As explained in this post, if you want to become a travel writer it's important to keep up with the industry.
Below I've listed a few of the top travel magazines and publications, ranked by readership [note: some not all – this is by no means an exhaustive list]. These are a good place to start if you want to delve into understanding travel publishing.
Note: stats are taken from the publication's advertising pages or from web comparison sites like similarweb.com and are correct as of June 2020.
Magazines
The top travel magazines and some indie publishers (with online stats where relevant):
Travel+Leisure: circulation 988,000 | readership 6.1 million | 10 million monthly users on travelandleisure.com
AFAR: circulation 275,000 | readership 1.1 million | 1.1 million monthly users on afar.com
Condé Nast Traveller: circulation 81,075 | readership 335,000 | 1.3 million monthly users on cntraveller.com
Escapism: circulation unknown | readership 301,000 | avg 110,000 to escapismmagazine.com
Wanderlust: circulation unknown | readership 86,000 | 628,000 monthly users to wanderlust.co.uk
National Geographic Traveller: circulation 58,000 | readership 150,000 | 338,700 monthly users to nationalgeographic.co.uk
Sunday Times Travel Magazine: circulation 53,568 from July-Dec 2019 | readership unknown
Food and Travel: circulation unknown | readership 600,000 | avg 41,000 visits to foodandtravel.com in last six months
Out There: circulation 66,000 | readership 191,000 | 283,000 visits to outthere.travel
Read more:
Learn how to become a travel writer here >
16 productivity tools for travel writers >
Useful networking resources for travel writers >
The national newspapers
National newspaper travel sections ranked by paper's popularity in print, with online stats from Similar Web [source].
Metro: 1.3 million print circulation | 48 million monthly users on metro.co.uk
The Sun: 1.2 million print circulation | 105 million monthly users on thesun.co.uk
Daily Mail: 1.1 million print circulation | 331 million monthly users on dailymail.co.uk
The Sun on Sunday: 1.1 million print circulation | no dedicated website
Mail on Sunday: 997,000 print circulation | no dedicated website
The Sunday Times: 707,000 print circulation | no dedicated website
Daily Mirror: 499,000 print circulation | 72 million monthly users on mirror.co.uk
The Times: 406,000 print circulation | 25 million monthly users on thetimes.co.uk
The Telegraph: 335,000 print circulation | 79 million users on telegraph.co.uk
Daily Star: 321,000 print circulation | 28 million monthly users on dailystar.co.uk
Online travel publications
A few of the top online travel publications, with stats taken from Similar Web or the publication's own media pack in June 2020.
BBC Travel: 450 million monthly visits to bbc.com Jan-Jun 2020
CNN Travel: approx 109 million monthly visits Jan-Jun 2020
lonelyplanet.com: avg 10 million monthly visits Jan-Jun 2020
Fodor's Travel: avg 1.55 million monthly visits Jan-Jun 2020
roughguides.com: avg 590,000 monthly visits Jan-Jun 2020
worldtravelguide.net: avg 380,000 monthly visits Jan-Jun 2020
loveEXPLORING.com: approx 150,000 monthly visits Jan-Jun 2020
Adventure.com: avg 110,000 monthly visits in 2019
Insight Guides: avg 77,000 monthly visits Jan-Jun 2020
I have no doubt missed some publications in this list. If you think I've made a mistake (I am, after all, only human) or I should add anyone in, please do get in touch here.