18 10 / 2012

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I’ve been invited by the Tanzania Tourist Board to go on safari and visit several of the country’s best lodges, including the tented camp that Travel Leisure has called “the best hotel in the world” for the past two years.

I’ll also visit Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and two remote parks in the southern part of the country that American tourists don’t often see.

Along the way, I’ll report on all aspects of my journey, from the packing essentials to the complexities of running a luxury hotel in a remote game reserve.

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Henry, what’s the value of the media that you and Julie Zeveloff are giving away here? If you want your staffers to be able to enjoy lovely luxury holidays, there’s a way to do that: you do a barter deal, where you swap holidays for ad inventory. That way, you don’t have to watch your staffers file advertorials on behalf of people who are giving them thousands of dollars’ worth of freebies.

Obviously this isn’t reporting: Zeveloff’s very first headline talks about how she’s “Going On A Pilgrimage To The Best Hotel In The World”. That headline alone is probably worth the cost of the trip as far as the sponsors are concerned.

Also, you’re going to make Zeveloff file multiple stories while she’s lying in the lap of Tanzanian luxury? Who exactly are you serving here? It sounds like you’re doing the sponsors’ job for them.

Which brings me to my question. Is this junket part of a bigger deal where the sponsors are paying BI money? If it is, that should surely be disclosed. And if it’s not, I don’t for the life of me understand why BI is being so generous towards them.

Business Insider Reporter Goes To Tanzania - Business Insider

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