even 365 days a year is your dream, then perhaps you can take care of the money for travel even before the trip. Creating passive income is a difficult-to-obtain goal, but is definitely possible.
Of course, buying a few apartments and traveling on rental income is an option for a few, but you can also create other sources of passive income.
For example, you can set up a dropshipping business or another model that does not require active management. Of course, all this requires additional knowledge. So, before taking action, it would be nice if you learned all the details.
10. Volunteering
Despite the fact that volunteering is more about helping, you can also solve your financial problems by joining volunteer projects abroad. There are many projects around the world where you can help and, in return, get a place to live, food, and (sometimes) money.
Volunteering is hardly worth considering as a full-fledged way to travel the world and make money, but if you want to see the world and help those in need, this is a great option.
You can find affordable volunteer projects abroad on https://www.lovevolunteers.org/ or similar platforms.
Note: Please be extremely careful not to participate in programs that ask you to transfer money in advance. There are a lot of scams in this niche, which at best will result in a loss of money.
11. Consultancies
Giving consultancies is one of the unusual, but effective ways of making money while traveling. You can consult both local customers or work remotely.
For example, if you are an accountant in the United States, there will be clients in the Philippines or France who may need your help with taxes and other things related to financing in the USA.
Consultancies are where a portfolio and/or references of your past work come in handy, as clients usually choose only those whose expertise they have no doubt about.
You can also take advantage of your geographical position and give advice to people outside the country you are visiting. For example, if you are traveling in India, customers may need information about that country that is not available online.
This method is profitable, as one consultation can cost several times more than the time of this consultation (up to several thousand dollars). Since the client pays not so much for the time of the consultation itself, but for the knowledge and experience that you have gained over the years.
12. P2P Delivery
Every day, millions of people around the world need to send documents and other small things between cities and countries. Some of them use DHL or other postal services; however, there is a perfect alternative: P2P delivery.
If you are flying to a new city anyway, why not make some money? You can hand over a document and help someone, while at the same time, earning $10 to $50:
Delivery by people is a high-demand service, as it is:
- Faster than classical delivery companies
- More reliable: the order will not be thrown from hand to hand
- Clients are always in touch with the “courier”
Therefore, people are willing to pay for this service, which can sometimes yield even higher earnings than the cost of a one-way ticket. Moreover, you can take several parcels at once if the destination is especially popular.
To search for clients, you can use specialized services, such as Grabr.io, or check local groups in Facebook.
Of course, the transfer of parcels and documents between cities is not a way to make lots of money. But this is a great way to save on tickets by recouping their cost by delivering goods and helping other people.
What is the Best Way to Make Money While Traveling?
Making money while traveling is a dream that can easily come true. You can make travel your job. For example, work on a cruise ship, use the unique location and your skills to your advantage, become an English teacher in a new country, provide consultations, or perform freelancing jobs.
You will get a lot of experience while traveling, which is worth sharing with the world. Sharing your experience, in an article on your blog, social media accounts, or in any other way is a great way to earn additional money.
Becoming a travel blogger is not a one-day game. Success will take time, but it is worth waiting for. Recommending brands, such as Booking.com or GetYourGuide, to your audience makes travel easier and generates income for you if you join the Travelpayouts Partnership Platform.
There is only one best way to get paid to travel: the way that works for you. You can try different options, including being a travel blogger, doing affiliate marketing, selling digital products, or just finding a full-time job in a new city. If it works well to earn money while traveling the world, then it’s the best approach for you.
