Automotive Traveler Adds Contributors, a Travel/Automotive Video Gallery, and Escorted Classic Car Tours; Sees Sustained Readership Growth

Automotive Traveler, the eclectic website that fuses automotive and travel news, content, and commentary, has added noted English motoring journalist Martin Buckley and Australian travel writer Graham Simmons to its expanding roster of contributors and bloggers along with a rapidly growing automotive- and travel-focused video gallery. End Quote

Automotive Traveler now offers tourism boards, convention and visitors bureaus, and travel suppliers a great venue to promote their destinations.

(1888PressRelease) February 18, 2009 - Richard Truesdell, Editorial Director of Automotive Traveler, is pleased to announce the addition of two well-known journalists to the team. From the UK comes author and magazine writer Martin Buckley. Buckley, a contributor and columnist to the world’s best selling classic car magazine, Classic and Sports Car, is also the author of best selling automotive books like Stars, Cars and Infamy: 100 Stories of the Bad, the Daft and the Deadly as well as coffee table volumes like Facel Vega Grand Luxe Sportif, co-authored with Mike Harting and actor Peter Fonda, which is recognized as the definitive text on the marque. Buckley’s blog on Automotive Traveler is called “Martin’s Musings” and is produced in the same quirky spirit and style that make his columns in Classic and Sports Car so popular.

From down under comes Graham Simmons who has been a travel writer/photographer since 1993 and is currently based in Byron Bay, in eastern Australia. He’s a full member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers and a founding member of Global Travel Writers. Simmons, who has contributed to the Brisbane Times along with many other titles, makes his first contribution in Automotive Traveler with a drive on Australia’s Great Ocean Road , acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest drives. His blog on Automotive Traveler will be under the “Travel Lessons” banner.

The biggest content addition to the Automotive Traveler website has been the new video gallery (automotivetraveler.com/jump/79). Like the rest of Automotive Traveler (automotivetraveler.com/jump/81), it can best be described as eclectic. On the automotive side it features classic automotive commercials and vintage racing footage as well as current video content from a variety of sources. In the travel category, promotional videos from travel suppliers form the foundation of the gallery, with vintage tourism films an emerging presence.

If you are a travel supplier, convention and visitor bureau (CVB) or tourism board, you’re invited to contact Automotive Traveler to submit your videos for review and inclusion in the gallery.

In addition to contributors and content, social networking is playing an important part in the traffic growth at Automotive Traveler. “We’ve dipped our toe into the social networking arena on both Twitter and Facebook to further our efforts to reach a wider audience with the ‘wired-in’ generation,” says Truesdell. “I must admit that I overlooked Twitter and Facebook in the past, but since January have built up expanding networks on both websites. Many of these people, who generate buzz, are seeing Automotive Traveler for the first time. We’ve found that if they sample our content, they bookmark us and come back. They also tell friends in their own networks.”

Truesdell believes that the next step in increasing traffic is to form a network of special interest websites whose growth pattern mirrors that of Automotive Traveler. “One can’t help but be impressed with the growth of networks like AOL’s Weblogs, which feeds traffic between its various web properties. Automotive Traveler seeks to partner and build a network with growing websites in the epicurean, outdoor adventure, technology, and photographic categories as well as other defined interest groups and an emerging hard news portal.” Webmasters who would like to learn more are invited to contact Truesdell at 480 522 1035 ext. 1.

Finally, building upon its theme of great cars, roads, people, and destinations, Automotive Traveler has initiated a program of escorted vintage car tours in Europe. “We will be visiting Tuscany and Abruzzo (automotivetraveler.com/jump/80) this spring and fall, and are working on an Alpine tour of Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany this summer,” says Truesdell. “We have developed great itineraries and have partnered with a vintage sports car supplier in Tuscany to offer our readers a unique travel experience. We have plans to expand the program in 2010 to offer a wider variety of itineraries.”

The year 2008 was a period of sustained growth for Automotive Traveler; even with the current challenging economic climate, Automotive Traveler is well-poised to maintain its momentum into 2009.

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