Paying accommodation costs for visiting journalists, social media influencers and bloggers in return for travel articles is a good way of promoting the area, says Swansea Council. It has also covered some of the visitors' food and drink costs.
The expenditure involved is small - and newspaper journalists have for decades written travel pieces in return for a free trip. Now bloggers and social media influencers are very much part of the media landscape.
In a response to a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Swansea Council said it spent £1,569 accommodating journalists and £709 on their food and drink costs in 2022-23. The previous year the figures were £2,294 and £766. In 2019-20 - the year before the Covid pandemic - the accommodation and food and drink costs were £2,049 and £1,153 respectively.
